Not only is the Covid19 Virus scaring eveyone but I am amazed to see yet another hotel being floated (in addition to the one on Waites Wharf). This one is on Lee's Wharf. In all of the statistics I have read in the last year or so, I've yet to see some actual statistics to back up the need for all these new hotel properties. I do recall someone in the Visitors Bureau being quoted a few years ago that additional hotel rooms would alliviate the full occupancy issues hotel were facing in the summer months and lower overall prices. The owner of one ot the pricier Newport hotels wrote to the Newport Daily News where he noted that the prices are high in the summer because the occupancy rates are so low the rest of the year tht the hoteliers need to make enough money in the high season to carry them over. It actually was convenient last winter when the gas was shut off. We had plenty of empty rooms to house people. The stress that new hotel rooms will bring on the city's infrastructure and livability will affect us all. We should take a look before we take a stand. We may need to fight to continute to keep Newport as our City By The Sea.
