Hotel membership as well as allied membership has grown steadily resulting in an expanded dues base. Allied membership dues went up by 6.3% while hotel membership dues went up by approximately 6%.

Transparency in communication has been significantly enhanced. This includes timely delivery of financial reports and administrative memos. We are also excited to unveil by mid-2020 dramatically enhanced features to our website. These include a “Members Only Portal” for members to opt in or out of communications, a community message board, the ability to change and update profiles and be able to view all HANYC events on a single filterable calendar. Another resource will be a Jobs Bank for members to post jobs. 
HANYC continues to spearhead the fight against illegal hotels and the platforms that enable them as the founding member of ReformBnB, an international coalition against the widespread illegality present on short-term-rental (STR) platforms.

HANYC’s voice and proposals have been heard and adopted in a number of countries from Spain to Argentina to Japan. The coalition hopes to achieve material success in Paris, France, the most important city for STR platforms at its next convention in May 2020 where it is expected that financial sanctions against STR platforms will be enhanced considerably. 

All indications are that hotel industry revenue for 2020 will continue to face headwinds as happened in 2019. With HANYC’s recognition as the voice of the hotel industry among all stakeholders we expect to engage at multiple levels to lower operational and financial burdens our industry faces both at the City and State level. 

Finally, I would also like to express our deep appreciation to Chair, Fred Grapstein, all members of the Board and Committee Chairs who gave so freely of their time and ideas.

If you have a matter or issue with either NYC or NYS, please do not hesitate to reach out to us!

Happy Holidays and New Year!

President and CEO of the Hotel Association of New York City
Niki Franzitta
Vice President of Member Relations and Development

Niki’s many hats include reaching out to prospective members as well as outreach to new members and providing support and membership value for all existing hotel and allied members of the Association. This includes the planning and execution of educational seminars in all areas of hotel operations, working on increasing member engagement and providing labor guidance as the hotel industry Labor Mediator.

Albert Fernandez
CFO

Albert has worked in the hospitality industry for over 20 years and has extensive knowledge of finance and tax issues affecting the NYC hospitality industry. He has a Master’s Degree in professional accounting as well as a deep working knowledge of Hotel applications. He has been a member of the Hospitality Financial & Technology Professionals Association for 15 years. Presently, Albert lives in NYC.

Rosa Reyes
Receptionist and Secretary

Rosa answers and manages incoming calls, routes them appropriately and takes messages. Rosa’s responsibilities include the scheduling and coordination of weekly hotel industry labor mediations and support of various other operations of the Association.
Sandy Abiad
Executive Assistant

Sandy provides support for and is the point of contact between Association executives and external constituencies. Sandy’s duties include scheduling and coordinating all aspects of Board of Directors, Executive Committee and other meetings and appointments, and taking and transcribing minutes of such meetings.
Tamta Beriashvili
Office coordinator
tamta@hanyc.org

Tamta is in charge of coordinating various office tasks and functions to ensure office operations run smoothly at all times. Her job function also includes managing the schedule for all company conference and meetings rooms, ensuring that executive meeting needs are always met.

Neil Tai
Technology Associate

Neil is the WD-40 of the Association. His main duty is to ensure the smooth daily operation of the office which includes but not limited to accounting, IT infrastructure, and a plethora of Association matters.