Earlier this week, The Brooklyn Eagle reported a boom in the number of hotel projects happening in Brooklyn. Data from Smith Travel Research shows that a whopping 40 hotels are being planned for the borough, with 15 in construction already and 12 of those set to open this year.
That's how Times reporter and Bronxite David Gonzalez describes the Boogie Down in a great article/post that's up on the City Room blog right now.
The article focuses on how guide books, like AAA's, have very little information about lodging and other amenities for those wishing to visit our fine borough -- and then goes on to say that our very own tourism council isn't helping, despite the fact that there is a tourism market (mostly out-of-town baseball fans coming in to catch a Yankee game) that could be taken advantage of.
Gonzalez said he wanted to explore this idea after picking up a guide book in Texas and finding next to zilch written about the Bronx. What he found is that while most lodging facilities in the Bronx still cater to hourly customers, there are a couple of legit hotels that serve actual tourists. He also said the Bronx is still suffering from an outdated image problem, one that's not being helped out by our own tourism council and borough president's lack of action in remedying the problem.
Until there's a real effort to repair this image problem, the Bronx will remain the Rodney Dangerfield of boroughs: Can't get no respect!
