Hawai'i hotels filled more rooms in October for the second month in a row after 17 months of declining occupancy, according to a report released today .

The state's tourism industry continues to look for signs of a long-term recovery after more than a year-and-a-half slump brought on by a global economic downturn.

Hotels were 69.3 percent full in October, an increase of 1.2 percentage points over the same month a year earlier, Hospitality Advisors LLC reported. Increas- es in visitors from the western United States and Japan, along with 24,000 attendees of the American Dental Association conference, helped boost the occupancy rate. However, room revenue continued to slump.

"We do see signs, the beginning signals of recovery, but we're not there yet," said Joseph Toy, president and chief executive officer of Hospitality Advisors.

"While the market continues to substantially lag behind the prior year, there is some positive news in that we've had the second straight gain in occupancy since the tourism downturn," he said.

Toy said he's hopeful that the 30,000-plus delegates to the Jehovah's Witnesses conference will boost November occupancy as well.

Terryl Vencl, executive director of the Maui Visitors Bureau, said, "the numbers continue to be indicative of the economy we live in and the consumer concerns about spending."

The statewide average daily room rate fell by 8 percent to $163.46 for the month. That resulted in a 6.4 percent decline in revenue per available room — a key measure of hotel profitability — to $111.64.

October's lower hotel revenues were in line with a 5.2 percent decrease in overall visitor spending for October, Toy said.

O'ahu led the state with the highest occupancy at 76.8 percent, or 3.5 percentage points higher than October 2008. Waikíkí hotels achieved an average occupancy rate of 78.8 percent, or 4.1 percentage points higher than last year. However, average daily rates for O'ahu fell 6.3 percent to $149.14 for the month.

While the Big Island had the lowest October island hotel occupancy at 56.7 percent, it was 2.7 percentage points higher than the prior year. The increase was driven by a 5.0 percentage point gain along the Kohala Coast, which achieved an occupancy rate of 52.5 percent.

Increases in visitor arrivals from Japanese, Canadian and U.S. West visitors contributed to the rise in occupancy for the Big Island, according to the Hospitality Advisors report.

However, the occupancy gains were offset by decreases in room rates, with the overall Big Island average daily rate falling 5.8 percent to $160.82.

Maui continued to lead the market in average daily rate at $195.59, but the Valley Isle also suffered the largest average daily room rate decline of 12.1 percent. Wailea had the highest October average daily rate of all regions at $295.03, but was still down 14.5 percent from the prior year.

Occupancy for Maui fell by 2.0 percentage points to 59.5 percent.

Vencl said she believes the occupancy numbers are also indicative of changes in consumers' choices of types of accommodations.

"We know that time-share is growing in its appeal to the traveling market and friends and family stays are certainly growing in their appeal to the frugal spending customers we face in an unsettled economic environment," she said.

"Deep discounting and value messages seem to be a motivator for the cautious consumer so that is what is needed to get them to come," she said.

Kaua'i hotels averaged 64.4 percent occupancy, down 5.9 percentage points from a year earlier. The average daily rate of $179.68 was 3.4 percent lower than the previous year.

Budget hotels led all statewide class segments in occupancy at 72.3 percent, but that was 1.7 percentage points lower than the prior year.

Upscale hotels enjoyed an occupancy gain of 5.1 percentage points, finishing the month at 70.6 percent.