If you have tried to reserve a hotel room this month, you may have been surprised to find very few available. Hotel occupancy is booming in the city, with the occupancy rate for the year close to 90% and the average room rates up by more than 40% since September 11, 2001. The strong local economy, tourists, conventions, and the loss of more than 3,000 rooms to condo conversions are helping the hospitality market flourish.

This week, the landmarked 174-room Algonquin Hotel at 59 W. 44th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, will be sold to HEI Hospitality. It is paying $74 million, or $425,287 a room.

On September 8, Dubai Investment Group paid about $450 million, or $743,802 a room, for the famed Essex House Hotel at 160 Central Park South between Sixth and Seventh avenues. The seller was Strategic Hotel Capital, a private company whose principal shareholders are affiliates of Goldman Sachs and investors advised by Prudential Real Estate Investors. The hotel has two components: the 501-room Westin Hotel and a 104-room St. Regis. There are 148 private residential condominiums in the building, of which 139 were not included in the sale of the property. Dubai plans to invest $50 million in a renovation of the hotel and to convert about 90 rooms, or 15%, into condominium units. This purchase by Dubai Investment represented its first hotel investment in America.

In June, Highgate Holdings and the Carlyle Group purchased the 300-room Crowne Plaza United Nations at East 42nd Street and Second Avenue. They paid $34 million for the leasehold, which has 35 years remaining.

Highgate Holdings, headed by Mahmood Khimji, has become one of the most active purchasers of hotels in the city. Earlier this year, it purchased the Days Inn at 790 Eighth Ave. and West 48th Street. The firm is renovating the hotel and plans to reopen it in October as the first Hilton Garden Inn in New York City. Highgate also purchased the former Howard Johnson on Eighth Avenue, between West 51st and West 52nd streets, and reopened the property as a Hampton Inn.

This summer, Ferrado US bought the 12-story,100-room Avalon Hotel at 16 E. 32nd St. for $35.7 million. It will be renamed the Vincci Avalon Hotel.

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A few weeks ago, Gemini Real Estate Advisors and 16 tenants in common purchased the six-story, 46-room Howard Johnson Hotel at the corner of Houston and Forsyth streets on the Lower East Side. The hotel was sold for $15.4 million, or $334,782 a room. Earlier this month, a joint venture of the Buccini/Pollin Group and Lubert Adler Management acquired the 21-story, 427-room Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel & Conference Center. They paid $54 million to a joint venture of the Blackstone Group and Prime Hospitality.

A number of hotels are rising on the Lower East Side and the Bowery. Later this year, Richard Born and Ira Drukier, the principals of BD Hotels, will open a 17-story, 140-room boutique hotel at 6 E. 3rd St. in the Bowery. A few blocks away, LoungeSleep Hotels – the principals are Gregory Peck and Matthew Moss – have announced plans to build a 22-story, 145-room hotel on Third Avenue between 5th and 6th streets. It acquired four residential buildings at 25, 27, 29-31, and 33 Cooper Square and plans to begin construction on a $60 million development next year. At 132-138 Fourth Ave., also known as 76 E. 13th St., construction is planned for a boutique hotel, which will open next fall. Adjacent to the American Thread Building at 260 West Broadway, a Hilton Garden Inn is being built at 2 York St., at the Avenue of the Americas and West Broadway.

Construction has recently been completed at 13-15 W. 45th St. for a 20-story Holiday Inn Express. The developer of the hotel is in contract to sell the hotel later this year for about $32 million. Last December, hotelier Andre Balazs opened the 140-room QT Hotel at 125 W. 45th St. Later this year, construction is planned to begin on the 19-story Standard Hotel at 848 Washington St./439 W. 13th St., bounded by West Street, West 13th Street, Washington Street, and Little West 12th Street in the meatpacking district. Last year, he paid $24 million for the site.

At 99 Washington St., at the corner of Rector Place, a 38-story hotel is planned. At 50 Trinity Place, also known as 7-9 Rector Place, a budget hotel is planned. In SoHo, a 40-story luxury condominium hotel is planned on the former site of a parking lot.

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Directly across from the new headquarters of the New York Times, at 305 W.39th St., an 80-room Comfort Inn will open later this year. A number of other limited-service hotels are planned for the West Side. On the site of a parking lot on West 26th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues, another limited service hotel is expected to rise by the end of next year. At 119-121 W. 28th St., a 70,000-square-foot hotel will also be built. At 232-238 W. 29th St., construction is under way for a Holiday Inn Express. A 92-room Wingate Inn is scheduled to open next year at 233-233 W. 35th St. At 373 Fifth Ave. and the corner of 35th Street, renovations are under way at a vacant eight-story office building, which will also open early next year as a limited-service hotel. Near the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, a 40-room Howard Johnson is planned to open at the end of next year. Adjacent to the Marriott East Side, at the corner of 48th Street and Lexington Avenue, construction will begin early next year on a 20-story limited service hotel.

On May 15, the 100-room La Quinta Inn Queens, at 37-18 Queens Boulevard in Long Island City, opened. The hotel, the second La Quinta in New York City, is located less than two miles from Manhattan, directly across the Queensboro Bridge. In July, a 76-room Comfort Inn and Suites opened at 60-30 Maurice Ave. in Maspeth, Queens. The midmarket hotel is less than two miles from Midtown and two miles from La Guardia Airport.

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This fall, a number of new hotels will be opening in the city. They include the city’s first Residence Inn by Marriott, scheduled to open in November. The 357-suite hotel is part of the Bryant Park Tower, a 36-story tower of residential condominiums owned by MG Hotels. Interstate Hotels & Resorts will manage the hotel. Before the end of the year, the 210-room Courtyard by Marriott New York Upper East Side will open for its first guests at 410 E. 92nd St. and York Avenue. In October, the 65-room Hampton Inn Manhattan/Seaport at 320 Pearl St. in Lower Manhattan will open. Early next year, Thompson Hotels will be opening a 90-room boutique hotel 6 Columbus Circle across the street from the Time Warner Center.

By the end of the year, industry leaders expect that the 177-room Mark Hotel at 25 E. 77th St., between Madison and Fifth avenues, will be sold.

Later this year, the 146-room Sheraton Russell Hotel is expected to close and be renovated into residential condominiums. Earlier this year, SJP Residential Properties and Prudential Financial purchased the property.

A combination of factors is boosting the hospitality market’s return, including the demand for hotels as sought-after real estate properties. Tourism also is very important to the city, generating nearly $24 billion a year, providing city and state tax revenues, and supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Mr. Stoler is a television broadcaster and vice president at First American Title Insurance Company of New York. He can be reached at mstoler@firstam.com.