Bloomberg Welcomes AH&LA To Big Apple

NEW YORK— Like the city he represents, Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave a hearty welcome to members of the American Hotel & Lodging Association at The Waldorf-Astoria Friday night kicking off the association’s annual Fall Conference, held in tandem with the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show. Before a packed room, the mayor enthused “the hotel industry is doing well now; they’ll do even better. Occupancy is back to almost exactly the level it was before 9/11.” “Unfortunately, he added, “it’s with more domestic tourists than international, and the international tourists spend more money, so revenue from the hotel industry’s not back, but occupancy is.” He noted New York City is “doing phenomenally well.” “We still have a ways to go. We still have a bad economy, like every other city…we will get through this. The best days for New York City are yet to come,” he said, advising the hoteliers present “your trust in New York City is not misplaced. We are where people do want to come, have wanted to come and certainly will want to come in the future.” Asked if the city would offer any incentives to hotel developers looking to get into the Big Apple, Bloomberg told HOTEL BUSINESS® that via the city’s economic development arm, “We have a whole bunch of programs to try to encourage people to come here. There have been a number of hotels that have just opened in New York City, and the brand new one [The Westin Times Square] that we just dedicated over in Times Square. They were supposed to be full as of November 1. They just opened and they’re full already. That tells you what’s happening here.”—Stefani C. O’Connor