Manhattan hotels have taken a major hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, with one hotel closing its doors temporarily.
Manhattan Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Karen Hibbard says around this time of the year, hotels have had close to 70% occupancy rate. For the week of March 22-28 of this year, occupancy was 21.3%. This is lower than during the Christmas/New Year’s time, when people are staying with family.
The lowest day of that week was on March 28, with an occupancy rate of around 13%. This same week last year had an occupancy rate of 78.1%, with the 28 having a rate of 96.4%.
Hibbard says these low numbers do reflect the fact that people are abiding to health guidelines and not traveling.
Due to COVID-19, conferences and meetings held in March and April were cancelled. This has led to such low occupancy rates over the month. One of the first major events cancelled was the 2A state high school basketball tournament. Hibbard says after that, they were just waiting to see what would happen next.
“Our staff has been very diligent working with meeting planners to see, as they were cancelling meetings, what does that mean?” says Hibbard. “Would they be able to reschedule? Are they having to totally cancel the meeting? Or will they look to the following year?”
For the months of March and April, the city has lost a total of 36 conferences, meetings, or events. These meetings and events generate about $8 million dollars for the community. This affects a majority of businesses in Manhattan.
“It means hotels and conference centers are not able to function, off site venues are not able to function, and restaurants and caterers are not able to function,” says Hibbard.
Some of these events are not able to be rescheduled. The CVB is keeping a close to see if upcoming meetings can be moved to August or September, but this causes a domino effect. Is there meeting space available or do they conflict with other events? Some June events have already been cancelled.
“Day by day conversations we are having with planners as they are looking to see what is best for their organizations and the purpose of that meeting. They are having to make that decision and we carry that message on,” says Hibbard.
Hibbard is confident that when people are able to go out and meet again, the community will be there to support those businesses.
