Hawaiian Economic Tsunami

"Tiki Gods" by Mark Bryan at http://www.artofmarkbryan.com/tiki_gods.html, can also call it "Hawaiian Economic Tsunami"

In follow-up to the post here Report on the Current State of Visitor Occupancy Numbers in Hawaii...Trouble Ahead of Dec. 27, 2008, comes the verifying report today in the Honolulu Advertiser: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090204/NEWS01/902040392

"Hotel occupancy in Hawaii drops to 60.9%"

December numbers, the worst since 2001, cap dreary year for industry

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai'i's hotel occupancy rate plunged by nearly 10 percentage points in December to 60.9 percent, the lowest level since the months following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

December's occupancy rate was the lowest for any month since December 2001 when it was 57.4 percent, according to Hospitality Advisors LLC. Occupancy was 70.4 percent in December 2007.

"For Hawai'i's hotels, December was the worst month of a difficult 2008," said Joseph Toy, Hospitality Advisors president and CEO...

"The bottom really fell out of the market."

In nearly 25 years of analyzing hotel data, Toy said, "I've never seen such quick and steep declines."

...Toy said, "The troughs in the market are like nothing I've ever seen before."...

The lowest-price budget properties and the highest-priced luxury properties were least affected, Toy said. Those in the middle were the hardest hit. O'ahu's budget market was the only segment in Hawai'i that reported gains in occupancy (up 3.1 points).

The state's priciest rooms, the luxury segment, achieved the second highest occupancy in 2008, at 73.5 percent, down from 2007's 77.7 percent occupancy.

O'ahu led the Islands with a 68.2 percent occupancy...

The Big Island's occupancy averaged 48.2 percent for the month, down 12.5 percentage points from December 2007...

Maui produced...an occupancy of 56.8 percent, which was 14.4 percentage points down compared with the prior December.

Kaua'i's occupancy was 52.5 percent in December, off 15.3 percentage points for the month.

The monthly hotel survey is compiled by Smith Travel Research in conjunction with Hospitality Advisors...

That's pretty much what my informal survey showed on Dec. 25th. Keep in mind the last two weeks of December are suppose to be some of the busiest weeks of the year.

Aloha, Brad