Hotels: 'Solid' Sector Will Stay That Way

The deal between developer Larry Silverstein, chairman and CEO of Silverstein Properties, and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts to bring the chain to 99 Church St. ranks as a highlight of early 2008 for the region’s hospitality sector.

“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.”