Even More Room at the Inn

Hyatt opened an Andaz in New York last week. Dozens of other hotels are slated to open in the city this year.

Though it may seem counterintuitive at a time when many hotels around the country are having trouble filling their rooms, nearly 100 hotels are scheduled to open in major American cities this year.

New York will have the most new hotels, 46, according to Smith Travel Research, a hotel research company in Hendersonville, Tenn., followed by Houston, with 30. New hotels are opening as well in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington. That does not include new hotels opening in the suburbs of these cities.

So how can so many hotels be opening even though the economy and travel remain so slow?

The answer, according to Mark Lomanno, president of Smith Travel Research, is that “hotel building cycles rarely mesh just right with economic cycles.” Planning a new hotel can take two to four years, and construction an additional one to four years. Most of the hotels getting ready to open were on the drawing boards several years ago, when the economy was healthy, demand for rooms was strong and room rates were rising quickly.

And once construction is under way, said Sean Hennessey, chief executive of Lodging Advisors, a New York consulting company, there really is no better alternative than to finish.  For full Story, please click here….