THE CITY STRUGGLES TO FIND
PLACES TO HOUSE MIGRANTS. HOTELS
HAVE BECOME PART OF THE
CONVERSATION. SOME SAY THE
SOLUTION, BUT CRITICS SAY THIS
MOVE COULD DEVASTATE THE TOURISM
INDUSTRY. BUT THE LATEST NUMBERS
DON'T SHOW THIS CONCERN NEW DATA
SHOWS AS OF THE MIDDLE OF THIS
MONTH, MORE THAN 20,000 ROOMS
REMAIN AVAILABLE EVERY NIGHT. SO
JOINING US TONIGHT IS VIJAY
DANDA PANI. HE IS THE CEO OF THE
HOTEL ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK.
THANKS FOR BEING WITH US. THANK
YOU FOR HAVING ME WE WERE JUST
TALKING. THE HOTEL ASSOCIATION
WAS VERY BIG DURING COVID AND
NOW HERE YOU ARE FOR THE MIGRANT
CRISIS, SO EXPLAIN YOUR ROLE IN
THIS FIGHT JUST ENABLE WHAT THE
CITY WAS FACING BACK THEN THERE
WAS A CRISIS THAT PEOPLE FROM
THE SHELTERS NEED TO BE MOVED
OUT INTO HOTELS. SIMILARLY HERE
, THERE IS AN URGENT NEED FOR
HOUSING PEOPLE WHO HAVE COME
HERE FOR DIFFERENT REASONS, BUT
NEVERTHELESS, IT'S ENTIRELY
VOLUNTARILY JUST AS IT WAS DONE
IN THE COLD CRISIS, SO THERE ARE
ROUGHLY 300 HOTELS IN YOUR
ORGANIZATION. JUST HERE IN THE
CITY REPRESENT THE VAST MAJORITY
OF HOTEL ROOMS. THEY'RE NOT THE
VAST MAJORITY OF HOTELS
UNDERSTOOD. OKAY SO HOW MANY OF
THOSE ARE BEING ESSENTIALLY
OFFERED UP TO THE CITY TO HELP
HOUSE MIGRANTS? THEY ARE ALL
VOLUNTARY, AND AT THIS POINT, I
WOULD GUESS SOMEWHERE AROUND 70
PLUS HOTELS THAT ARE INVOLVED IN
THE PROGRAM THAT WE'RE INVOLVED
IN THE ROOMS. THAT EQUATES TO
REMEMBER THAT THE TOTAL ROOM
KANSAS CITY IS NEARLY 130,000
THAT ARE OPEN. THERE'S STILL
SOME HOTEL ROOMS THAT REMAIN
NOT IN THE MIX. LOOKING AT 7000
AND NIGHT IS THAT A GOOD WAY OF
PUTTING IT ROUGHLY 7000 AN IDEA,
SO THE MAYOR IS THE ONE THAT
BROUGHT THE HOTEL INDUSTRY INTO
MIGRANT CRISIS, AND AT ONE POINT
HE WAS SAYING THAT THAT THE
INFLUX OF MIGRANTS WE SIMPLY
HAVE TO PUT THEM SOMEPLACE AND
THIS WILL PUT AN UNNECESSARY
BURDEN ON THE CITY AT A TIME
WHEN WE NEED TOURISM DOLLARS,
AND WE'RE HEADING INTO THE
REALLY BUSY SUMMER SEASON. MAKE
IT CLEAR THAT PLENTY OF ROOMS
AVAILABLE AS YOU SAID AT THE
OUTSET FOR TOURISTS AND FOR
BUSINESS, SO JUST LAST MONTH,
FOR INSTANCE, OCCUPANCY WAS
BARELY 80% SO I'M TALKING ABOUT
APRIL IN IN MAY. WE'RE GOING TO
BE LITTLE AROUND THAT SAME
NEIGHBORHOOD, SO THERE ARE
ROUGHLY 45,000 ROOMS AVAILABLE,
SO IT'S NOT THAT THEY ARE LACK
OF ROOMS FOR TOURISM OR BUSINESS
IF I'M HEARING YOU CORRECTLY,
YOU ACTUALLY NEED THESE ROOMS TO
BE OCCUPIED. BUT THE HOTELS THAT
PARTICIPATE HOTELS THAT ARE IN
YOUR ORGANIZATION YOU NEED THIS
AND WHETHER THEY'RE IN THE
ORGANIZATION. NOT THIS IS WHERE
AGNOSTIC ABOUT ABOUT IT, AND SO
ANY HOTEL AT WANTS TO
PARTICIPATE ENTIRELY
VOLUNTARILY. IS PARTICIPATING IN
IT BASED ON THE RATES THAT ARE
BEING OFFERED. SO WHAT ARE THE
RATES BEING OFFERED? AND HOW
DOES THAT COMPARE TO A NIGHTLY
RATE NORMAL RATE WITHOUT IT
HAVING IT DEPENDS WHETHER WHERE
THE HOTELS ARE LOCATED, BUT IT'S
ROUGHLY TIMES SQUARE. THAT AREA,
FOR EXAMPLE, WHICH IS SO BUSY,
IT'S ABOUT. WELL IT'S NOT. TIMES
SQUARE IS NOT THE FOCUS OF MANY
OF THESE HOTELS THAT ARE
PARTICIPATING. SO IT'S ABOUT 100
AND 65 BUCKS. MAYBE 100 AND 85
AND OLDER INSTANCES, BUT THAT'S
THE RED. HOW IS THIS HELPING THE
INDUSTRY REBOUND AFTER COVID?
WELL, THAT'S A GOOD QUESTION.
THE INDUSTRY HAS STILL NOT FULLY
REBOUNDED COMPARED TO 2019. WE
ARE LAST YEAR WE WERE $4 BELOW
IN WHAT WE CALL REPERTOIRE THAT
THE AVERAGE RATE MULTIPLIED BY
OCCUPANCY. SO IN PLAIN NUMBERS,
THAT'S ROUGHLY $200 MILLION LESS
THAN WHAT WE HAD IN 2019 AND IN
TAXES. THAT'S ROUGHLY $30
MILLION LESS THAN WHAT THE CITY
COLLECTED IN 2019. SO WE HADN'T
STILL HAVEN'T WE FULLY EXPECTED
BY 2024 WERE NOT JUST BACK, BUT
HOPEFULLY AHEAD OF 2019. IS
THERE ANY FRUSTRATION TOWARDS
THE MAYOR OF CITY HALL THAT
THE CONVERSATION THAT IT MIGHT
BE A BURDEN ON THE INDUSTRY?
WHEN YOU'RE SAYING IT'S NOT?
IT'S NEEDED. IT'S NOT ABOUT I
MEAN, LIKE I SAID ALREADY, IT'S
VOLUNTARY, AND OBVIOUSLY
IS DOING SO. OF THEIR OWN
VOLITION, SO THERE'S ABSOLUTELY
NO COMPULSION AND THERE'S NO
BURDEN AT ALL. I MEAN, LIKE I
SAID, AGAIN, WITH HIS OCCUPANCY
THAT ARE THERE TO BE FOLD AND SO
THAT THOSE THAT WANT TO DO IT
AND TAKING THIS AS BUSINESS, ALL
RIGHT. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR
JOINING US. THANK YOU DO