New York Dream Hotels
The City That Never Sleeps. Until Now.
by Laurel House

Suite Dreams at The Benjamin

New York is known as “the city that never sleeps,” but that’s little comfort to travelers trying to get some shut-eye, tossing and turning to the unfamiliar street noise, nightlife and hustle and bustle. It used to be that people on the road, in order to ensure proper rest, would want to pack their pillows and mattresses with them when they left the comforts of home. But now they’re shoving their hotel pillows into their suitcases and even shipping the mattresses home!

What’s with the big switch? Blame the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts for outfitting their rooms with mattresses so comfortable that guests began to buy them up, ship them home and treat themselves to a hotel-quality sleep every night. And in Manhattan hotels, sleep is serious business.

The Benjamin in New York has gone so far as to assume responsibility for the quality of sleep that guests enjoy while staying under its roof with a money-back “sleep guarantee,” promising a full refund if they don’t get a good snooze. The Benjamin has also created a “Sleep Concierge” with a menu of eleven different types of pillows (including down, upper body, buckwheat, satin, hypo-allergenic, water-filled, Swedish memory, magnetic therapy, a jelly neckroll, a five-foot body cushion, and a special anti-snore pillow), a custom-designed Serta mattress, 400-plus thread count sheets with down-filled duvet, and lavender-scented toiletries in the bathroom. If still more is needed, the Sleep Concierge will arrange for in-room massages, milk and cookies, even a white noise machine.

Suite bathed in blue at the Dream and meditative tea room at the Chopra Center and Spa

With a name like Dream, this boutique hotel doesn’t take sleep lying down.. All rooms glow with some level of ethereal blue light that, according to color therapists, soothes the senses. It also boasts luxurious Egyptian cotton linens, Kashwere bathrobes, and an in-room iPod pre-loaded with ambient sounds, available upon request. Still can’t snooze? The gift shop sells sleep masks and other dream-inducing essentials, and the hotel’s Chopra Center and Spa offers a variety of yoga, meditation and traditional treatments.

Some hotels take the low-tech road to slumber. At the Lowell Hotel, in-suite, wood-burning fireplaces (a rarity in a city of statuesque skyscrapers) encourage guests to doze off to sound the crackling logs, and the old-world style of The Inn at Irving Place, with its period antiques, imparts a restful atmosphere.

The Hôtel Plaza Athénée keeps track of its guests’ preferences in order to create an atmosphere reminiscent of home. Those who have been swear their Italian Filid’Oro linens feel “like butter” against their skin. In fact the linens, along with the mattresses, are so popular that guests often purchase them. The hotel also remembers the exact type of pillow visitors prefer and will have it waiting in the room on their next stay. Added to this, bedtime rituals like milk and cookies, room temperature preferences and black-out curtains ensure that guests sleep like babies and awake refreshed and ready to take on Manhattan.

Suite dreams!

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