The Ritz-Carlton in New York City’s Nomad neighborhood.
Seema Modi | CNBC
Marriott A new Ritz Carlton hotel will open in Manhattan next week, a bet on the rise in luxury travel and the expected return of business travelers this fall.
Marriott CEO Tony Capuano told CNBC, “It has 10,000 square feet of meeting space, 7,000 square feet of spa, and four food and beverage outlets. I think it’s time to take care of that pivot from leisure travel to business travel.” uniquely located.” on Tuesday.
The 108th Ritz Carlton begins as New York City is seeing a resurgence in tourists. The city saw tourism, but dried up in the early days of the pandemic when New York became one of the first epicenters of the outbreak. Now travelers are back, and more developers are signing new deals.
“2019 was the best year in New York history. You had over 66 million visitors to New York. There’s a sense that we’ll be back about 85% this year,” Capuano said.
According to STR, a provider of hospitality analytics, the New York City hotel occupancy rate is currently the nation’s third-strongest at 83 percent. The top two markets are Portland, Maine and San Diego, California, with 85% and 84% occupancy levels, respectively.
New York’s rebound marks a strong reversal from the past two years when beach destinations won.
Jan Freitag, national of the Costar Group, said, “People just stayed away from downtown areas. They didn’t want to be around a lot of other people because of Covid… but it’s reversed and I think we’re going to leave the city.” are ready for.” Director for Hospitality Analysis.
As hotel demand boomed and inflation hit a four-decade high, the price per night has skyrocketed. According to STR, the average cost to check-in at a hotel in New York City is around $300 per night, a 20% increase from 2019 levels.
Capuano said the higher rates are a sign that hotels are commanding pricing power — as long as they can navigate a challenging labor market.
“I think if we work on that service it is sustainable. Obviously, one of the major challenges that the entire travel and tourism sector faces is a labor challenge. We do everything in our power to ensure that Something we continue to do is that our hotels are staffed, our teams are trained. If we want to continue to experience this strong pricing power, we have to provide service,” Capuano said.
The Ritz Carlton joins 11 other hotels that have opened in New York this year. According to STR, another 60 projects are in the pipeline with opening dates set for 2022.
“This is the largest pipeline in the country for any market,” Freitag said.
But delays in the supply chain continue to grow the hotel. The Ritz Carlton broke ground four years ago and is only now opening its doors, as construction has slowed due to the pandemic and ongoing supply constraints.
“When you want to open up because of the ongoing challenges related to supply chain issues, it’s really hard to open up,” Freitag said.