NEW YORK— According to a report in the Daily News, six new hotels are slated to open on Long Island this year. However, experts wonder if there is enough demand to soak up the extra inventory. The six major hotels expected to open in Nassau and Suffolk will add 772 rooms to the marketplace, at a time when there is no growth, said the newspaper. The Suffolk projects include: Residence Inn, a 100-room hotel in Hauppauge, opening in March; Hampton Inn, with 161 rooms, in Holtsville, in February; MacArthur Airport Marriott Courtyard, 154 rooms in Ronkonkoma, in March, and East Wind Country Inn, with 50 rooms in Wading River, in the fall. In Nassau County, the Inn at Fox Hollow, with 145 suites, is to open in March in Woodbury, near Fox Hollow Catering. Red Roof Inn, with 162 rooms at the former Roosevelt Raceway site in Westbury, is to open by summer. Michael Hollander, president of the Long Island Convention and Visitors Bureau, said many of these projects began three to five years ago, when the real estate market was strong, occupancy rates on Long Island were high and hotel rooms were hard to come by in some areas. “It took them so long to get off the ground that theyre opening at a difficult time with the economy now,” he said. “In a recession, people are doing less traveling, and there is less demand for rooms.” According to the newspaper, at least two dozen more hotels are proposed for the island. Experts said it will be a tough first half of the year, particularly in Suffolk county, where hoteliers are expected to have to fight for each client in what is now a very tight market. SOURCE: Daily News