Christine Hitt
Hawaii's visitor lodging market split in January: Hotels gained ground while vacation rentals saw softer performance.
According to the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, vacation rental supply increased 9.5% year over year, to 812,800 available unit nights, and demand rose 4.9%. However, average monthly unit occupancy declined 2.5 percentage points, to 56.4%. The average daily rate also fell 6.2%, to $534.
Hotels, meanwhile, posted a stronger performance with an increase in demand with no increase in room supply. The statewide hotel occupancy rate was 75.9% (a 1.9% increase compared to January 2025), while revenue per available room (RevPAR) rose 2.5%, to $290. Average daily rate (ADR) slightly decreased at $383 (-0.1%). Statewide, hotel room revenue reached $512 million, up 2.6%. Both reports exclude the state's timeshare market.
On Maui, which is still recovering from the August 2023 wildfires, hotels showed notable gains.
Maui led the counties in revenue per available room "due to comparatively higher ADR," the report said. The average daily rate for Maui hotels in January 2026 was $546, down 8.2% compared to last January, but it's still higher than Oahu's ADR of $287 and Kauai's ADR of $431. Occupancy also increased by 9.2 percentage points, to 71.2%.
Vacation rentals on Maui told a different story. Maui rental supply rose 13.3%, but occupancy dropped five points, to 55.2%. The island has the state's highest vacation rental ADR at $675, which is down 6.9% compared to last year.
On Oahu, hotel occupancy stayed about the same as last year at 77.9%, compared with 58.8% for vacation rentals.
On the island of Hawaii, hotels posted one of the biggest RevPAR gains in the state, up 7.4%, to $377, while Kauai hotels' RevPAR increased 1.6%, to $325.