Room costs in NYC soar as 1 in 5 hotels converted into shelters for illegal aliens, homeless

Travelers interested in booking a hotel room in New York City this summer might be shocked at the price now that 20% of the city's hotel rooms have been converted into shelters for illegal aliens and the homeless, draining the city's supply of available rooms and sending costs through the roof.

According to a recent report from the New York Times, NYC has approximately 680 hotels. Of those, 135 have been turned into shelters.

'Make sure that your asylum hearing is in New York. ... If you put your court hearing in Texas, you're gonna screw yourself over.'

The city currently has 2,812 fewer hotel rooms than it had just before the COVID-related government shutdowns of 2020. That drop in supply has coincided with a sharp increase in demand now that tourists are returning to NYC at about pre-COVID levels.

These economic changes combined with a significant decline in short-term Airbnb rentals has caused rental costs to soar. In the year after NYC began accommodating large influxes of illegal aliens, the average cost of a hotel room in NYC rose 8.5%, from $277.92 in 2022 to $301.61 in 2023.

Many of these rooms are in hotels that were once frequented by middle-income tourists, and some believe that such tourists are likely to be hit the hardest by the changes.

"I really believe it’s enabled two-, two-and-a-half-star hotels to be a little more emboldened, to take advantage of the situation and charge prices that perhaps they wouldn’t otherwise be able to," said Sean Hennessey, a hotel industry adviser and clinical associate professor at New York University.

Many of these hotels were in dire straits before swarms of illegal aliens began arriving in the city, and some have been significantly altered to accommodate migrants in particular. For example, the Roosevelt has since turned its lobby into a immigration processing center.

Some will close their doors for good once the immigration crisis ends. "Some of them will not come back into the hotel industry, period," claimed Vijay Dandapani, president and CEO of he Hotel Association of New York City.

NYC, a sanctuary city, legally obligated itself years ago to provide a bed for all migrants who show up within its limits. As such, it's now paying cooperating hotels at least $185 per room per night, even if a room remains unoccupied.

The illegal alien and homeless guests who do occupy the rooms get to enjoy amenities such as "housekeeping every other day and fresh towels and linens at least once a week," the Times reported, citing sources.

Carlos Arellano, who used to work at the Row NYC Hotel, which has since become a shelter, told Fox Business that these migrant guests have not taken care of the accommodations they've been given, agreeing with host Stuart Varney's suggestion that the hotels have been "trashed."

"They're ruined. They're never going to be what they once were," he stated.

Arellano also claimed that some of the hotels have been billing the city — and, by extension, the taxpayers — for luxuries such as "homeschool teachers" for migrant children whose parents don't want to send them to public school. "They find any little excuse to charge more money," he said.

Arellano even suggested that illegal aliens are warned at the border to make their way to NYC, where they can take advantage of a legal system more sympathetic to their supposed plight.

"I've been hearing when I've been down talking to migrants at the border [] that they ... coordinate," he said.

"They tell each other: 'Make sure that your asylum hearing is in New York. Because in New York, there's judges who lean a certain way that will give you more time. If you put your court hearing in Texas, you're gonna screw yourself over.' So they tell each other: '[Have a court hearing] here in New York, claim your free hotel once you get there, and then come back to Texas. Because if you do it in Texas, it's not going to go well for you.'"

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!