We booked a two bedroom apartment for a one month stay in New York City in December. We were traveling as a family of five with three young adult daughters. The Marmara was perfect.
After reading previous reviews I requested an apartment on a higher floor and was very happy with the apartment we were given on the 29th floor. The apartment was large and light with fabulous views from the East River to Central Park and I could see the top of the Empire Sate building from my bed!
It was great to have a kitchen and very handy to have a large fridge. The utensils provided in the kitchen were very basic but a request for a kitchen knife was responded to immediately - even if the knife provided was quite blunt! The staff were always friendly and helpful.
I enjoyed the location on the Upper East Side. It is a very residential neighborhood with plenty of restaurants,cafes and Delis to choose from. We always felt safe walking around even after dark. The subway is not too far away and the Green line was very handy when it came to getting around the city. It is also a pleasant walk to Central park and many of the Museums.
Staying at the Marmara allowed us to experience living in New York as opposed to being in a tiny tourist hotel near Times Square and is a great option for families. We all have very fond memories of our time there.

We stayed at the Maramara on Dec 21-23. This is actually our second time staying there.
The location really is quite good. You are about a 3 minute walk from the subway and like most places in NYC its easy to get a taxi.
We stayed in a 3 bedroom unit at (775.00 a night ) It has a kitchen and 2 bathrooms- and a laundry machine. The views are decent as well and there is a TV in all 3 bedrooms. They do come and do a quick tidy up and change the towels as well.
There is a grocery store near by and a good cafe - The Black Dog - great breakfast. There is a small gym - but it would do in a pinch if you felt compelled to workout.
Every staff member we have met was super friendly.

Really we would not stay anywhere else in NYC. Value for money I think is very tough to beat!

The staff is very helpful and nice. Always a smile and do you need anything if you approached the desk. You will not feel like you are staying in a hotel but like you live in NYC and this is your residence. We had a 3 bedroom 3 bath for X-mas week. The place was awesome with so much space because the bedrooms were big and the bathrooms. The best, you had a full kitchen and could make a breakfast before heading out which saves you money. The subway was a quick walk and its nice to get lost the best part and when you learn the routes you definitely feel like you live there. The Taxi rides were never over 20 (was holiday so a lot of traffic) and if you take the subway just take a Taxi back. Overall, if you want to experience NYC you don't need a fancy place because the time you spend in a room is only for sleep. However, this place is a clean, spacious, and attentive place that's inexpensive place to stay. Now, I would recommend a little TLC because it does show a little use the rooms like paint and new decor. Yet, for the time we were in the room it was nothing that bothered. Stay here if you want to experience living there, have a big group, and like space not the little hotel room.

OK, there are some drawbacks to this hotel - primarily the fact that it is really far from most of the action but we came here to be in the Upper East so it was perfect. If you want to be in the middle of Times Square or down in SoHo, expect long (expensive) taxi rides or some adventurous subway rides. Anyway, other than that, the only negative was the bed - not super comfy, a little over firm, but personally I slept like a rock.

The hotel is neat and unique - it is the only hotel I've stayed in in Manhattan that has a full kitchen. Apparently it was formerly an apartment complex but that's a killer advantage because the rooms are HUGE in comparison to midtown boutique places - for $195 (cheap by Manhattan standards) we got a full living room, a west-facing balcony, a full kitchen (yea, I mean a stove, a full fridge, microwave, sink and all the utensils), a pull-out sofa bed AND a full separate bedroom with a queen bed, two panel TVs, DVD player, a good sized bathroom. And the decor is very tasteful - from the chandelier-lighted elevators to the very whimsical artificial-grass-walled atrium - and it has a substantial gym AND laundromat in the hotel. Awesome.

Highly recommend this place, especially if you're keeping to the UES or if you need a lot of space (i.e. lots of family). Note - there is construction on Second Av (building a new subway) through 2016 but if you're above the 12th floor, you pretty much don't hear it.