Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide chief executive officer Frits van Paasschen said increased demand for hotel rooms in New York City may signal the US is beginning to emerge from the recession.

'New York is a good leading indicator because it’s such a crossroad of so many places,' Van Paasschen said in an interview in New York yesterday. 'It’s a function of business activity, the fact that New York is also always a destination and, as the euro strengthens, some business that comes from the other side of the Atlantic as well.'

bloomberg.com