A City Staycation At The Gardens Sonesta ES Suites New York

A convenient location and ample space are two of the prime considerations for visitors choosing a place to stay in New York.

The Gardens Sonesta ES (Extended Stay) Suites New York, located in the Lenox Hill neighborhood on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, meets both of these hard-to-fill criteria.

First built as a residential building in 1962, the property at 215 East 64th Street was converted into an Affinia hotel, completely overhauled in 2018, and then acquired and rebranded by Sonesta in 2022.

It’s one of four Sonesta properties in the city, a brand with over 1200 properties, that has experienced exponential growth since 2020.

Extended stay: When space matters most

Hotel rooms in New York City are often referred to as “shoe boxes” because their rooms typically range in space from 250-350 square feet.

However, all the 132 apartment-style suites at this extended-stay Sonesta property are uber-spacious and comfortable.

They include 425-square-foot junior suites, 625-square-foot one-bedroom apartments, 1,200-square-foot two-bedroom units, and 1,000-square-foot penthouses. In addition, some of the units have large terraces or patios.

A snug hotel room may be comfortable for a short hotel stay, but there are many times when visitors want more space coupled with apartment-style amenities, in essence, a home away from home.

Extended-stay properties provide livable accommodations for those who need temporary housing with apartment-like amenities.

This may include:

• Residents of the greater metro area who want a temporary, pied-à-terre style getaway to take advantage of all the city’s cultural, culinary and entertainment attractions;
• Business travelers who come to New York for a week or more and want a home-like setting;
• Families or groups of friends visiting the city who want shared spaces (like a living room) with separate sleeping quarters.

Amenities at The Gardens Sonesta ES Suites New York

There are some 20,000 restaurants in New York, one of the city’s great lures with eateries from casual to Michelin-starred. But when visitors are here for a lengthy period of time, eating three meals a day at restaurants can get pretty exhausting (and expensive).

Each of The Gardens Sonesta ES Suites NY features full working kitchens with refrigerators, dishwashers, stoves, microwaves, pots and pans, tableware, and coffee makers. This can be a godsend for families with children, visitors on a budget, or the solo traveler who doesn’t want to eat out alone.

In each suite, in lieu of over-priced room service, the hotel provides menus from local restaurants in the area that deliver a range of cuisines.

The up-to-date units also come with 55” television screens, high-speed Internet service, comfortable powered recliners, in-room safes, and housekeeping services. A small gym is downstairs and parking is available at an extra charge.

Easy access to all of New York

The Gardens Sonesta ES Suites NY is a perfect perch for those who want to explore and take advantage of all that New York City has to offer.

Located on E. 64th Street, between Second and Third Avenues, the hotel is within walking distance of Central Park, and Fifth, Madison, and Park Avenues, as well as Museum Mile.

The streets adjacent to the hotel are filled with a diversity of shops: coffee shops, bars, restaurants, fashionable boutiques and more. One could spend an entire day visiting the mammoth 11-story, 815,000 square-foot flagship Bloomingdale’s department store at 59th and Lexington, only a few blocks from the hotel.

Because it is in close proximity to so many world-renowned medical facilities (including Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and the Hospital for Special Surgery), many patients and visitors find it convenient to stay at the Sonesta (the hotel offers special medical rates for such stays).

And of course, the new Second Avenue subway extension (with a station conveniently located at Lexington Avenue and E. 63 Street) offers guests easy access to other parts of the Upper East Side and to trains at Grand Central Station that offer a gateway to the entire city.

Summer special

For stays through September 15, 2023, Sonesta Hotels of New York is offering special summer rates at all four of its NYC properties: The Benjamin Royal Sonesta New York, The Fifty Sonesta Select New York, The Shelburne Sonesta New York, and The Gardens Sonesta ES Suites.