"That's a very good move for Silverstein and he was very fortunate to get Four Seasons," says industry consultant Sumner Baye, president of the International Hotel Network, "Four Seasons wanted a second location in New York. This will be a wonderful addition to Downtown; we need that."

He adds that the city's hotel business has been "very solid. They've been running high rates, averaging over $300 ADR, and over 80% occupancy in the last year. One of the major reasons for that is that we have the whole world coming here now. The exchange rate of the euro against the dollar is wonderful for the industry. I see, however, that we need several thousand more hotel rooms because of the condominium market. They tore down a lot of hotels and we've lost a lot of hotel rooms."

Outside of Manhattan, Baye says hotel development is "very hot in Brooklyn. They're bringing brand names into the borough," including a possible W Hotel location. "Marriott had 240 rooms up until a year ago, and Muss Development added on 365 rooms. That's more than 600 rooms, doing a very high occupancy and a very high ADR. People don't mind going to Brooklyn if there are no rooms in the city. It's only a 15- or 20-minute ride by subway or taxi into the city." Baye also rates White Plains and Stamford as good areas for major hotel brands.