According to a WSJ article posted today, hotels are being built in many unconventional locations within New York City. This is because, "New York is a very, very hot market and everybody wants to be there," according to Jan Freitag, vice president of Smith Travel Research Inc. in Hendersonville, Tenn., a hotel-data provider. As of now, there are 19 new hotels under construction in the outer boroughs (Staten Island, Long Island, Brooklyn, etc.) It should also be quoted that "the hotel wave is coming more than a decade after the 1998 opening of the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn's first new luxury hotel in a half century."
In June, a 321-room, full service Sheraton Brooklyn New York hotel opened. Aloft Brooklyn, considered a luxury hotel, will be opened in January around the same area. These are operated by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. There will also be openings of full service hotels by 2012 near the new Nets arena in Brooklyn.
Limited-service hotels are also trying to make their way into the city. Comfort Inn and Holiday Inn Express are building hotels near subway and railroad stations, as well as near hospitals and airports. Intercontinental Corp., a big name in limited-service hotels, is opening 14 new hotels within the 5 boroughs over the next few years.
It should also be noted that "Companies say hotels are proliferating in the outer boroughs—and close-in suburbs, too—because of rising demand from business and leisure travelers for affordable lodging outside Manhattan, as well as for meeting and banquet facilities" An example is the Days Inn in Long Island City. This hotel is about 15 minutes from Midtown Manhattan as well as less than a half-hour subway ride from downtown Flushing, CitiField and the USTA National Tennis Center. However, this hotel is much less expensive than a hotel within Manhattan.
I think this is a great opportunity for the hotel companies that take it. It makes more sense to build hotels outside of NYC for the people who want to visit the city but cannot afford to have a hotel for 6 nights in the middle of Manhattan. It is also smarter than building more hotels in NJ because the price of hotels in NJ are very high, because of its proximity to NYC. Also, the cost of traveling back and forth from NJ to NYC everyday will cost more than staying in a hotel in one of the five boroughs, excluding Manhattan.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704300604575554193765198142.html
I still find the fact that hotels are renovating and building verys surprising because of the economy. Although things are slowiy turning around, they are putting themselves in even greater debt. I agree that hotels would be better off building outside, but in close proximity, to the city since many people cannot afford the hotels in the center of NYC. Especially when touring, it is expensive and tourists do not want to spend extra money on a hotel when there is so much transportation around a city.
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