- Domestic travel drove NYC hotels pandemic recovery.
- The city welcomed 65 million visitors in 2025.
- About 4,852 hotel rooms are set to open this year.
NEW YORK CITY’S hotel industry recovered from the pandemic, driven by demand from domestic travelers, according to State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. International visitors, business travel and hotel employment remain below pre-pandemic levels.
The State Comptroller's new report found New York City welcomed 65 million visitors in 2025, including 52.4 million domestic travelers or 81 percent of the total. International visitors totaled 12.5 million or 92.6 percent of 2019 levels and were down from 2024, while business travel recovered to 92.6 percent of its 2019 level.
“The city’s hotel industry has largely recovered from the pandemic. It is doing well, but it could be doing even better if international visitors returned more quickly,” DiNapoli said. “Federal policies on trade and immigration, and other domestic and global geopolitical issues, are keeping some tourists away. Despite the challenges, we expect the sector to continue to grow, but a complete recovery requires a return of international visitors and increased employment to keep up with demand.”
New York City's hotels posted an occupancy rate of 84.1 percent in 2025, the highest in the nation for the third consecutive year, but below the 87.5 percent recorded in 2019, the report said. The average room rate reached $333.71, up 4.7 percent from 2024 and 17.1 percent above 2019, but below the pre-pandemic level after adjusting for inflation.
Hotel rooms increased 16.7 percent between 2014 and 2024, compared with national growth of 13.6 percent, the study said. Additionally, around 4,852 new rooms are expected to open this year, the most in the nation for a second consecutive year.
Another 5,778 rooms across 24 hotel projects are scheduled to open through 2028. The Bronx recorded the largest increase in hotels since 2019, rising from 31 to 52, followed by Brooklyn, which added 32 hotels to reach 147 and Queens, which added 37.
Hotel employment lagged visitor demand, with 45,325 people working in city hotels in 2025, 12.9 percent fewer than in 2019. Manhattan, which accounted for 87.6 percent of hotel employment before the pandemic, remains the largest source of the shortfall. The average hotel salary was $86,588, compared with the national average of $45,681.
Vijay Dandapani, Hotel Association of New York City president and CEO, said the comptroller's report confirms the industry has yet to recover from the pandemic and remains thousands of jobs and millions of visitors below pre-pandemic levels.
“As an industry we are also paying our employees the highest wages in the country and contributing more than ever to the tax base, but our operating margins are much thinner, putting hotels at risk of closure—and putting more jobs at risk as well,” he said.
HANY previously launched an ad campaign and website highlighting the FIFA World Cup's economic potential for New York hotels.
Visitors spent $55.6 billion in New York City in 2025, including $13.9 billion on hotels. The city collected $2.4 billion in tax revenue from the industry in fiscal year 2025, including $770 million from the hotel occupancy tax.
The report found 80.9 percent of hotel workers live in the city and 63 percent were born outside the U.S., the highest share of any city industry. Room attendants accounted for 29.2 percent of the workforce and earned an average salary of $49,887.
Hotel workers represented by the Hotel & Gaming Trades Council secured an eight-year contract with higher benefits and a 50 percent wage increase over the life of the agreement.
Hotel investment has also continued. In February, Gencom acquired the 253-room Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park from Westbrook Partners. It was the firm's third New York City hotel acquisition in 16 months, following the Thompson Central Park in 2024 and the InterContinental New York Times Square in December.
