In his decades-long tenure, Tom McConnell has never seen this many hotel rooms spring up in NYC. Over a five-year period, the city has seen a 30 to 35 percent increase in supply, said the head of Cushman & Wakefield’s Global Hospitality group. The city could have 140,000 hotel rooms in the next few years — up from 93,254 rooms in 2009. Part of that boom is being driven by the growth in the outer boroughs. Travelers are filling those rooms voraciously. Occupancy has been over 80 percent for eight of the last 10 years, way higher than any other U.S. city. The increase in rooms has made it hard for hoteliers to hike their rates, but that doesn’t mean hotel rooms are cheap. This is NYC after all. “You have to pay a lot to sleep in this town,” McConnell said. “We’re talking about a $250, $300 average rate, which means there are guys paying $400 or $500.” When it comes to top hotels, Manhattan, of course, is still king. The borough is home to the city’s snazziest hotels, like the Four Seasons and the hotel at the base of One57. McConnell predicts that the market will stay strong. “If you build it they will come,” McConnell said. And in New York, they’ll come even if you don’t build.
$248.70
The average rate for a hotel room in NYC in 2015. Last year, travelers could expect to pay $252.35 on average. By comparison, the national average is $115.
89%
The NYC hotel occupancy rate in the third quarter. Hotels around Times Square had a slightly higher occupancy rate, 91 percent, while the overall NYC rate for 2014 was about 84 percent.
The Waldorf Astoria
$1.95 billion
The record amount China’s Anbang Insurance Group paid Hilton for the iconic Waldorf-Astoria hotel last year. Like Anbang, investors are choosing to buy, not build. Investors FelCor Lodging Trust acquired the landmarked Knickerbocker Hotel in 2012 for $115 million and pumped another $115 million into renovations. It opened earlier this year.
$1.86 million
The price per room that Hyatt paid in its $390 million purchase of the hotel at the base of One57 last year. The 210-room hotel will become Hyatt’s flagship property. By comparison, rooms at the 227-room Holiday Inn Soho traded for $395,127 per room in a July 2014 transaction.
$75,000
The bill you’d get slapped with for staying in the Mark Hotel’s Upper East Side penthouse room for one night. The duplex, which includes 12,000 square feet, three elevators and a 2,400-square-foot rooftop terrace, is the most expensive hotel room in NYC. It would cost $27.4 million to stay there for a year. It’s been on sale for $60 million since 2008.
100 sq. ft.
The average size of a trendy “pod” room in NYC. By comparison, a typical NYC hotel room clocks in at around 300 square feet. The Pod Hotel on 51st charges about $95.
$40
The price per person per night for a bunkroom at the Broadway Hotel & Hostel on the Upper West Side, among the cheapest places to stay in the city. Bed and breakfasts can also be cheap, with the seven-room Sugar Hill Harlem Inn starting at $80 per night. A spot in an eight-bed mixed dormitory room costs $34 at Jazz on the Park Hostel.
$21.75
The typical price for a club sandwich when ordered via room service in New York City. The average cost of a club sandwich at hotels in major U.S. cities is $15.85. A chicken club sandwich from the room service menu at the Mark Restaurant By Jean-Georges on the Upper East Side costs $30.
400
The number of hotel rooms in the Bronx. Rooms at the Bronx Opera House Hotel, which opened in an old opera house in August 2013, start at $112 a night. A 152-room Hampton Inn hotel broke ground this summer in the South Bronx and is expected to open in early 2017.
10
The number of hotels on Staten Island. That’s one for every 38 in Manhattan. The borough, which had a roughly 70 percent occupancy rate in 2014, has 882 rooms.
1,980
The number of rooms in the New York Hilton Midtown, the city’s largest hotel. The New York Marriott Marquis ranks second, with 1,949 rooms. The largest hotel in the world is the First World Hotel in Malaysia. It has 7,351 rooms.
Sources: Luxury Listings NYC, Fodor’s Travel, Curbed, NY Post, Bloomberg, Hotel News Now, Fast Company, PWC, Smith Travel Research.