13 Dec Review of MySuites New York – Boutique Suite Rentals
Just getting sorted out for a long trip in the new year and I’ve been reminiscing on my last trip to New York last March, so I figured I’d get around to sharing a good vacation rental experience with a boutique suite company called MySuites. It was my first time visiting the Big Apple (that’s what really cool people call New York City, fyi) and I spent most of my time staying with family in the Upper East Side, spending the start of my mainly in Midtown.
With each NYC neighborhood its own little universe I figured a few days at least were needed in Greenwich Village, SoHo or Tribeca to explore that area. In my work and love of travel, I’m definitely turned off by standard hotels (unless it’s The Standard) and love what boutique hotels offer to me as a guest and what they represent to me as a marketer. Having previously blogged about how impressed I am with Ace Hotel’s branding, I started by looking at Ace Hotel and various competing boutique hotels. And with companies like Airbnb and HomeAway only growing in popularity, I’ve also wanted to try out vacation rentals to get the real vibe from the city.
This led to my discovery of MySuites boutique suites, who custom designs and rent out suites in New York City, mainly in the neighborhoods I was looking in. MySuites is run by designers who give each suite a theme and curate special items and furnishings for each. A cool feature is some items and furnishings you can buy and take home, which was something I’ve never heard of for a hotel or vacation rental. Since I was there in March and it was off-season, I got a good quote for a couple days for booking their Salt Suite in Greenwich Village. It was a fun experience, especially because I was a newbie to New York and for renting an apartment like this. I met the concierge who took me to the suite and gave me the rundown, letting me know I could bug him with questions or for tips on what to do.
When I travel, I normally go to tropical destinations and haven’t visited a big city in a really long time. And if you’ve spent time in Vancouver, it’s nice but gets very sleepy, with strict regulations equaling early closing times and limited choices compared to pretty much any major international city.. So spending time in Greenwich Village and the surrounding area was pretty stimulating for someone like me. So much variety in shops, restaurants, bars, lounges and everything else.
What I loved about the Salt Suite was I got to pretend that I was a local who could afford to live in a apartment I can’t afford in an awesome location. I’d get to walk out of my building right into the mix of the neighborhood like I was supposed to be there. I liked having a kitchen too, just for the excuse to go check out local markets and actually buy groceries, which I wouldn’t do at a hotel.
While not for everyone, I personally enjoyed being able to see and also hear the neighborhood from my suite, opposed to the quiet and near empty streets of most of Vancouver. (note that my photo below was from a sunny morning, so the mornings were peaceful if you like to sleep in). It’s found in a vintage building right in the center of the village, as you can see the interior design is new. Lots of white which I like and it has an actual a brick wall, which is a rare site in apartments where I live. The French windows for the bedroom were a classy touch too. It looks like they have more suites on their website than they did when I was in New York, so I’d definitely try out suites in other neighborhoods to fully explore them as well.
You can check out their variety of boutique suites at MySuites.net.
