The Shelburne Sonesta New York — Hotel in New York

We really enjoyed our 12 night stay at the Shelburne Sonesta hotel in September 2025 during our visit to New York for my wife's 60th birthday celebrations. The hotel is in a great location on the junction of Lexington Ave & E37th St in mid-town Manhattan, within walking distance of Time Square, Bryant Park, Broadway theatres, The Empire State Building & The Chrysler Building. Grand Central Station is just a 12 minute walk down Lexington Ave for subway and mainline trains and the E34 St NYC Ferry terminal is also a 12 min walk away. The Vintage Green rooftop bar is on the 16th floor of the hotel with stunning views of the Manhattan skyline. We enjoyed a fantastic Moroccan lamb pizza with a few drinks on our first night at the hotel there and were extremely impressed with the stunning views of the Empire State Building and the Manhatten skyline at night. We also had a few drinks at the open air bar watching the sunset on another evening. We had dinner at the Take Care Bistro in the hotel one evening and really enjoyed the experience. The food was delicious, especially the BALT (bourbon pepper bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato) sandwich. We liked the sophisticated decor and how atmospheric, inviting & cosy the restaurant was with dimmed lights and a small lighted candle on each table. Our spacious Studio apartment on the 14th floor of the hotel had a small kitchenette with a tea/coffee maker, fridge & microwave, which was what we wanted and were happy to pay a bit more for than a standard room. The King sized bed was firm and very comfortable. The decor was very traditional with dark wood furniture and marble tops but we liked it. There was plenty of wardrobe and cupboard spaces to hang and store our clothes and we used the room safe to keep our passports & other valuables in. An iron and hairdryer was provided in the room for our use. The staff at the hotel were all very friendly, courteous and helpful. There was 4 hours between checking out at 11am and catching a Lyft ride to JFK airport for our flight home and we were able to leave our luggage in the secured hotel guest storage room, leaving us free to spend our last hours in Bryant Park, doing some shopping and watching the Man Utd v Chelsea EPL football match at the fantastic Long Hall Irish Pub nearby. The only minor grips I had with our stay was the telephone in our room didn't work when I wanted to make a local call, however, it was fixed shortly after I reported it at reception, we didn't receive a replenishment of tea bags every day, the air conditioning was loud but we got used to drowning it out and we didn't realise it was a dog friendly hotel when we booked and I'm allergic to pet hairs, which I managed by taking daily antihistamine tablets. We got a good room rate booking via Virgin Holidays, however, I resent the practice of US hotels charging facility and resort fees on top of their room rates. We had to pay a $43 daily resort fee FOR EACH OF OUR 12 NIGHTS STAY! An additional $516 for WiFi, use of their gym, 3 bottles of drinks every day & unlimited local and long distance phone calls in the USA!! - these are all included in the total room rates quoted when booking hotels in the rest of the world! This practice has put me, and a lot of other foreign tourists, off from holidaying again in the USA, together with the anti foreigner policies of the convicted criminal TACO President Trump, which is shame as we like the USA and it's certainly going to be a huge loss for...

"We shortlisted The Shelburne Sonesta for two main reasons - spacious rooms and the location and boy did it surpass our expectations on both these aspects and went beyond in so many other ways. In addition to spacious rooms (we opted for the 1-bed terrace suites), which we very well maintained & appointed, it was their service & hospitality that made our stays memorable. A special thanks to Petr, Gul, and their team for assisting us all through and ensuring our stay was nothing short of perfect.

The property is located in the vicinity of Murray Hill and right on Lexington Avenue - it's a mere 5-minute walk from Grand Central - which is pretty much the main station to go around anywhere in the city. Within a radius of 10 minutes walking distance, you'll find multiple restaurants, bars & stores - most Indian restaurants in Lex are a few blocks away :) The hotel building is a heritage property albeit is very well maintained. The terraces extend a grand elevation to this stately structure. Inside they have a spacious lobby with a sizeable sitting area. They have a self-service laundromat, which is a brilliant utility to have onsite, and being so central one doesn't really miss a convenience store or a dining outlet.

Our rooms (1-bed suite with a terrace) were unlike any other we've stayed-in at NY, meaning they were spacious and very much so. The hall had a working, dining, and sitting area with access to the terrace (more on the last part later), while the bedroom had a large king-sized bed and a sitting area. The rooms also had a kitchenette and enclosed storage areas. The rooms were clean and immaculately maintained, well-lit, and very well-appointed (with large LED televisions and plug points & USBs aplenty). The bathrooms are again spacious, though those with a bathtub can be a little difficult to access. The kitchenette is complete with a sink, refrigerator, coffee maker, and microwave - so very useful if you want to heat a snack or host someone. All things considered, the highlight of our rooms were the terraces (with one of them being exceptionally large) - they were resplendent with stunning views of the Manhattan skyline dotted with the Empire State Building, the One Vanderbilt, the Metlife facing us. One can spend countless mornings and evenings just watching them from here...

While they currently don't have a functional restaurant but have one coming up in early-24 and maybe a rooftop bar - would love to try them when next staying here

The service across the board was top-notch, and getting assistance from Gul & Petr while booking was priceless. The front desk was very accommodating to our request for early check-ins, they helped us with collecting our multiple Amazon parcels and consistently helped us in navigating our way across the city. That apart, their cloakroom staff, their doormen, and their housekeeping were always helpful, pleasant, and a pleasure to deal with. This culture & attitude is something that will make any hotelier proud of their set-up.

All-in-all, our experience with the Shelburne Sonesta was nothing short was splendid. They went out of their way to make our stays memorable & comfortable. While at times, one can consider the hotel to be a tad expensive, it's definitely worth it for the sheer comfort, quality of service, locational convenience, and overall experience. We could not recommend this place more to stay-at when in NYC. Thanks...

We had a mostly terrific stay here!||Pros: the beds were very comfortable. My husband even declared it was one of the best hotel beds he stayed in. The rooms were a decent size for NYC. The lobby was quite nice and the location was decent. We had breakfast at The Take Care Restaurant on the property. The atmosphere was nice and the food was good! The housekeeping staff were all very friendly and they did a nice job cleaning our rooms, thank you!||Big shout-out to the doorman David O. After spending a good part of the day out and about, we took an Uber back to the hotel. Apparently, I dropped my cell phone (which was wallet-style with my credit cards and license) on the street when I got out of the car. David saw the phone face down in the road and held onto until I was able to retrieve it. I am so grateful he found it! He was so nice to us. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! ||Cons: at times we felt as though we were nickel-and-dimed. We had booked two rooms. On check-in, the front desk person said we were entitled to "two free items per day per room" and indicated a cabinet with assorted snacks and beverages from which to choose. Immediately after we checked in, we looked at the assortment and decided we wanted a couple of drinks. But, the person who checked us in was already waiting on several other people and wasn't available. We would have had to wait too long to get our free drinks. There weren't any other staff members at the front desk.||The next day, we requested three things - two drinks and a popcorn but were told, "you can only choose two things." I mentioned that we weren't able to get our free things from the day before because a line had formed and the woman at the front desk said, "I'm sorry, but the free items from yesterday have expired. If you want, you can pay for the popcorn." Really? We also requested a couple of items on the day of check out but were again told that our free items had expired and weren't available on the day of check out.||The bathroom tile in one of the rooms had really dirty grout, all over. It is in serious need of being regrouted or retiled. It looked pretty gross.||I would probably stay here again - overall, the friendliness of the doorman and the housekeepers plus the other pros I mentioned made this a...