Ace it! New York’s Best Hotels If You’re Going to the U.S. Open
This post was updated for the 2019 U.S Open
With Wimbledon 2019 in the books, our tennis thoughts bounce to hard surfaces and the best hotels if you’re going to the U.S. Open.
So long, strawberries. Hello, hot dogs!
The 50th annual U.S. Open unfurls from August 26 through September 8.
In theory, you can stay at any hotel in New York City and get yourself to the sprawling Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens (the easiest, and cheapest, way is to catch the 7 subway train at Grand Central Station for Mets-Willets Point Station). But these hotels, for wildly different reasons, put a special spin on New York’s biggest tennis event.
Stay with a sponsor
Staying at hotel that sponsors the U.S. Open is a sure-fire way to score tennis-related perks or at the very least, up your chances of rubbing elbows with tennis players in the lobby. This year IHG Hotels and Resorts, parent to Intercontinental Hotels among others, claims status as the official U.S. Open hotel, replacing Westin after nine years. Manhattan boasts two stylish Intercons. Billeted in a smartly renovated 1920s building, the historic Intercontinental New York Barclay is a short walk from Grand Central Station and the 7 train. As a bonus, the hotel’s Game-Set-Match package offers a one level upgrade, tennis macaroons to welcome you, a voucher for a U.S. Open Honey Deuce cocktail, a map to USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and a $15 metro card. Intercontinental New York Barclay, 111 East 48th Street and Lexington Avenue; 212 755-5900
Prefer to be in the Theater District? The Intercontinental New York Times Square, a stylish contemporary skyscraper with a hopping bar and an outpost of Shake Shack, serves up the U.S. Open Package: a complimentary room upgrade, a signature cocktail and a transportation credit for travel to and from the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Intercontinental New York Times Square, 300 West 44th Street at Eighth Avenue; 212 804-4500
Stay near the 7 Train
The Grand in Grand Hyatt New York performs double duty, describing the hotel’s size (1,306 rooms) and location next to Grand Central Station above the stop for the 7 subway train to the open. Tennis players, coaches and officials have checked in for years (the USTA has held its annual Tennis Teachers Conferences here for years). In years past the lobby has been decorated with rackets and balls. Grand Hyatt New York, 109 East 42nd Street, 212 883-1234
Stay and play
Does watching the open inspire you to pick up a racket? Consider the Millennium Hilton New York One UN Plaza. Besides 439 rooms, many overlooking the East River and the United Nations, and a landmarked 1970s green marble lobby, the Millennium One UN Plaza is the only hotel with its own tennis courts (you need to book a court in advance). Rooms range from ordinary doubles to enormous suites ideal for families. Bonus: the hotel is a ten-to-15-minute walk to the 7 subway train at Grand Central. Millennium Hilton New York One UN Plaza, One UN Plaza, 212 758-1234
Stay Uptown
Though The Carlyle isn’t offering U.S. Open packages this year, this silky Art Deco tower with suites the size of apartments and a subtle but seasoned security team is a hotel of choice for the game’s top earners. Roger Federer has checked in for years. And if you want a break from tennis, the hotel is steps away from The Met Breuer, The Frick and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Carlyle, 35 East 75th at Madison Avenue, 212 744-1600
Stay in Queens
The U.S Open’s sprawling campus is a short hop from LaGuardia airport. And so is Hyatt Place Flushing/LaGuardia Airport, a contemporary hotel perched above three floors of Asian-inflected restaurants and shops in Flushing’s four year old Fulton Square condominium tower. For an airport hotel, the Hyatt offers lots to do when you’re not watching tennis. Besides a roof bar with a garden overlooking Manhattan, there’s an indoor pool. The hotel shuttle drops you off at Flushing Main Street Station, one subway stop from the U.S. Open on the 7 train. Hyatt Place Flushing/LaGuardia Airport, 133-42 39th Avenue, Flushing, 718 888-1234
Opened in July 2017, Ibis Styles New York LaGuardia Airport occupies a circular building encased in white tiles and glass and serves up small but upbeat rooms with curved windows, free WiFi and budget prices. The hotel shuttle drops you off at 111th Street Station, one subway stop away from the U.S. Open on the 7 train. Ibis Styles New York LaGuardia Airport, 100-33 Ditmars Boulevard, East Elmhurst, 718 606-7400
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