ABTN talks to Dandapani, who is also vice-chairman of the Hotel Association of New York City, about business for his chain of New York hotels and the latest trends across the Big Apple
How is business so far for Apple Core Hotels in 2012?
It’s very early but this January was better than January 2011 which was better than the previous year, so that is obviously encouraging. We are an independent hotel company with five properties in Manhattan. There’s a long-standing tradition in Manhattan for independent hotels although that has been broken by the chains to a far degree in recent years. But generally independent hotels still do well.
How do you market your hotels and what do offer business travellers?
We really target independent corporate travellers – not group travel – by offering a range of amenities such as free wifi, free long-distance domestic calls, free breakfasts and free fitness and business centres. We have a value proposition to business travellers who appreciate that we include these facilities in the price – if you add them all up individually it gets very expensive. All our properties are in Midtown so we are very well-located and only 15 minutes walk from major shopping and business districts. We have a total of 800 rooms across the five properties – the biggest is 220 rooms and smallest is 80 rooms. We’re also a very stable company as we’ve been in business for 20 years.
How do you distribute your hotel inventory to UK corporate clients?
We are on the GDSs and we are looking to break into the TMCs in the UK. We are really focused on the small individual businesses who don’t want to spend the big bucks for a New York hotel. We’re not looking to get big corporate accounts. We do get business travellers from the UK – it’s our biggest foreign market. The UK customer is fairly discerning and quite price conscious.
What’s going on in the New York hotel market at the moment?
Prices have gone up 30% in New York City in the last four years but they are going to come down. That will be great for the city and the customer but bad for the hotel industry. Hotels are dropping prices although occupancy has been steady. Prices cannot go up because everybody has been looking to build a hotel in New York. Having said that, there’s still a paucity of space in the central core of Manhattan and location is one of our key strengths.
What’s next for Apple Core Hotels?
One of our hotels – Broadway at Times Square – is finishing renovations in July. We also may look to pick up one or two hotels if suitable properties become available. I continue to be cautiously optimistic about this year. You can’t beat us on location for shopping and offices plus it’s easy to get to JFK and Newark airports.
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