Boram Care — Hotel in New York

TLDR: Boram is not a retreat. It is random hotel rooms on a floor barely equipped with items for baby or postpartum self care, and minimally trained workers capable of doing a very limited number of tasks to care for mom/baby.

I feel obligated to write this review because based on my experience, the other reviews were paid for and not authentic. I recently stayed at Boram for 3 nights after leaving the hospital. Before checking in, communication was off. I was in the hospital unsure of my discharge date / time, and I was texting with someone (I don’t even know who) at Boram to coordinate my reservation. They were not prompt in their responses to me about whether I would even be able to check in when requested. It was stressful but we sorted it out and I arrived at Boram. Someone met me downstairs to orient me. It seemed as though it was her first week on the job and she had no clue what she was doing. She was unable to direct me to a food menu, show me the classes supposedly on offer, log me on to the tv, or load the camera attached to my baby’s bassinet. On our tour we passed the nursery. There was one baby in there crying in his bassinet with a completely loose swaddle. It was at that point I knew I would not be sending my 2 day old to the nursery.

One of the reasons I wanted to go to Boram was for the lactation support they claim to offer. I asked the check in person about that and she told me ‘we all do lactation.’ I asked her extremely basic questions about my pump and she had no idea what I was talking about. That night my baby was cluster feeding so of course I was exhausted. I texted the care team and someone came and told me that the baby must be still be hungry and then left.

The postpartum products on offer in the bathroom were meager compared to the hospital. 3 adult diapers, a couple of witch hazel pads, and a peri bottle. No ice packs, pads or any of the other special products to pamper a postpartum mom. I was told all products would be provided for baby. There were no onesies, no baby hat, I was given one swaddle, and when I asked for burp cloths I was given something the size of a face towel. Nothing in the room decor is directed towards a baby or postpartum mom - it’s a random hotel room with a boppy pillow.

The next morning I texted the care team to ask for help using the baby carrier we brought (the solly wrap). Someone came to my room with a phone in their hand and a YouTube video on the wrap pulled up and held her phone up to my husbands face. At this point I was done. I didn’t want to make a huge fuss so I texted management to ask if I could reduce the number of nights from 5 to 3 which is truly the least I could ask. Someone promptly came to my room to discuss the issue. She was perfectly nice and offered me a free massage (which was actually sublime) and wanted to start fresh. I told her how important lactation support was to me and she assured me that she was an expert and would support me. Did she follow up once that day with me to discuss lactation? Of course not!! I got a text that afternoon that the CPR class on offer was cancelled. No surprise there.

At this point I gave up trying to salvage the experience and just wanted to reduce my stay. I was healing and exhausted from labor so I was unable to pack up and leave that day, though in hindsight I should have. The management did ultimately agree to reduce my stay from 5 to 3 nights but they wanted to nickel and dime even this extremely reasonable request and told me they would reduce my stay by one night only. They eventually reduced to 3 nights because I threatened to write this review, but I am so frustrated that I wasted 4000 on this garbage that I feel compelled to write about my experience and warn other mamas to be. The whole operation is unbelievably disorganized, unprofessional and feels like a scam. Stay away - I do not know what is...

My wife and I found out about this place after we watched "Birthing Center" on Netflix. We thought it'd be really neat if such a place existed, then we decided to look it up on a whim and found out these places were all over Korea. Then we decided to check if there was one in the US and we found that Boram exists and was in NYC.

We originally thought "Okay this place seems great, but what are we really getting for the money?" There's lots of information on the website but it was kind of hard for us to visualize the experience, so we found there was a Q&A session and signed up for that. The session was great and answered a ton of questions we had and we booked our stay shortly after. We also managed to get an in person tour which just further solidified the decision.

Timing the booking was tricky because you know your due date but you never know when the baby will actually arrive, and how long you'll be in the hospital, but Boram understands that and was very flexible when we thought the baby would be arriving 3 weeks early. The baby ended up coming on the due date which worked out great.

Our stay at Boran was nothing short of incredible. We opted for a 5 day stay in the largest room which was perfect for the times we had friends and family over to come see the baby. There was plenty of room for everyone, and it was nice to have a sort of "living area" separate from the sleeping area, a countertop we could eat at, and plenty of seating.

The staff were attentive, friendly, and so helpful. We had our baby staying overnight in the nursery almost every night during our stay, just so we could get some sleep after a few nights trying to sleep in the hospital. The staff were so helpful in taking care of our baby and showing us things like how to swaddle, some soothing methods, some advice for diaper changes, etc. Things that we sort of picked up in the hospital and just needed to go over a few more times before we really got them down.

My wife felt pretty awful after deliveryl with the amount of bruising from IVs, swelling from a misplaced IV, and her allergic reaction to medical tape, plus after the cesarean section she had some difficulties with walking. I convinced her to take advantage of the masseuse Boram recommends and get a massage (this is not included with the stay), and I'm so glad I did. She was worried because she had a c-section that there wouldn't be anything the masseuse could do, but the masseuse was clearly very experienced with postnatal massage and my wife ended up booking a massage for every day for the rest of our stay.

Lastly, the food was phenomenal. My wife didn't have much of an appetite after giving birth, which was a bummer since so many people brought us food she had been craving all through the pregnancy, but it worked out well for me since I got to eat so much of the food provided by Boram's chefs. Although, my wife ate the entirety of this one beef medallion dish she was served, and I don't blame her, I took one bite and it was definitely the best thing I ate during the whole stay and it was the first medium rare meat she had in months. Also, since partners aren't provided with an included meal, I ended up ordering a lot of room service and Burger Joint (in the lobby behind a red curtain, best burgers in the city.).

Overall, while the price can be scary for some, you get so much for your money. I wish there were more places like Boram, postnatal care like this should be the norm. It helped relieve such a mental and physical burden when it was most needed, as well as provide a much smoother transition than going from the hospital to being completely on our own.

TL;DR, staying here was worth every penny. If you're on the fence about staying here just do it, you...

Great concept but not for c-section moms

I stayed at Boram for 10 days in November 2024. Ashley and Joy were the most helpful staff there.

Room - I got one with Central Park view and two queen-size beds. The bathroom was clean, though the bathtub drained poorly. One notable downside was the lack of a microwave in the room. THE ROOM IS NOT DESIGNED FOR C-SECTION RECOVERY and Boram did nothing to accommodate. The bed was very soft. Getting up after c-section was incredibly difficult. I had to use the baby bassinet and nightstand for support, and on the first morning, I strained my abdominal muscles, which caused unbearable pain and tears. The loveseat, the chair, and the toilet are low, again, difficult to stand up. I asked the staff if they could provide a stool or walker for support, but they explained that they couldn’t due to safety concerns. They did promise to inform the management and hotel about my feedback. I also sent them a suggestion for a bedside removable handlebar via Instagram, but unfortunately, my message was never read.

Food - We tried nearly every option on the menu. Everything was delicious. I also ordered postpartum meal services from outside, and the Boram staff kindly delivered them to my room each day.

Lactation Support - I brought my Elvie wearable pump and sought help from their lactation consultant to learn how to use it. Interestingly, they said they all do lactation support but the associate staff who helped me wasn’t familiar with the pump either, so we ended up watching a YouTube video together to figure it out, which I found amusing. The same consultant recommended I use the 24mm size flange based on a visual assessment. However, within two days, my nipples became swollen and painful. Boram provided saline solution, which helped temporarily, but I wish the consultant had used a ruler to measure my nipples or recommended I try smaller flanges right away. I ended up enduring over two weeks of painful pumping before seeking help from an IBCLC, who determined I was actually a size 19mm. If you can, ask for Joy. She gave me helpful advice about solving my engorgement problem. Boram also provides disposable “ice gloves” for engorgement treatment, but I found them wasteful and opted to use my reusable ice packs instead.

Nursery - I sent my baby to the nursery every night, and i checked him on a monitor via their portal. During my stay the monitor was out of service a few times but they fixed it in a reasonable time after I told the team. Each morning, my baby would come back extremely calm—much calmer than when he was with us— my husband and I became very skeptical about it towards the end of the stay. There was a morning they sent me someone else’s baby… That said, I did feel uneasy during the last few days of my stay. I noticed on the monitor that my baby was getting fussy, and then his bassinet was pulled out of view. This left me wondering if they soothed him immediately or left him to cry out of sight. While I chose to trust the staff, I wasn’t 100% comfortable with this practice. Postpartum retreats in Asia often have full-view monitors for the entire nursery, or the nursery itself is designed to be transparent, allowing parents to see everything. If Boram could adopt a similar approach, it would greatly enhance the experience for parents and build even greater trust.

Overall - It is probably the best choice you can get in NYC area as of now, comparing to those in...