Exciting new hotels and eye-catching renovations are a big part of New York City’s impressive revival.
According to NYC & Company, over the next three years nearly 13,000 new and upgraded hotel rooms will be unveiled in areas throughout the city, boosting total inventory to 72,420 and significantly expanding rate options, which will make the destination more accessible to a wider range of groups.
Brooklyn is more than tripling its inventory with projects such as Starwood’s first New York aloft hotel, slated to open in downtown Brooklyn next summer. The property will be paired with a new Sheraton Hotel, together offering 500 rooms, meeting space and a host of upscale amenities.
Elsewhere in Brooklyn, a host of smaller, limited-service properties are appearing in neighborhoods such as Sunset Park, Fort Greene and Park Slope.
Queens is pushing its room count somewhere near the 11,000 mark, with a mix of name-brand properties appearing in neighborhoods previously without hotels.
The biggest action, though, is in Manhattan, which is seeing its largest increase in history with an expected 50-plus new properties and 8,000 new rooms.
From the Wall Street area to popular destinations such as SoHo and Greenwich Village, mid-rangers like Holiday Inn Express, Comfort Inn and Wyndham Garden Inn are diversifying Manhattan’s typically pricey hotel market.
Of course, it would not be Manhattan without constant reinvention of its deluxe and boutique hotel market. Ian Schrager is back on the upscale map with his completely renovated 185-room Gramercy Park Hotel. Offering a variety of artful gathering spaces, including a rooftop garden, his update of this historical classic is an instant meetings hit.
Another artful lodger, Andre Balazs, is making his third foray into Manhattan with the in-progress 330-room Standard Hotel, a glass and white-brick tower daringly perched on concrete stilts above the historic High Line railway trestle.
In Midtown, the former Rhiga Royal Hotel, reflagged as The London NYC, features culinary provocateur Gordon Ramsay’s first U.S. restaurant, recently awarded two Michelin stars.
In Times Square, the Millennium Broadway Hotel, a standout meetings property, has unveiled striking renovations to its IACC-approved conference center.
On the east side, near Grand Central Station, the David Rockwell-designed Alex Hotel is a hidden treasure, while steps from Central Park, 6 Columbus Circle is a boutique newcomer with rooftop party space.
Meanwhile, the long infamous Bowery and East Village neighborhoods now feature event-ready boutique hotels. Notable newcomers include the Hotel on Rivington and the Bowery Hotel. The very existence of these hotels in once-fringe neighborhoods is a true signal of Manhattan’s continuing hotel renaissance.
