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In the glitzy world of New York hoteliers, Manhattan East Suite Hotels has been something of an anomaly--a hotel company that is downright self-effacing.
Avoiding the media spotlight and shunning the risky financial schemes employed by many of its competitors, the family-owned firm has quietly built a chain of 10 moderately priced extended-stay suite hotels, with 2,200 rooms in New York housing some 180,000 guests a year.
Now, Manhattan East Suite is turning up the volume. In a bid to compete in New Yorks big leagues, the chain has opened its first four-star luxury hotel, The Benjamin, on East 50th Street near Lexington Avenue, a mere stone's throw from such high-end properties as W and the Waldorf-Astoria.
"Our customer base has been asking for an upscale product," says Donald G. Denihan, a son of the chain's founder and one of five Denihan family members who own the company along with a sixth partner.
Prices at The Benjamin, which opened for business in April, range from about $320 a night for a quest room...