8,000 New Hotel Rooms May Open in Manhattan

Manhattan could see more than 8,000 new hotel rooms over the next three years, a new report says, as high prices and occupancy rates have lured developers to build hotels. A report issued by the consultant group HVS Hospitality Services details 47 proposed hotels to be built between 2007 and 2009, mostly located in Lower Manhattan and Midtown West. The report listed the average percentage of occupancy in Manhattan's 63,000 hotel rooms as 85%, the highest level in at least 20 years.