Tourism, Restaurant Industry Push City Hall to Save Hotels

NEW YORK, NY (02/24/2021) (readMedia)-- The Hospitality Alliance, Big Apple Greeter, the Queens and Brooklyn Chambers of Commerce, and hotel owners joined together today in support of a campaign led by the Hotel Association of NYC to save city hotels. The campaign, Key to NYC, launched last month to urge City Hall to give hotels tax debt relief as they struggle to remain open during COVID-19.

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The hotel industry and the millions of visitors it serves every year supports the city's even larger tourism and restaurant industries. But more than 200 New York hotels have closed -- 95 of which had restaurants inside -- in the last year, leaving tens-of-thousands of New Yorkers out of work and slowing our recovery. Before the pandemic, the hotel industry employed more than 50,000 New Yorkers -- mostly immigrants and people of color -- and raised $3.2 billion a year in City tax revenue. The industry also added $22 billion annually to our economy.

"Hotels are the backbone of our tourism industry. Without them, visitors, who contribute so much to our local economy have no place to stay. HANYC is proud to have the support of the tourism and restaurant industries, along with more than a dozen City Council Members and four Borough Presidents, who all support our call for relief," said Vijay Dandapani, President and CEO of the Hotel Association of New York City (HANYC). "City Hall needs to step up and not penalize strugglingly hotels for late tax payments so that we can keep our doors open and keep workers employed. If City Hall can give us a small amount of relief, we will not only save our industry and its workers, we will also be ready to take full advantage of the recovery when visitors return at full volume to our great city. If hotels are open for business, New York is open for business--and our tourism industry and city can thrive again."

"New York City's restaurants, nightlife and hotels share a symbiotic relationship and these sectors of our city's hospitality industry have been decimated by the pandemic. We've lost hundreds of hotels, thousands of restaurants, and hundreds of thousands of jobs, which are all critical to our city's economy, culture and status as world renowned destination. In order to save and rebuild New York City, as we grapple with, and recover from Covid-19, the hospitality industry needs comprehensive government support, which includes suspending penalties and interest on taxes to offset financial burdens and aid this vital industry's recovery," said Andrew Rigie, Executive Director, NYC Hospitality Alliance.

"The hotel industry is at the very heart of the Big Apple's coveted spot as one of the top destinations people all around the world want to visit. Its health is critically important to New York's entire hospitality family and Big Apple Greeter in particular. We need our elected officials to immediately focus on helping them make it through this difficult time so that they are ready to welcome visitors to our great city when the current health crisis subsides," said Alicia Pierro, Executive DIrector of Big Apple Greeter.

"Tourism and hospitality were two sectors principally responsible for Brooklyn's emergence as an economic force over the past two decades, but they've been decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic and face a long and challenging road to recovery," said Randy Peers, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce president and CEO. "Pre-COVID, hotels supported more than 10,000 jobs across Brooklyn and now that's the approximate number of remaining industry jobs citywide, it's tragic. Mayor de Blasio must play a lead role in ensuring this vital industry's comeback, and that begins with removing the sky high 18% interest penalty the city charges when hotels are late on property tax payments."

"With over 100 hotels, thousands of employees and a burgeoning destination for tourists, Queens, like the rest of NYC, has been hard hit by the COVID pandemic. We stand firm with our friends in the hotel industry in support of tax debt relief by the City of New York," said Thomas J. Grech, President & CEO of the Queens Chamber of Commerce.

Earlier this month, HANYC launched TV ads that are airing on news channels such as NY1, CNN/MSNBC, and News12. And radio ads are now playing on popular stations such as WABC, Hot97 and WBLS.

According to a Manhattan Lodging report, approximately 61,450 Manhattan hotel rooms (representing 58 percent of total inventory) are closed. Pre-COVID, hotels had a disproportionately large property tax burden compared to other properties. Now, with industry revenue down more than 80 percent, the taxes due are exceeding the revenue at many hotels. And property tax debt interest accrues at an annual rate of 18 percent on late payments, which will just accelerate hotel closures. So the hotel industry is asking for that penalty to be suspended during the pandemic.

Since the campaign's launch last month, four Borough Presidents -- including Donovan Richards, Ruben Diaz Jr, Gale Brewer and Eric Adams -- as well as more than a dozen Council Members, and State Senator Brian Benjamin have signed on in support. The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, Queens Chamber of Commerce, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Bronx Chamber of Commerce and Third Avenue BID have also backed the campaign.

Council Members in support of the "Key to NYC" effort include Keith Powers, Helen Rosenthal, Adrienne Adams, Fernando Cabrera, Paul Vallone, Diana Ayala, Robert Cornegy, Francisco Moya, Karen Koslowitz, Brad Lander, Darma Diaz Robert Holden, Carlos Menchaca, Jimmy Van Bramer, Barry Grodenchik, Peter Koo, Eric Ulrich, Costa Constantinides and Joe Borelli.