ShinyO

Hi,

We may have to travel so my husband can have open heart surgery with a specialist at Mount Sinai. He値l be in hospital for 5 days or so and then need another 5 days to convalesce locally before we get on a plane to go home.

I知 looking for a good hotel near the hospital - clean, quiet, with decent-sized rooms as we may need to rent a lift chair or hospital bed. Wheelchair accessible or at least limited stairs. I致e also looked on VBRO and AirBnB to see if we could rent an apartment or condo but I didn稚 find anything that would work (and there are slim pickings, I知 assuming due to Covid.)

It痴 been awhile since I致e had to travel to Manhattan and I致e never stayed on the Upper East Side so I知 not terribly familiar with the hotels there.

I知 aware of the quarantine restrictions for NY (we are from California) and the limited exemptions for medically necessary travel.

Thanks!

FlyinHawaiian

First, and most importantly, best wishes on your husband's surgery and speedy recovery!

If you have not already done this, please take a look at Mt. Sinai's website - https://www.mountsinai.org/locations...visit/planning and note that special rates *may* be available at select properties. The immediate area around Mt. Sinai is a bit of a hotel wasteland; the closest chain hotel I see is the Courtyard by Marriott Upper East Side. You might have better options in Midtown East and some of the properties on Lexington Ave (although many are closed; the Marriott East Side recently announced they are not going to reopen). It would be a relatively quick/cheap cab/Uber to/from the hospital.

ShinyO

Thank you! I have seen the list, but it痴 hard to know which ones are good without searching them each individually (which I may end up doing.) Thanks for the suggestions on other neighborhoods to search.

erik123

Garden Suites E. 64th is worth a look. Some rooms have outdoor patios which might be nice. But limited services I believe. If budget allows The Mark or Carlyle are high end.

Often1

A lot depends on your budget (make certain to factor in state and local taxes, which are high), as well as the services you want or require. Might you pay a bit more for a kitchenette and thus save on restaurants, delivery (does your hotel permit delivery), or room service? What amenities, such as WiFi, are included?

Also, be certain to check on the current situation rather than pre-pandemic. That really nice restaurant may be closed.

Finally, consider whether you might stay a bit further away and save if you use Uber. Or consider switching hotels from one close-by (there are very few) while in the hospital to one which is a bit further while recuperating to fly.

stimpy

Also the JW Marriott Essex House. I stayed there recently and it was top notch. However realize that none of the New York hotels has much of any food and beverage. You will have to go out for food, but that is pretty easy these days around these hotels and the hospital itself.

Also, regarding AirBnb, they are highly restricted in New York City so that is why you will not see many listings. It's not about COVID.

Petdog

Depending on your budget, there are a number of high quality hotels in the East 60s and 70s. If convenience to the hospital matters, these are a quick car ride away down Fifth Avenue from the hospital and up Madison Avenue to the hospital.

Note that many of the hotels listed on the Mt. Sinai website are not anywhere near the hospital.

ShinyO

Thanks all. The Mount Sinai list is nice but a little overwhelming and it痴 hard to know what痴 suitable.

I was thinking of booking something for the nights that I知 there by myself (probably 4-5 nights) that might be midrange so long as it痴 clean, quiet and comfortable and safe. Budget is flexible but might aim to get it below $300/night (ideally below $250 pre tax). Ideally within an hour痴 walk or less of the hospital.

And then move to something a bit nicer for when he痴 recovering (probably 3-5 nights depending), though probably no higher than in the $500-range per night before taxes, which seems to rule out some of the high-end properties.

For this, I壇 like a decent-sized room with two beds, an elevator, a quiet property. I suspect we値l mostly be in the room.

I知 guessing service levels have been curtailed with Covid, but it would be great to have a place with great service - he値l need extra pillows so he can sleep sitting up, etc.

Great if there are some good restaurants nearby that are open for takeout or delivery.

Also he痴 supposed to walk around for a bit everyday so if it痴 in a neighborhood that痴 nice to walk around in for a bit and isn稚 terribly far to drive to the hospital for post-operative appointments that would be great too.

Blumie

So a few thoughts based on my recent experiences staying in hotels in NYC and elsewhere:

First, most hotel services have been significantly curtailed or eliminated during the pandemic. Forget about room service or daily housekeeping, for example. That said, if you need anything -- extra towels or your room cleaned -- usually you can get it on demand, with the higher end properties being better at providing services than the lower end properties. (In my experience, if you need towels, shampoo, or other supplies, it's better to go directly to the front desk and ask rather than call and wait for delivery; most hotels have cut staffing to the bare minimum.)

Second, keep in mind that NYC hotel rooms tend to be on the small side, even in the nicer hotels, especially when compared to comparable hotels in other US cities. You may want to call around or research online to find actual room sizes.

Third, every hotel will allow you to have food delivered, and as you may be aware NYC has remarkably extensive food delivery options, with more and more higher end restaurants launching delivery service since dining in is not currently an option in NYC. That said, you're going to get food in a bag. It won't be nicely plated. You'll be eating on paper plates (or out of plastic containers) with plastic utensils. (And, on the subject of utensils, there has been a wonderful movement by NYC restaurants to only include plastic utensils if you request them, whereas they used to include them with every order. But I've had a number of instances where I asked for utensils and did not get them. So it wouldn't hurt to have some on hand. The hotel should be able to provide them. Same with napkins.)

Finally, there are some wonderful outdoor dining options in NYC currently, but no indoor dining as noted above, and all of them are weather dependent. https://ny.eater.com/ is a great source to research options. They even have a list of places that provide sheltered tables in case it rains. Here's a few of their reports to get you started:

https://ny.eater.com/maps/nyc-michel...restaurant-map
https://ny.eater.com/maps/nyc-manhat...outdoor-dining
https://ny.eater.com/maps/dine-outdo...in-shelter-nyc
https://ny.eater.com/maps/best-nyc-o...ng-restaurants

Out of my Element

I would avoid VRBO and Airbnb. Partly because they are 99% illegal in Manhattan, but also because I'd be more comfortable that a major chain is ensuring proper cleansing of their rooms than someone who is renting out unlicensed rooms by the night

ShinyO

Thanks for the tips. I do recall that NYC rooms were small. It would be nice to find something that痴 a decent enough size to fit 2 beds just because we値l probably be spending a fair amount of time in the room.

stimpy

Ask for a handicap room. They are extra large with room for wheelchairs to move about. And special bathrooms to accommodate wheelchairs. I was upgraded to one recently at the JW Marriott Essex House facing Central park. It was very nicely appointed too.

ShinyO

Thanks! Good to know the JW Marriott Essex House handicap rooms were nice. I've stayed in a few, mostly because of last-minute check-ins when there has been no other available rooms and sometimes the handicap rooms are not all that nice, beyond the accommodating bathrooms. But that's mainly been at lower-end properties on road trips, aka La Quinta, Best Western.
From what I understand we will have to be mindful of ensuring that the room has a walk-in shower rather than a tub-shower combo, though most of the tub-shower combo rooms I've experienced have been in older, cheaper properties that had not yet been renovated.

Do you know if some hotels will be able to provide a shower seat? I've seen some built into the showers of handicap rooms.

Petdog

One random idea: Check out the Hotel Warwick. They've got larger rooms than are typical in NYC, suites with real terraces (also unusual for NYC). Both of which might be nice features for you.