People come from around the world to experience all that New York City has to offer during the holidays, including watching the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, ice skating at Rockefeller Center, and watching the ball drop in Times Square. (As a New York native, I don't recommend this last one.) But the city government's misguided hotel policies are, like the Grinch, stealing Christmas joy from would-be tourists: Spending a weekend in Manhattan can easily set you back a couple thousand dollars—unless you're willing to sleep in a pod.
Today, the average daily rate for a hotel room in the city exceeds $300, but it wasn't always this expensive to stay in NYC. In fact, in the nearly 15 years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city's average daily rate (ADR) was declining in inflation-adjusted terms. After reaching a pandemic low of $144, NYC's ADR has risen steadily, reaching $314 in 2024, according to the New York State Comptroller's Office. Meanwhile, "gross profitability in this market grew 47.1 percent from 2022 [to 2023], the highest among the top 25 U.S. hotel markets," per the comptroller.
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