N.Y. Holiday Visitors Need Rockefeller’s Dough

NEW YORK — Dreaming of seeing the lights twinkle on the famous Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center or strolling the decadently decorated canyons of Manhattan?

Make plans for next year, travel experts say, because there are virtually no rooms at the inn, the motel or the Waldorf Astoria this holiday season in New York City.

With about 9 million winter visitors expected, the city’s 65,000 hotel rooms are nearly full or unavailable, and those few rooms that can be had are going for top dollar.

“It only goes up from here,” Adam Brecht, a hotel industry analyst with PricewaterhouseCoopers, says. “The rates will range from $350 to $700 for a standard room between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.” To cope, some travel agents are sending clients to the suburbs.

The Disney-fication of Times Square, the daily broadcasts of smiling faces outside NBC’s Today Show and good word of mouth have made the city a top vacation destination. Broadway shows this year enjoyed their best ticket sales ever, and top restaurants are booked.

“There’s no room to build new hotels. So if you have a good location, you essentially have carte blanche to charge whatever you want,” said Peter Yesawich, president of the travel marketing firm of Yesawich, Pepperdine & Brown.

The New York City Convention and Visitors Bureau set up a hotline to help tourists find hotels.

“You have to be flexible,” said Fran Reiter, chairwoman of the tourism bureau.