Hotel Association of NYC Responds to Comptroller DiNapoli's Report on State of Hotel Industry

HANYC Warns Hotels Still Closed, Calls for Tax Breaks to Make NYC More Competitive with Other Major Destinations

NEW YORK, NY (04/26/2023) (readMedia)-- Today, the Hotel Association of NYC Responded to NYS Comptroller DiNapoli's report on the state of NYC's hotel industry. The report, which forecasted a sunnier future for the hospitality industry, albeit not a full recovery, did not mention the 20,000 hotel rooms that have remained closed or unavailable since COVID-19 impacted New York's economy.

HANYC President and CEO Vijay Dandapani said the following:

"Although tourism has made a strong return to New York, the city still has more than 20,000 fewer rooms available to visitors than it did before the pandemic due to hotel closures and financial pressures. Unfortunately that means far fewer New Yorkers are employed in the hotel industry because actual hotel occupancy is much lower. To reach the occupancy numbers we saw pre-pandemic, the industry and its workers will need government to provide help, including tax breaks that make us more competitive with other cities, allow hotels to reopen, and workers to be rehired."

The Hotel Association of New York City previously asked lawmakers to deliver relief for the industry and workers by updating property taxes to accurately reflect current values and adjusting the occupancy tax rate. Twenty percent of hotel industry workers employed pre-pandemic are still out of work because hotels can't reopen with such high tax burdens.

About HANYC

The Hotel Association of New York City (HANYC) is the oldest hotel association in the United States and one of the oldest trade associations in the nation. The Association is an internationally recognized leader in New York City's $5 billion tourism industry and represents nearly 300 hotels, which, together, employ approximately 50,000 employees. The Association advocates on behalf of its members in a variety of legislative areas and sets standards for training, best practices and cooperative initiatives with key New York City stakeholders.