NEW YORK— Hotels near the World Trade Center site are filling up for the anniversary of the terrorist attacks, but the rest of the citys hotel trade is languishing, according to the Associated Press. The usual bustle of out-of-towners who descend on New York after Labor Day will be missing this year, city and industry officials predict, as hundreds of rooms sit vacant in hotels that normally are filled to the rafters. Cristyne Nicholas, who heads NYC & Company, said its too early to predict occupancy rates citywide, but projections from two Ritz-Carltons illustrate the contrasts. The Ritz-Carlton on Central Park South, which caters to corporate travelers, may be only half full during the week of September 11, spokeswoman Emily Snyder said. But the new Ritz-Carlton in Battery Park, five blocks south of ground zero, is in high demand that week, spokeswoman Jennifer Oberstein said. The hotel, completed just this year, has a few dozen rooms that face in the direction of the trade center site. Mark Thomson, general manager of Embassy Suites, said his hotels 463 suites — including 70 facing ground zero — are also nearly filled for the days leading up to September 11. The hotel closest to ground zero, the 500-room Marriott Financial Center, has been renovated and is sold out for September 11, including a dozen rooms overlooking the attack site. An observance there will acknowledge the destruction of a sister hotel, the New York Marriott, spokeswoman Kathy Duffy said. That hotel, located between the twin towers, was obliterated when the towers collapsed and two employees and nearly a dozen guests were killed, according to the AP.. Throughout the city, event calendars are wide open the week of September 11 as planners have postponed or moved conventions and trade shows in deference to the anniversary. SOURCE: Associated Press
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