Produced by Sonia Dasgupta and Stephanie Marcus

As the holiday season approaches, New York City’s businesses hope to get an additional boost of customers from the tourists who come in masses to see the city’s sights.

Although hotels in the past were used to having all their rooms booked during the holiday season, in order to make sure their profits increase this year, many hotels are advertising inexpensive deals and specials during the holidays to entice customers to stay with them.

The Chelsea Savoy Hotel on West 23rd Street entices tourists to stay with there with a $205 room rate. Photo: Sonia Dasgupta

Michelle Cucuccio, a receptionist at the Chelsea Inn Hotel, said the hotel has two specials during the holiday season.

“We’re offering patrons 10 percent off if they stay with us during the month of November,” Cucuccio said. “We are also offering customers a deal that if they stay with us for six nights, the seventh night is free December through March.”

Although she said the hotel, at 27 W. 11th St., has tried to establish a relationship with other businesses to create some special packages, it hasn’t always worked in their favor.

“We’re trying to work out a deal currently with a spa, so that we can offer guests a free facial if they stay with us and encourage them to use other neighboring businesses,” she said.
The Gem Hotels, which have locations in SoHo, Chelsea and on West 36th Street, have advertised a $139 a night special between Nov. 20 and Nov. 29 and Dec. 13 through Dec. 29.

“The special represents savings of approximately $80 per night, with regular rates averaging $219 during this period,” said Leslie Dewees, a spokeswoman for the hotel chain.

Dewees said that although the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is popular for travelers to visit the city, hotel occupancies around the city are still expected to be lower this year than in recent years.

“The deal is incentive for travelers planning to visit the Big Apple over the holidays to book earlier,” she said, “as the special ends as soon as rooms at the three GEM hotels are sold out.”

According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association in 2007 there were more than 48,000 hotels operating in the U.S. With close to 4.5 million rooms combined, the nation’s hotels posted $139.4 million in revenue. However, the average occupancy rate was only 63 percent and hotels made an average of $65 per room.

Other hotels in Chelsea offered some deals, such as a $205 room with a queen bed at the Chelsea Savoy Hotel, while others, such as the Maritime Hotel and Larchmont Hotel, said they weren’t offering any deals.

Prince Reynolds, a spokesman for R A Travel, said his travel agency has been throwing themed parties in hotels to create a buzz.

“We’re currently working on a World Cup party,” Reynolds said. “We try to utilize the penthouse spaces in the hotels that are pretty much abandoned right now.”

He said the parties, hosted by the travel agency, are held in hotels that are looking for new patrons.

“We’ll invite some of our regular customers, who are looking for hotels to stay in when they come to the city,” Reynolds said.

He said there are fewer people vacationing in New York City now than in the past.

Yet, NYC & Company, the city’s official tourism bureau, reports that the city’s visitors this year will probably be unchanged from 2008, when between 11.5 million and 12 million tourists visited. Carli Smyth, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit, said, “People are doing some last-minute bookings, so people must be getting some good deals.”

Cucuccio said she believes the hotel business is subtly going upwards.

“I’ve been noticing that more people are coming straight from the airport to the hotel looking for rooms, than booking them earlier,” she said.

With more than 6,000 visits last year and a 97 percent registration rate, officials at a school-based clinic in Public School 11 believe they will serve even more students this year.

Linda Mikolay, a nurse practitioner and supervisor of school-based clinics sponsored by The Ryan Center, said she believes the numbers will increase because school enrollment is up and parents are looking for affordable health care.

Adam, 7, receives treatment regularly form the Ryan Center's clinic in PS 11 for his allergies and asthma. Photo: Sonia Dasgupta

“We see every student whether or not they have insurance,” Mikolay said. “Sometimes if they have it, we’ll bill Medicaid.”

The Ryan Center is a community-based clinic that runs several school-based clinics in addition to its community health centers. It serves students from both PS 11 and The Clinton School for Writers and Artists – schools that share a building on West 21st Street in Chelsea.

Although the clinic only serves students at the school, medical treatments performed at the facility are free.

“We do everything from Band-Aids to doing physicals,” Mikolay said.

That includes school immunizations, administering flu vaccines, routine follow-ups for asthma and diabetes, throat cultures and rapid strep tests, which diagnose strep throat, all for free.

The center has a nurse practitioner, Christine Dahler, who can write prescriptions for children as well.

There are 122 school-based clinics in the five boroughs, according to the city Department of Education. Eighty of the clinics also serve students for mental health issues, according to the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Web site.

Those clinics are sponsored by local hospitals or other community-based clinics and receive some funding from the state, Mikolay said.

She said the number of visits have increased each year.

Starting in fall 2007, the clinic saw 5,983 students from both schools that year.
“We’re seeing kids without their parents,” she said. “Parents fill out a consent form allowing us to treat their children during the school day without their presence. If a child doesn’t have consent, we can’t treat them.”

Katherine Neville, a single mother from Morningside Heights, specifically chose PS 11 for her son, Adam, because of the school’s clinic.

The second-grader has asthma and allergies to dairy products, eggs, wheat and corn.
“He’ll go into anabolic shock if he ingests it or if someone else touches him after touching those foods,” Neville said. “He is also allergic to pets.”

Although Adam’s asthma has led him to visit the clinic often, she said, she is indebted to the nurses at the clinic after they saved his life last March.

Neville said after one of her son’s episodes, Dahler told her it was an abnormal reaction and to go to the emergency room.

She said doctors discovered her son had a collapsed lung.

“I can feel like my son is taken care of,” she said, “and in my case he is alive because of them.”

However, for families who don’t attend a school with a clinic there is another option.

The city health department has walk-in clinics in all five boroughs for residents to receive required vaccinations for their school-age children at no cost.

Children or adults can receive immunizations for Hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps and rubella.

Mikolay said this year, one more reason may make numbers increase citywide.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Sept. 1 the city would provide free flu mist and flu shots to all elementary school children.

“Parents are worried about how they can prevent their children from getting swine flu along with the regular flu this year,” she said.

Last year, she said the clinic served about 10 percent of the schools’ populations for influenza.

Where you can get more information:

There are four clinics – Fort Greene Health Center in Brooklyn, Chelsea Health Center in Manhattan, Corona Health Center in Queens and Tremont Health Center in the Bronx.

Although all clinics are open from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the days they are open for walk-in appointments vary.