Hawaii’s hotel industry performance ended 2024 down from historical levels, but the room rate was the highest in the country, revenue per available room was the nation’s second highest and occupancy was the sixth best.

All four major islands also made the top-15 list for performance measures among competitive “surf and sea” destinations globally, which also included French Polynesia, the Maldives, Aruba, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Rico, Fiji, Cancun, Costa Rica, Puerto Vallarta, Bali and Phuket.

Hawaii hotels statewide reported an occupancy of 73.3% in 2024, down 1.1 percentage points from 2023 and 7.5 percentage points from 2019, according to a Hawaii Hotel Performance Report released by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Statewide, hotels in 2024 hit an average daily rate of $365, which reflected a 3% drop from 2023 and a 28.8% rise from 2019. Hawaii hotels reported a revenue per available room of $267, which was down 4.5% from 2023 and up 16.9% from 2019. RevPAR is often considered the most telling hotel industry performance measure as it reflects the revenue achieved per available room regardless of the room’s occupancy status.

Hotel performance results were mixed across the Hawaiian Islands in 2024. Maui County, where devastating wildfires took place on Aug. 8, 2023, was still enduring significant fire-related performance losses in 2024. Maui’s occupancy for 2024 was 61.6%, a 4.4% drop from 2023 and a 16.1% decline from 2019.

Maui’s 2024 ADR was more than $547, a 7.6% decline from 2023 but a 36.5% increase from 2019. RevPAR on Maui reached $337, down 13.2% from 2023 but an increase of 8.2% from 2019.

Daniel Naho‘opi‘i, Hawai‘i Tourism Authority interim president and CEO, said at the Jan. 30 HTA board meeting, “The weakness in the overall state actually has a lot to do with Maui’s recovery itself. As economist Carl Bonham from the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization mentioned, the crisis really is marketing to Maui and getting the Maui businesses back on track.”

“Maui jobs are only at 88% of where they used to be at the pre-pandemic levels as well as also, population has moved out where they can find the jobs, and we need to attract them back to Maui,” Naho‘opi‘i said. “We also see that Oahu suffers somewhat due to the lagging recovery of the international markets, and then we also see why we need to work on it is that it affects those restaurants, shops and hotels. They need cash flow to pay for staff, or else they will move away.”

Oahu hotels saw year-over-year increases with occupancy up 0.2% to 79.8%, ADR rising 1.1% to nearly $285 and RevPAR increasing 1.3% to more than $227. However, Oahu’s occupancy was down 4.3% compared with 2019, while ADR was up 18.2% and RevPAR rose 12.1%.

Hawaii island’s 2024 occupancy fell 2.4% from 2023 to 67%, and RevPAR dropped 2.2% to nearly $287. However, ADR was up 1.3% above 2023 to more than $428. Hawaii island’s occupancy was 10.1% below 2019, while its ADR was up 61.3% and its RevPAR up 40.2%.

Kauai’s 2024 occupancy fell 0.8% year over year to 73.2%, while RevPAR dropped 0.7% to nearly $304. ADR rose 5% to nearly $415. The 2024 Kauai occupancy was 0.4% better than 2019, and its ADR was up 46.7% over 2019 and its RevPAR was 47.7% higher.

Aaron J. Sala, Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau president and CEO, referenced total 2024 visitor arrivals and spending at the Jan. 30 HTA board meeting. Sala noted that more than 9.68 million visitors arrived in Hawaii in 2024, up 0.3% from 2023 but down 6.7% from 2019. He also pointed out that total visitor spending in 2024 reached $20.68 billion, down 0.2% from 2023 but up 16.7% from 2019.

”This means we are generating more revenue per traveler. For us, this is a good thing in our market — less travelers but higher spend. That doesn’t necessarily help airlines. It doesn’t necessarily help hotels,” Sala said.

To be sure, the statewide hotel occupancy in 2024 was the lowest year-end hotel occupancy since COVID-19, when statewide occupancy dropped to 37.6% in 2020 and was at 57.5% in 2021.

Occupancy statewide in 2022 rebounded to 73.6% and 74.7% in 2023 but dropped back down in 2024, mostly because of the impact of the Maui wildfires. However, the continued lag in arrivals from Japan, where visitors are big hotel users, also has had some bearing on hotel occupancy.

Year-end hotel occupancy was 79.1% in 2016, 80.2% in 2017, 80.3% in 2018 and 80.7% in 2019, the peak year for tourism arrivals.

In comparison with the top U.S. markets, Hawaii held its own in 2024. The Hawaiian Islands had the nation’s most expensive average daily room rate in 2024 at $365, followed by New York City at $319 and Boston at $232. However, it’s worth noting that ADR fell 3% in the Hawaiian Islands but grew 5.7% in New York and 3.5% in Boston.

The Hawaiian Islands in 2024 had the second-­highest RevPAR rate of $267, which followed New York’s $269 rate. Boston’s rate was third at $172. However, Hawaii’s RevPAR fell year over year, while New York and Boston saw annual gains.

The Hawaiian Islands ranked sixth in the nation for occupancy in 2024 with a rate of 73.3%, while New York City took the lead at 84.3%, followed by Las Vegas at 77.6% and San Diego at 74.3%.

When it came to global “sun and sea” destinations, Hawaii hotels compared well. Hotels in French Polynesia ranked highest for 2024 RevPAR for international “sun and sea” destinations at $610, and were followed by the Maldives at $367, Maui County at $337, Kauai at $304, Hawaii island at $287, Cabo San Lucas at $237 and Oahu at $227.

Hotels in French Polynesia in 2024 led ADR at $882, followed by the Maldives at $572, Maui County at $547, Aruba at $440, Hawaii island at $428, Cabo San Lucas at $421, Kauai at $415, Puerto Rico at $300 and Oahu at $285.

Oahu led “sun and sea” destinations in occupancy at 79.8%, followed by Fiji at 75.7%, Kauai at 73.2%, Bali at 72.9%, Puerto Vallarta at 73.2%, Aruba at 72.1%, Cancun at 71.5%, Puerto Rico at 70.2%, Phuket at 69.3%, French Polynesia at 69.2%, Hawaii island at 67%, Costa Rica at 65.4%, the Maldives at 64.2%, Maui County at 61.6% and Cabo San Lucas at 56.3%.