A jump in visitor arrivals helped boost Hawai'i's hotel occupancy in February for the second month in a row after a string of 20 straight monthly declines, according to an industry report released yesterday.

Hawai'i's hotels were 83.4 percent full in February, a 3.1 percentage-point increase from the same month a year earlier, according to data compiled by Smith Travel Research and Hospitality Advisors LLC.

The increase in occupancy was accompanied by higher room rates. The average daily room rate rose again in February, growing by 5.3 percent to $214, a record high for the month of February. Revenue per available room, a key gauge of a hotel operator's performance, rose by 9.3 percent to $178.37, another record high for the month.

Hospitality Advisors President Joseph Toy said the increase was fueled by a big increase in visitors from Canada — up 31.6 percent — convention-goers, sports travel and an upswing in independent travelers.

The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism reported last week that visitor arrivals rose 5.9 percent in February to 603,689 visitors, helped in part by an extra calendar day because of leap year. Still, excluding the extra day, those arrivals rose 2.8 percent.

Toy said that hotels across all islands saw higher occupancy in February.

Maui led all islands in occupancy at 84.8 percent, a 2.9 percentage-point increase over the same month a year ago. O'ahu followed with an 84.6 percent occupancy for a 3.2 percentage-point gain. Maui continued to lead statewide room rates at $290.09. O'ahu's average daily room rate rose 5.3 percent to $176.46.

The island of Hawai'i reported a 2 percentage-point occupancy increase to 77.2 percent and a 6 percent room rate increase to $217.17. The occupancy rate on Kaua'i rose 5.2 percentage points to 82 percent, but the average daily room rate fell 1.6 percent to $215.39.

Occupancy was the highest in the "budget" (least expensive) room category, at 88.4 percent. The average daily room rate in budget category was $111.93 in February. Occupancy was lowest in the "luxury" (most expensive) room category, at 81.4 percent. The average daily room rate in the luxury category was $319.90.

The survey included 157 properties representing 467,426 rooms, or 83.9 percent of all lodging properties with 20 rooms or more including hotels and condominium hotels. The state estimates that there are a total of 72,516 visitor units statewide with about half, or 34,000, on O'ahu.