The Fifty Sonesta Hotel New York — Hotel in New York

So... I went to this hotel with my mother, boyfriend and son about three weeks ago, staying for almost two weeks. We went because my mother was getting surgery at Sloan Kettering and this hotel works with you to give you a discount if you are family staying close by a patient in Sloan Kettering. You would never know that, with the way we were treated and overcharged... The first room we stayed in the majority of the stay was an "apartment suite", which looked like it hadn't been vacuumed. With no notice ahead of time, just a note left in the room on the desk, the hotel was going to be "under construction" with power outages throughout the week as they worked on their electricity. How convenient. Days of flashing lights and no power at all for period of time, but still expected to pay full price for the rooms... When their electrical work was supposedly finished, we still went another night with half of our room without power and it "couldn't be fixed until morning". Continuously convenient... My mother ended up having to stay in Sloan Kettering longer than expected, so we had to unfortunately extend our stay at this place... They were booked and we had to switch rooms toward the end of our stay, but once again, it was not made convenient. We were told we would have to pack all of our stuff and it would be stored "in the back" while we wait 5 hours to go to the next room. The manager would not tell me where exactly our stuff would be stored and I was very uncomfortable with that. We brought enough to possibly have to stay for weeks, no idea how long my mother would be in the hospital, and my one year old son was with us, and we'd never been to NYC before, so we brought a lot of stuff. Then the doorman argued with me about where our stuff would end up, again being told "in the back"... Our room card was immediately shut off so I couldn't access the elevator to get back to the room to even bring all of our stuff to the lobby to basically "be put wherever" from the way everyone was making it sound. I asked the doorman if he could scan me in the elevator so I could go up to my room where my boyfriend was waiting for us to move everything. He continued to argue, now about how "I can't just scan you into the hotel, I don't know if you're really going to this hotel", meanwhile we stood three feet away from me discussing this luggage situation with the manager in the first place! It was ridiculous! For a hotel that's aware of people there dealing with excruciating family situations affiliated with Sloan Kettering, they did nothing but stress us out to no end, treat us like we didn't belong there and make the entire situation so much worse... At this point, I called my mother and told her what was going on and asked her opinion. She agreed that I wasn't being ridiculous not being comfortable leaving all of my belongings wherever this hotel planned on putting them... The manager called and changed his tune apparently and said he would have a room for us in a couple hours and we could leave our belongings in our previous room. Obviously very relieving... It took about two hours as he said, and we went to get our room keys, the manager very short with me, clearly annoyed with me... we got to our room and my boyfriend questioned if we'd just been given one of the worst rooms they had because we annoyed the manager. I didn't want to believe such a negative thought, but one thing after another, I started questioning if my boyfriend was right. The toilet kept running since we got to the room (we dare not call someone to fix it, god forbid we annoy them with something else), the bathroom had mold on the walls and ceiling, the bathroom light didn't turn on because there was a leak dripping through the light! (Safety hazard!?!?!), the toilet paper holder was broken off the wall... the list goes on and on... Not to mention this room, just like our last room, had no heat! The day after we got this room, one of their elevators was broken for a day... I'm running out of characters to continue and there's so much more!!!! This...

Our family of four had a long stay in a One-bedroom King Suite over the Christmas holidays. It's a modern hotel with a small, pleasant lobby, good lighting, three elevators, on a safe, well-lit, busy block. Overall it was a great stay, but there are a few things they could do to get to a solid 5-star rating.

I'll start with the PROS: Location, location, location. Seriously awesome spot with so many choices for easy, safe, and timely public transportation. The 4, 6, E, and M subway stops are a block or two away, and these are nicer stations that were safe and busy, even late at night. The uptown buses on 3rd and Madison Avenues, and the downtown buses on 2nd and Lexington Avenues, all run very regularly. We got the 7-day Unlimited passes from MTA (buy at a subway station), and used CityMapper or Apple Maps on our phones to figure out routes to our destinations and back. We got a ton of use from these! There is also a Walgreen's around the corner, which is always handy. Easy walk to Grand Central, Rockefeller, St. Patrick's, MoMA, and the 5th Avenue shops. Friendly, responsive staff. The lobby personnel and housekeeping were awesome. They brought stuff up pretty quickly when we needed something (towels, TP, kitchen stuff, etc.). Everyone always greeted you with a genuine smile. Kitchenette. While we did not cook any major meals, it was great to have a small fridge, microwave, sink, 2-burner stove, and dishwasher in our room. We ordered groceries ahead of time and had them delivered via Instacart the day of our arrival. We always had breakfast in the room: cereal, toast, bagels (Ess-a-Bagel is across the street), instant oatmeal. There is a small toaster and coffee maker in the room. Big bathroom. When it's just myself and my husband sometimes the quaint, boutique hotels are a fun change. But those little sinks with almost no counter space would not work with us and our two teen girls. The tub/shower and toilet were fine, and the sink with a long counter plus open shelves beneath were great for all our toiletries.

Okay, now the CONS: I booked us a One-Bedroom Suite - King Bed. In the photos on their site it shows an L-shaped sectional sofa and a good-sized dining table with four dining chairs in a separate dining nook. Our room did not have all that. The sofa was just a regular sofa, not a sectional. The dining area was a tiny table about 2' in diameter with only two small "dining" chairs, and not in any kind of "nook," but against a small wall next to the kitchen. The bedroom and bathroom were great, but the living area was nowhere near what the photos showed. It was way more cramped and smaller than what we were expecting; it certainly did not feel like a 750 sq ft room. I would have complained but we got in 2 hours later than expected and it was late, and our groceries had already arrived. We just made do. But that was a major bummer and a disappointment. A little upgrade on the kitchenette is in order. Yes, there was a toaster and a coffeemaker, which was nice. BUT...a nicer toaster that could actually fit a bagel would be even better. The toaster was so old and small, with burned edges all around. The coffeemaker was sufficient, but if Affinia would upgrade it to at least a Keurig, it would work and taste a lot better. When we got in there was one glass, two mugs, and a bunch of spoons. We had to ask for more drink ware, forks, and knives (which they did bring quickly). The dishwasher's bottom rack was also completely off the rails, literally. To pull it in or out you had to lift it and put it on the door; it no longer slid on the rails properly.

Would we stay there again? Probably, next time we go again as a family. Our kids love NYC and now that they're older it's so easy to bring them and enjoy more. Next time, though, when booking this same room I will definitely clarify room size and amenities. Would love it, though, if they spruced up some of the kitchen issues...

Arrived at the fifty Sonesta on an evening after a long and tiring trip from the UK with my wife and daughter.Got checked in at the front desk only to be told we had to pay 45 dollars a night facilities fee, basically for the use of the gym (which we wouldn’t use) and we could pick snacks/drinks totaling 15dollars daily from a small cubby next to the front desk. Begrudgingly we paid it… we were tired from a long day and just wanted to rest. |We were in a two bed suite on the 12th floor and upon opening the door we were surprised how big the rooms were and thought we’d hit the jackpot,so we literally had a quick shower and crawled into bed. Next morning when we woke it gave us a good chance to check out the room,to say we were shocked is an understatement. The curtains/walls around the window frames and by the front door were all covered in black mould along with stains which looked like ketchup on the curtains. The footstool was covered in stains and I dread to think what it was. In general the room was extremely dirty and was in desperate need of a clean. We also found a few of the wall sockets loose and didn’t hold a plug in it without it falling out.So my wife went down to the front desk to report this to where she was offered alternative rooms on lower floors and upon inspection were no better than the room we were in. So upon reassurance from management that our room would be “deep cleaned” we decided to keep our original room and headed out for the day. Upon our return hours later,we noticed none of the issues had been addressed. So my wife again, went down to the front desk and spoke to another member of staff who assured us the room would be deep cleaned again and the sockets fixed by the end of the next day. So out for the day the next morning and upon our return in the early evening…..you guessed it…. Nothing had been done. So my wife rang the front desk to question this only to be fobbed off yet again. Even when we mentioned our daughter who has asthma should not be staying in a room that has black mould in it the front desk didn’t seem bothered and just told us the room would be cleaned. This went on for the next few days and every time we were reminded that they had offered us another room and we reminded them that the same issues were in them rooms also. Overall a very disappointing display of customer service and disregard towards people’s health and wellbeing. |Plus points….there aren’t many… the rooms are big, the beds are comfy and the kitchenette although very dated was a bonus. |Romeo the bell hop is the best thing about this hotel an extremely friendly and welcoming guy who has a wealth of knowledge on the local area and New York. Always greets you with a smile and a “welcome home”. if all the staff here were like him i would imagine this hotel would run like clockwork and would be no issues whatsoever, perhaps he could give front of desk staff some pointers in people management. | This was a once in a lifetime trip for us and cost a great deal of money and this experience totally took the shine off it. After a long day sightseeing the last thing you want to do is sit and relax in a...