'Almost Like A Drug Dealer': Short-Term Rentals Still Weighing Down NYC Hotel Market Despite New Laws

Although scores of tourists flock to the city each year, and occupancy in NYC hotels remains high compared to the U.S. average, the rate hoteliers reel in for rooms has been sliding for years. In 2019, New York City’s hotel occupancy rate dropped 1.2% from the year before, The New York Post reports, citing figures from hospitality data firm STR. Meanwhile, the industry's leading performance metric, revenue per available room — known as RevPAR — dropped by 3.6%. Still, tens of thousands of rooms are set to be added to the city’s supply in the next two years, and shadow inventory from short-term rental platforms is another wet blanket on a bloated market.