Other factors have also contributed to higher room rates.
In September 2023, city officials began to enforce a new law meant to curb the proliferation of short-term rentals, such as those listed on Airbnb, which used to account for more than 10 per cent of all tourist accommodations in the city. The crackdown obliterated most short-term Airbnb listings, which some observers said might have had an even larger impact on hotel rates than the migrant crisis.
The number of Airbnb listings in NYC for short stays – under 30 days – plummeted by 83 per cent to 3,705 apartments in March, down from 22,247 listings in August 2023, the month before the law went into effect, according to AirDNA, an unaffiliated company that collects data from…