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I read a startling article on Al Jazeera this past week with a quote from the CEO of the Hotel Association of NYC claiming that the real occupancy rate of NYC hotels was less than 10%. That stat took my breath away. With over 200 of the 700 hotels in New York City still closed, and as many as 20% of the rooms speculated to permanently shutter, the occupancy drop is just flat out staggering.
The average room cost has plummeted from $336 to $135. Services, at hotels like The Pierre, have been slashed. Industry insiders claim that reports from the likes of Statista which assert occupancy levels are near 40% are false, and are simply inflated because many hotels have just stopped reporting data.
I lived in NYC, got engaged in NYC, absolutely love it, and have pined after staying at some of the most famous and influential properties that call the city home. It saddens me to hear that 870k jobs are in jeopardy, that properties are closing down left and right, and right now, I don’t really think there is an end in sight.
Lockdowns have, without a doubt, inflicted massive pain to the city. Reports abound of people fleeing, and many of my friends who once called the city home, have left. In fact, I believe I only have a couple of the 15-20 friends that lived in the city still call one of the 5 boroughs home.
Perhaps, next spring, when things have settled down, I will make my way back through the city. Hopefully, many of the hotels I would love to stay at will continue to offer massive discounts: The Pierre, Sherry-Netherland, The Carlyle, Four Seasons, The Greenwich, Crosby Street, Park Hyatt, etc.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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