Looks like everybody wants to visit the Big Apple. Occupancy rates at New York City hotels averaged 84.4% in the first half of 2000, breaking the previous record for the January to June time period. The room rate was 7.7% higher than the first half of 1999, according to San Francisco-based PKF Consulting.

June, in particular, was a banner month for New York hotels, with occupancy rates soaring to 88.3% to beat the previous 1979 June record by 2%. Since the January to June time period traditionally is the slower half of the year, New York hotels are poised for a bustling second half. If rates do no more than reach first-half levels from July to January, the city is in store for a record-breaking second half, says John Fox, senior vice president in the New York office of PKF.

New York hotels certainly didn't lower room rates to attract guests. In fact, the $224.83 average daily room rate at Big Apple hotels also set a record for the first half of the year.