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Confession of a longtime New York Stater: I love to visit New York City, but I don’t love to stay there. Why?
The hotels. Sure, if you’ve got deep enough pockets, you can enjoy a top-notch experience at a luxury hotel. But for the rest of us, midrange hotels are where it’s at. In New York City, this category often falls far short of its high price tag—generally starting at $180 or more per night. That’s why my most recent visit to New York City, which included a couple of nights at the NH Collection New York Madison Avenue, was such a refreshing change.
The neighborhood
At the intersection of East 38th Street and Madison Avenue, the NH Collection New York Madison Avenue benefits greatly from its location in the Murray Hill neighborhood, on the East Side of Manhattan. Less than a mile from the United Nations headquarters, Murray Hill is quieter and more likely to be populated by businesspeople and politicians than the rowdier crowds you’ll find around Times Square in Midtown or the West Village.
Murray Hill doesn’t have the density of shops and restaurants you’ll find in areas like Chelsea or Hudson Yards, but that suited me just fine. And it’s still in easy walking distance to some of the city’s marquee attractions, including the Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, and Rockefeller Center. I arrived in the morning, expecting I’d need to stow my bags until late in the day, but the friendly and helpful staff was able to get me into a room within a couple of hours.
My visit took place the weekend after New Year’s, so the famous Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was still twinkling, and next-door Bryant Park was filled with festive food and craft vendors during its annual Winter Village. Even though both are about a quarter mile from the hotel, the lack of noise in the Murray Hill neighborhood struck me immediately. I’d chosen it for its relative proximity to both Penn Station and a studio where my seventeen-year-old niece was auditioning for college theater programs, but I was happily surprised that it ended up being in one of the quieter places I’ve ever stayed in the city.
The room
My niece and I shared a Premium Double room (starting around $250/night), which had two queen beds, a flat-screen TV, and a small seating area, closet, and bathroom. It also had an in-room coffee machine and a safe for small valuables. The room was impeccably clean upon, and although we didn’t have any views on our side of the building, it was blissfully removed from both street noise and the incessant on-off cycles of HVAC units—and I’ll take that any day over scenery I can’t enjoy while I’m sleeping, anyway.
By New York standards, the room was spacious, and we were both able to spread out our bags (and in my niece’s case, the roughly 1,000 pounds of stage makeup she travels with). In keeping with NH Collection’s European roots, the design was modern, minimalist, and pleasing, with a sepia-toned subway map as wallpaper, wood tones, and bright pops of red.
I usually find hotel beds to be “too”—too hard, too soft, too scratchy, too princess-and-the-pea uncomfortable. I don’t know if hotel pillows all come from the same alternate-dimension warehouse, but they’re usually squishier than marshmallows.
The mattresses at the NH Collection New York were firm but not plywood-hard, and dressed in crisp linens with plenty of warmth. Even better, NH Collection gets right what many other hotels get wrong: it offers pillows of several different levels of firmness, so you can customize your sleep. I fell asleep within fifteen minutes of my head hitting the firm-but-not-too-rigid pillow, and stayed that way—even with my niece watching TikTok videos on her phone into the wee hours of the morning.
Onsite amenities
In the morning, Serafina, the onsite restaurant, puts out a decent continental breakfast spread, with choices like scrambled eggs, toast, yogurt, cereal, pastries, and fresh juice. (We also had a quick dinner there the night we arrived—a salad and focaccia with olive oil for me, and a margherita pizza for her; neither earth-shatteringly good, but still satisfying.)
Because I was running short on time, I didn’t have a chance to use the gym, which, as in most New York City hotels, is on the small side, with a few cardio machines and some free weights. Instead, I made myself comfortable in the lobby while answering some emails. The sitting area is decorated in an Art Deco style befitting the building’s history, which dates back to 1923. In the evening on Fridays, you can kick back there in a club chair or sofa, or in the adjacent 1950-style MAD Lounge & Bar, cocktail in hand, and listen to live jazz.
Courtesy of the marketing and PR team, I also toured the NH Collection New York’s luxury offering, the penthouse Empire Suite (starting around $1,500/night). It features exposed-brick walls; large, sunny windows; a private terrace with views of the Empire State Building; and a sizable bathroom with marble shower and countertops. If you’ve got the cash, this would be a fantastic place to spend a couple of nights while celebrating a milestone anniversary or birthday—preferably with a nice bottle of wine.
The verdict
The NH Collection New York Madison Avenue represents an excellent value for New York City. It’s not a budget hotel, but it won’t break the bank for a night or two—especially in a city where every meal and entrance ticket feels like an investment, and most midrange hotels are tired, dated, and cramped. If you want to be close to the action but not right in the middle of it, in a hotel that feels well-cared-for, the NH Collection New York is a great bet.
