By Rich Bockmann
There were more than 50 million visitors to New York City last year and as the tourism industry grows, Queens — with two airports and neighborhoods with rising cachet — is in the midst of a hotel-building boom aimed at grabbing the borough’s share of the $34 billion pie.
Over the past decade the number of the visitors to New York City has jumped 40 percent from 36.2 million at the turn of the century to 50.9 million in 2011, according to NYC & Co., the public/private partnership that promotes tourism in the five boroughs.
And over the past several years hotels have been popping up in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens to accommodate those visitors. Since 2006, 41 hotels have opened in the city, bringing the Big Apple’s active inventory to 92,960 rooms last year.
During that time 10 have opened in Queens, and there are already five projects in the pipeline to 2016.
Rob McKay of the Queens Economic Development Corp. said, “25 years ago there were only about 30 hotels in the borough, and most were the kind you rent the room by the hour.”
But times have changed, he observed, adding “there’s a huge hotel boom in Long Island City, Flushing and around the two airports, and they go after completely different markets.”
The Hotel De Point in Flushing, for example, opened in August with 114 rooms as part of a new complex with retail shopping and a 300-seat restaurant. McKay said that as Asia increases in wealth, newly prosperous travelers will find Flushing an ever-more-attractive place to stay.
Long Island City — with its proximity to Manhattan, accessibility to transit and trendy new restaurants, nightlife spots and cultural institutions popping up all over western Queens — is being marketed as an affordable yet chic alternative to travelers who would normally stay in Manhattan.
The neighborhood has no fewer than 17 hotels, including the middle-of-the-market Four Points, which opened last year with 91 rooms, and the Wyndham Garden, a 128-room property that opened last year with a business center, fitness center and restaurant. Alongside the big chains are some trendy boutique hotels, such as the stylish Ravel boasting a rooftop bar with views of the Manhattan skyline and the 100-room Z NYC Hotel.
In order to accommodate tourists, ranging from families looking to spend some time in the city on the cheap to business travelers with cash to spend, the borough’s hotels have diversified themselves by offering a variety of hospitality amenities.
On the other end of the borough, there are plans to develop two hotels near Belmont Park in conjunction with a stadium plan for the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League.
Berkita Bradford, an economics professor at St. John’s University studying the tourism industry, said part of the building boom may be attributable to hotels seeking to fill niche gaps in a changing market.
“It’s all about who’s traveling, where are they going and what are their needs?” she said. “What the market did several years ago was readjust itself. When times are not so good, people still have to travel, so instead of looking into a Marriott Marquis or a Ritz Carlton, they may look at a Springhill Suites or a Courtyard. That could be why in some areas of Queens there’s a boom.”
Springhill Suites, an upper-middle-market flag under the Marriott brand, opened near LaGuardia Airport in December with 173 rooms and the capacity to host groups of up to 30. Bradford said hotels that provide spaces for events go a long way toward supporting the broader hospitality industry.
In 2010 visitors to the city spent $31.5 billion and generated $17.3 billion in wages, supporting 310,156 jobs. A study released last fall conducted by Pricewaterhouse Coopers and the Partnership for New York City projected the hotel/restaurant industry would experience the most growth in the city through 2025, when the number of hospitality jobs will surpass those on Wall Street.
The areas near and connected to John F. Kennedy International Airport are primed to cash in.
After a renovation to guest rooms and meeting spaces and the addition of dining and wellness options, the reflagged Hilton New York at JFK opened early last year with 356 rooms, five meeting rooms and a 3,784-square-foot ballroom.
In downtown Jamaica near the Long Island Rail Road station, the Sleep Inn at JFK Airport opened last year touting its proximity to the airport as well as Citi Field and Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
There are plans to renovate an old hotel near the airport that has been closed for five years and open a 330-room Crowne Plaza by the middle of this year. Future properties also include a 150-room Four Points by Sheraton to be opened in Jamaica in the beginning of 2014.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
