• Login
Hotel The Surrey Hotel 5 star
Easyexperts
New York, United States of America -
See the map
Amy Adejokun Section editor

It's the small things which make the biggest of differences and there are plenty of them here at The Surry. This is a truly special hotel where the attention to detail and irreproachable service lead us to place it amongst the finest properties in New York. In addition to its original artwork, which is another of its many assets, the hotel boasts exceptionally well appointed rooms, a beautiful spa and world class dining. Its location too, in the fashionable Upper East Side but still close to many of the city's attractions, gives it yet another edge. Suitable for couples, groups of friends and families, this is one to seriously consider if you have the budget necessary to experience such quality.

+
  • Family
  • International Standard
  • Well located
  • Gastronomy
  • Charm
  • Flight
    • Hotel The Surrey

      The Surrey   -   © Igor Lubinetsky

    • Hotel The Surrey

      The Surrey   -   © Igor Lubinetsky

       
    Compare all the prices

    Price per night - Find at 0 partner(s)
    Show more offers

    Location 7.0 /10

    The hotel is situated on East 76th Street, in the leafy and affluent Upper East Side district of Manhattan, just a block from Central Park. Within walking distance of Museum Mile, you have the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim, Whitney and Frick Collection just moments away. Also in the immediate vicinity are beautiful galleries and exclusive designer boutiques as well as other shopping opportunities a little further down Madison and Fifth Avenues. To get to the heart of Manhattan, you can take lines 4 or 6 from the 77th Street-Lexington subway station just a few blocks away. For other destinations you can change at Grand Central. JFK is 16 miles from the hotel, La Guardia 8 miles and Newark 17.

    Accommodation 9.70 /10

    The Surrey offers a good range of guestrooms (or salons as they are called here) and suites amongst its 190 accommodations. All rooms are decorated similarly in various tones of white, grey and black and have views of Madison Avenue, 76th Street and/or partial views of Central Park. The standard room, which comes in at a spacious 31m², features a king size, custom Duxiana bed dressed in Sfetta linens. Opposite is a hand-painted armoire in which you'll find the flatscreen television and DVD player. There is a seating area with corner couch and coffee table while at the window is a long bench type seat on which you can perch which has a custom made cushion embroidered with a quote. The room also features a low, marble-topped cabinet concealing the minibar, on top of which are some snacks, drinks tray and coffee machine. Inside the closet is a safe and umbrella, while other amenities in the room include a desk with built in vanity and iPod docking station. The white with black vain marble bathrooms are of a good size and have stand up showers, fixtures from Waterworks, Pratesi bathrobes and personalised Laura Tonatto toiletries. Some of the larger salons have extra beds, fireplaces, terraces and/or bathtubs.

    The two regular suite types are appointed similarly, but have separate living areas, bathtubs and some have top-of-the-range kitchenettes. The Penthouse suite's entrance is a magnificent brass and copper door which has been preserved from the original hotel. Features of the suite include the dining area, full kitchen, warp around terrace of over 100m², fireplace, modern painting by Amy Sims and powder room. Guests can also enjoy reading a book on art or design from the library or watching a DVD on the retractable screen. Also on the technology side is the function to be able to control the sound system from any room in the suite and the iMac on the desk. The Presidential suite boasts a baby grand piano and chaise longue upholstered in a fabric which is embroidered with the recipe for a Manhattan cocktail.

    Overview 9.90 /10

    The lobby of The Surrey is the scene for one of the best hotel welcomes in the city. Its size is spot on - not so big that people start milling around within it, but not too small that it feels claustrophobic. To your left is a cosy seating area composed of distinguished grey fabric chesterfield armchairs and sofa at the centre of which is a simple glass-topped coffee table with an orchid. To the right is the marble-topped reception desk from behind which you'll be greeted and checked in by some of the most amicable and charming front of house staff in the city. Above is an opaque glass roof through which light fills the space. Further on down the corridor opposite the entrance are several works from the hotel's art collection. The first is one that you'll see directly in front of you as you walk into the hotel and is a tapestry of Kate Moss by Chuck Close. Another is the hotel's spray-painted signature armoire, themed around love, which includes a list of the top ten fashion must haves of the Upper East Side and a display of jewellery from the collection of Padma Lakshmi, former wife of Salman Rushdie. An interactive video installation by South African artist William Kentridge and two photos, named You Are My Own and But The Myth of Love, complete the mini exhibition.

    The Spa at The Surrey is the hotel's bespoke wellness centre where all treatments are discussed beforehand with one of the experts. Again, you'll be greeted warmly and will notice the relaxation area to your right with armchairs and leather footrests. There are six treatment rooms and two for couples each with a steam shower, hydrotub and marble vanity. A full menu of treatments is available including massages, facials, exfoliations, waxing and manicures and pedicures (for which there is a separate area). The spa uses two brands of product: Darphin and Li'tya, which applies Aboriginal wisdom of medicines and healing rituals. Adjacent is a small but well-equipped fitness centre with yoga and pilates gear and personal training on request.

    Other services at the hotel include a business centre and wifi, both of which there is a charge for. The public spaces of the hotel are in impeccable condition and getting to your room, via the lifts for which you require your roomkey, is an easy and quick process.

    Food and drink 9.70 /10

    The Surrey has chosen Frenchman Daniel Boulud, best known for his eponymous New York eatery, to take care of the food side of things at the hotel. The space itself was conceived by New York architect James Harb and Parisian designer Patrick Naggar and features rice paper shades, Tibetan-inspired wool carpets and smart wood panelling. A round the tables, laid with Rivolta Carmignano linens, Limoges porcelain and Spiegelau glassware, are custom-designed, mahogany framed chairs with burnt coral leather seats and cocoa banquettes which ensure a truly comfortable dining experience. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch as well as a daily prix-fixe menu. The beautifully presented continental breakfast buffet is one of the options for the morning meal, however, there is also a choice of eggs, sausage, bacon, waffles, cereals and bagels.

    With Boulud's four culinary muses (la tradition, classic French cuisine; la saison, seasonal delicacies; le potager, the vegetable garden; and le voyage, the flavors of world cuisines) in mind, executive chef Gavin Kaysen and pastry chef Noah Carroll deliver a French cuisine including a red wine risotto with braised oxtail and castelmagno cheese or poulet rouge coq au vin with carrots, fingerling potatoes and celery at lunch and white asparagus gratinée with poached hen egg, speck ham and frisée salad or seared short rib dumplings with daikon radish, shiitake mushrooms and scallion vinaigrette in the evening. Finish off with caramelised apples with walnut sable, vanilla bavaroise and calvados ice cream or the molten chocolate cake with coffee ice cream. Oenologists will find their calling with the US/French dominated wine list which features hundreds of bottles.

    Just next door to the restaurant is Bar Pleiades, named after the French restaurant popular with Manhattan's art elite during the 70s and 80s. The Art Deco décor, inspired by Coco Chanel, features black and white lacquer finishes, quilted walls and leather banquettes. Just like the cuisine next door, the signature cocktails follow Boulud's four muses.

    To know

    The building which houses the hotel was built back in 1926 as a residential hotel. In its time, the likes of JFK and Bette Davis have temporarily called it home. At the tail end of 2009 the hotel reopened after a one-year, $60 million recreation which, while modernising the property, also restored its old world charm. Included in the renewal were works by several international artists which led to The Surrey being named the official hotel for The Armory Show 2011.

    For those of you who are fans of cocktails (Who isn't? I hear you cry in disbelief), The Surrey offers a service whereby one of the hotel's barmen shows you how to prepare a cocktail of your choice in the comfort of your own room and then leaves enough of the ingredients for you to make four or five more! What more could you ask for?

    Equipment

    • Restaurant
    • Internet access
    • Air conditioning
    • Spa

      spa

    advantage

    • Excellent staff
    • Attention to detail
    • Location
    • Refined décor
    • Spa
    • Restaurant
    • Room size

    disadvantages

    • Distance from some tourist attractions

    Traveller Reviews

    • Overall Score nc/10
    Top Hotels New York
    • The Mark New York The Mark New York The Mark New York
      • Easyopinions 8.00
      • Value for money 7.47
      • Location 4.26

      Q. What do you get when you take $150 million and put them into the hands of one of the world's greatest architect/designers? A. The Mark. Be under no illusions, what Jacques Grange and co have conceived in the leafy surroundings of the Upper Eastside is now the yardstick against which all other hotels will now have to measure themselves. After over two years under renovation with some of the most sought after names in the creative fields working on the project, The Mark has transformed itself from a decent hotel to a hotel of superlatives. Everything is top draw from the design to the staff, from the food to the wellness centre. This all, of course, comes with the price tag that its quality demands, however rest assured that no other hotel can come close to what The Mark has to offer.

      From
      See the offer
    • Setai Fifth Avenue Setai Fifth Avenue Setai Fifth Avenue
      • Easyopinions nc
      • Value for money 7.47
      • Location 9.22

      We're going to stick our necks out here and say that of all the hotels we have stayed at in this city, the Setai probably takes top spot. Of course there are many different types of hotel in the city and not everyone is looking for what the Setai has to offer, but as on overall experience, it can't, in our opinion, be bettered. The rooms are not only some of the biggest in the city, but they are likely to be the best appointed in terms of amenities too. The stunning, contemporary spa is as luxurious as it is spacious and in its restaurant the hotel has one of most memorable dining experiences to be had. But what impressed us most, and where the hotel rises above it competitors, is the consistent attention to detail and impeccable service the likes of which we've never seen. Although new (November 2010 opening), this is right up there with the old masters and the best thing is that it can only get better!

      From
      See the offer
    • The Peninsula The Peninsula The Peninsula
      • Easyopinions nc
      • Value for money 8.94
      • Location 8.13

      Let's not mince our words; The Peninsula is quite simply one of the finest hotels in New York, even more so now it is the other side of a renovation. From the very first moment you enter the hotel you'll have no doubt about the quality of experience that awaits you. There is very little to pick holes at here where excellence comes as standard: the large rooms are finely furnished, the restaurants of the highest caliber, the spa one of the most beautiful and complete in the city and the service faultless. Like all top class hotels this all comes at a certain price, however if there was ever one hotel which could justify the cost it would be this one.

      From
      See the offer
    • Trump Soho Trump Soho Trump Soho
      • Easyopinions nc
      • Value for money 7.47
      • Location 3.0

      We were quite simply blown away by this hotel. Rare are the occasions where there is nothing to fault, but staying here was one of those - it just couldn't put a foot wrong. Generously proportioned, impressively appointed rooms are complemented by a relaxed yet top class Italian restaurant, while the spa is a sight to behold. You'll have a tough job finding a property where the service is paralleled and don't even get us started on the views! A magnificent, modern and memorable hotel, we recommend the Trump Soho to all kinds of traveller, newcomers or old hands, couples or families. A huge thumbs up.

      From
      See the offer
    • Plaza Athénée Plaza Athénée Plaza Athénée
      • Easyopinions nc
      • Value for money 7.45
      • Location 3.0

      Although no longer associated with its Parisian namesake, the Plaza Athénée New York continues to offer one of the most refined hotel experiences in the city. Its style may not be as subtle as some of its competitors and thus some many find it a little overwhelming, but there is no getting away from the fact the hotel is a class act from top to bottom. It boasts capacious, well-appointed and recently renovated rooms (January 2010), a fine wellness centre, a celebrated restaurant and bar and an impeccable service from a smart, professional staff. If you're after that classic European opulence the other side of the Atlantic then the well-located Plaza Athénée is one to consider.

      From
      See the offer
    • The Chatwal The Chatwal The Chatwal
      • Easyopinions nc
      • Value for money 7.45
      • Location 9.8

      Take a step back in time (through a passage lined with suede and leather, of course) to the golden age of travel and the magnificent new Art Deco hotel The Chatwal. Opened recently in August of 2011, it has quickly become one of the places to stay in New York and to be honest, it isn't difficult to see why: a dream location in the heart of Manhattan, superbly appointed, world ?class accommodations, a luxury spa and a fine restaurant. Marrying both old world glamour and modern day luxury, this 'baby grand' hotel will appeal to those looking for good old fashioned service in a romantic setting with everything that makes this a great city within reach.

      From
      See the offer
    • The Carlyle The Carlyle The Carlyle
      • Easyopinions nc
      • Value for money 7.45
      • Location 4.32

      This mythical New York hotel has seen its fair share of changes, both within in its walls and outside, however one thing remains constant: The Carlyle is one of the swankiest, smartest, seductive hotels in the city. The very few flaws of the hotel (for example the size of some bathrooms) can be excused by its age; otherwise there are very few hotels of this genre which can claim to offer a similar experience. Not only does it offer top notch service and facilities, but its location and commanding views are also something spectacular. Throw in a rich history, fine dining and exquisite décor and you get a hotel (literally) fit for kings. If you've got the cash, don't even ask yourself the question?

      From
      See the offer
    • The Pierre The Pierre The Pierre
      • Easyopinions nc
      • Value for money 7.45
      • Location 6.24

      The Pierre has always been a landmark hotel in New York City?and we are glad to report that after its latest $100 million renovation following its takeover by Taj Hotels, it is still very much one of the hotels by which others must judge themselves. It is true to say that it may not have some of the facilities of some of the other top hotels (no spa, smaller rooms), but when it comes to service, style and sophistication, not to mention history, it is untouchable. With a location that would make most hotels weep with envy, fabulously appointed rooms with an Asian touch and a new, top quality restaurant, The Pierre is back on top of its game and ready to welcome once again all types of traveller, no matter their motive for visiting the city. All this comes, of course, at a price, but if you had to choose a place to spend your hard earned cash, this has got to be near the summit of your shortlist.

      From
      See the offer