In mid-November, my colleague Chris Shott recounted that even marquee hotels in New York were dropping room rates--a sure sign that the much-ballyhooed hotel boom was waning, if not completely over.
A basic room at the Hotel Pennsylvania tonight would also cost $189, down from $222. The price of a superior queen at the Philippe Stark-designed Paramount Hotel Times Square, meanwhile, has dropped from $209 to $167. The Theater District's Milford Plaza is pricing rooms as low as $159, down from $199.
Michael Stoler gets in on the action today, writing in The Real Deal:
On December 21, a handful of rooms were made available to visitors at a rate of $195 per night at Andre Balazs' 18-story, 337-room Standard Hotel in the Meatpacking District. The room price included complimentary breakfast room-service, wireless Internet access and free local calls.
