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Nancy Martin, her husband and two children came to New York State for her niece's wedding in Saratoga Springs and decided to stay a few days in Manhattan. But they wanted to keep costs low because of the price of airfare, fancy clothes and wedding gift.
"My sister stayed three nights at a La Quinta in Texas and let me have her free night," said Martin, who lives in San Antonio and was wearing her NBA 2003 champs T-shirt.
While the La Quinta Inn Manhattan is not the cheapest hotel in the city - rooms were on special for July at $89.99 for double occupancy - Martin said she liked the complimentary continental breakfast and the very clean rooms.
The 185-room hotel on 32nd Street between Sixth and Fifth avenues usually has a lowest rate of $99.99, but like many hotels in Manhattan and Queens this summer, it's using special rates to attract tourists. Its business center, with two work stations, and fitness room with a Stepmaster, treadmill and exercise bike, are free all the time, as is wireless Web access for laptops. The chain's current promotion offers a free stay after three separate stays.
Promotions and free amenities are not surprising when you consider how the slow economy and fears of terrorism have affected travel. Companies like San Francisco-based PKF Consulting that serve the hospitality industry and track occupancy rates note that for the first five months of 2003 hotels in Manhattan report a 68.5 percent occupancy rate, off from 72 percent last year. But, PKF says, that falls to 62 percent for hotels that sell rooms for $125 or less, down from 66 percent in 2002.
"This shows there's clearly price pressure on New York," said John Fox, head of PKF's Manhattan office.
Vijay Dandapani, the chief operating officer of Apple Core Hotels, a group of five Manhattan hotels including La Quinta, knows the pressure and reasons for it. "The supply is in excess of demand,"...