New York Blocks Compete on Peak Nights
New York City averaged 124,000 active hotel rooms in 2025, up 1.9 percent from 121,700 in 2024. Those rooms ran at 84.1 percent occupancy and sold 38.1 million room nights. The average daily rate reached a record $333.71, up 4.7 percent in a year (Office of the New York State Comptroller, July 2026).
A block competes with that demand on every peak date it needs. The ten properties below are ordered on the figures each one publishes.
How This List Is Ordered
Three published measures order the list: the group ceiling a property states, the guest room count and the event space footprint. Capacity figures come from Cvent venue listings and from each hotel's own material. Attrition and the cut-off date carry the rest of the cost.
The groupRooms directory lists 254 bookable hotels in New York (grouprooms.org, September 2026).
1. New York Hilton Midtown, 1335 Avenue of the Americas
1,878 guest rooms and 150,000 square feet of meeting space. The hotel's events page states that its ballroom is the largest in the city and puts the meeting footprint above 150,000 square feet across two floors. The building sits in Midtown, five blocks from Central Park and opposite the Museum of Modern Art. Park Hotels & Resorts owns the property and Hilton Worldwide manages it. Compare block rates at grouprooms.org.
2. Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, 811 Seventh Avenue
Its Cvent listing is the one among the ten that states a group ceiling: up to 1,100 rooms on peak and 1,200 meeting attendees. The listing puts the size at which a group reaches exclusivity in the house at 600 rooms on peak with 750 attendees. Groups of 100 to 300 rooms on peak can be held on one floor. The hotel carries 1,780 guest rooms, 61,808 square feet of meeting space, 60 suites and a 2019 renovation. Compare block rates at grouprooms.org.
3. New York Marriott Marquis, 1535 Broadway
The hotel's meetings page states more than 100,000 square feet of event space. Its listing states that a planner can combine the Marquis with its sister property, the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, for a meeting of up to 2,000 rooms on peak. Published room counts differ between sources. Confirm the current total before you size a block. Compare block rates at grouprooms.org.
4. The Westin New York at Times Square, 270 West 43rd Street
873 guest rooms, 36 meeting rooms and 34,000 square feet of meeting space. A 200-room block fills about a quarter of the house. Ask the property to quote one floor first, then a second floor. Compare block rates at grouprooms.org.
5. The Hotel Edison NYC, 228 West 47th Street
811 guest rooms, 7 meeting rooms and 30,000 square feet of meeting space. The largest single room covers 14,000 square feet. Ask the hotel to hold one floor across your dates. Compare block rates at grouprooms.org.
6. Hyatt Regency Times Square, 1605 Broadway
795 guest rooms, 31 meeting rooms and 23,381 square feet of meeting space. The meeting room count suits a programme with several concurrent sessions. Compare block rates at grouprooms.org.
7. InterContinental New York Barclay, 111 East 48th Street
704 guest rooms, 15 meeting rooms and 20,000 square feet of meeting space. The address sits east of Fifth Avenue. A 350-room peak takes half the house. Confirm the attrition percentage that applies at that level. Compare block rates at grouprooms.org.
8. InterContinental New York Times Square, 300 West 44th Street
607 guest rooms, 10 meeting rooms and 20,000 square feet of meeting space. A 300-room peak takes about half the house. Ask for the attrition percentage at that level in writing. Compare block rates at grouprooms.org.
9. Hard Rock Hotel New York, 159 West 48th Street
446 guest rooms, 5 meeting rooms and 17,000 square feet of meeting space. The meeting room count suits a single-track group. Ask for the release terms in writing. Compare block rates at grouprooms.org.
10. PUBLIC, an Ian Schrager hotel, 215 Chrystie Street
367 guest rooms, 9 meeting rooms and 19,127 square feet of meeting space. The Lower East Side address sits outside the Midtown cluster. The room count fits a 100-room block. Compare block rates at grouprooms.org.
The Four Clauses That Carry the Cost
Attrition, the cut-off date, cancellation and rate protection decide what a block costs. The groupRooms glossary defines the cut-off date as the deadline by which your group members must book inside the block. After that date the hotel releases unclaimed rooms to general inventory. It defines the attrition clause as the minimum share of the block your group must fill, with a penalty for a shortfall.
The cut-off date governs names. The attrition clause governs money. Ask for the cancellation ladder and the rate-protection terms in writing before you sign.
Where to Block for Each Kind of Group
Nine of the ten properties sit in the Midtown and Times Square cluster. PUBLIC sits on the Lower East Side at 215 Chrystie Street.
For meetings, price the Hilton Midtown and the Sheraton first, then compare the Marquis against both. For weddings, compare the largest single room and the suite count in each house. For team stays, match your peak room count to the house total and ask for one floor.
How Far Ahead to Ask
Ask each property when it opens group inventory for your dates and when the block must be released. The two answers set your booking window. A request sent to 50 or more hotels in the destination returns quotes inside 24 to 72 hours (grouprooms.org, 20 September 2026).
Comparing Block Rates Across the Ten
groupRooms states that group rates run 15 to 40 percent below the best available rate and that planners pay no fee. The company's figure carries no independent audit. Compare quoted offers side by side.
