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Hawaii Hotel Occupancy Expected To Get Worse

Hotels Offering Specials, Incentives To Lure Guests

POSTED: 5:07 pm HST July 6, 2009
UPDATED: 6:10 am HST July 7, 2009

Hawaii's hotel occupancy continues to plummet and one expert said the numbers are getting worse before they get better.

Hotels are turning to incentives to drive guests through their doors.

The latest hotel numbers for May and early reports for June paint a grim picture with the numbers forecasted to get worse.

"Well, unfortunately May represents the fourth month where we had a record low in the industry in terms of hotel occupancy," Hospitality Advisors LLC President and CEO Joseph Toy said.

The combination of hotel occupancy declining and room rates slipping is putting the brakes on profits.

The concern right now is that Hawaii does not have any momentum in the market, which does not bode well.

Typically hotels see a boost in numbers during the summer months with both locals and visitors taking vacations.

This summer hotels are bracing for only slight bump in traffic.

There are hotels reporting their numbers are holding even showing improvement. They say they owe it to incentives being offered.

"We are seeing tremendous deals being made by hotels tremendous pricing discounts as well as in some cases a free Bentley, spa packages and spa treatments,"

The Hilton Hawaiian Village is attracting guests with their "50 Years of Aloha" package offering $50 credits on rooms, rentals and amenities.

"We just had a really good Fourth of July and it seems to be working for us," Hilton Hawaii Vice President Jerry Gibson said. "We hope that we start to buck the trend it's been difficult with the economics."

Hotel representatives said they continue to look for ways to improve their bottom lines while riding a wave of unpredictability.

"Right now, we have not seen the bottom and I am still looking for the summer of 2010 to probably see a recovery begin," Toy said.
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