The cool breeze and chilled Champagne felt a world away from the hot and sticky city we’d just sailed away from.

It was August in New York, and along with about 15 other people, I was on a 70-foot Herreshoff sailboat cutting southward through New York Harbor, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty making up the panoramic view.

The affable and impressively sure-footed crew passed around trays of Maine lobster rolls, chilled oysters and crisp Gulf shrimp, while keeping glasses full of wine and bubbly.

The two-hour sailing, which ended with a close-up of Lady Liberty and the sunset casting an orange hue against the glass towers of lower Manhattan, is among the experiences offered by The Mark Hotel, a 152-room property on the city’s Upper East Side.

Views of downtown New York from The Mark sailboat experience in August.

Views of downtown New York from The Mark sailboat experience in August. Photo Credit: Johanna Jainchill

While the hotel is miles away from the Tribeca dock where guests board the vessel, the experience onboard is unmistakably The Mark. The sailboat is identifiable by its black-and-white mast, the same color scheme found in the hotel’s art deco-inspired hotel awning and lobby floors. Offered on scheduled sailings or charters during the summer for up to 25 people, the sailboat’s menu is created by celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten of The Mark Restaurant, with the option for charters to be customized with a menu from the hotel’s other restaurant, Caviar Kaspia at The Mark.

The experience is one of many that The Mark offers that sets apart a property that is both under the radar and the place to be for a certain set.

It’s part of an intentional play on the “high low concept,” said Elon Kenchington, The Mark’s general manager, who I joined for lunch at The Mark Restaurant by Jean-Georges. 

That means providing both the $640 per person sailboat experience and the $6 hot dogs at the Mark Haute Dog Cart right outside the hotel, both with menus curated by Jean-Georges. Caviar Kaspia is known for its baked potato topped with caviar that can cost up to $570 depending on the roe, while just outside, the summertime pop-up dining shed, The Mark Clam Bar by Jean-Georges and Caviar Kaspia, is meant to blend the feel of beachside seafood shack with uptown dining, with lobster rolls and fish tacos topped with caviar. A picnic-in-the-park experience entails bringing a picnic basket and sitting on a blanket in nearby Central Park, but the menu is curated by Jean-Georges.

Guests at the bar and restaurant here are just as likely to encounter residents from the neighborhood who have made it their local spot as they are celebrities in town for the Met Gala or the U.S. Open. I realized later that the table Kenchington and I sat at was the same one prominently featured on an episode in the final season of “Succession,” while the bar there served as the spot on a night out for a couple on the series “And Just Like That.”

The Mark Hotel's Haute Dog Cart right outside the hotel serves $6 hot dogs.

The Mark Hotel’s Haute Dog Cart right outside the hotel serves $6 hot dogs. Photo Credit: Johanna Jainchill

Neighborhood favorite

Yet, The Mark is unassuming. It feels very much like a neighborhood property on a tree-lined, picturesque block bookended by the boutiques and cafes of Madison Avenue and Central Park. The staff seems to know many of the regulars.

“We’re really an anchor of the community,” Kenchington said. “Locals come here for a drink or to dine or for a nightcap. It’s a meeting point of the Upper East Side.”

The Jean-Georges partnership is certainly a big-name standout for The Mark, but it is unaffiliated with any hotel flag and is part of the Preferred Hotels network.

The Mark has built a loyal guest following that Kenchington, who has worked at several luxury properties in the city, said translates into people staying longer at The Mark than they do at most New York hotels, about four or five nights on average instead of one or two. Room rates average about $1,000 per night and go as high as $100,000 for the five-bed, six-bath penthouse, which even during the traditionally slower August was occupied during my visit.

A bathroom at Manhattan's The Mark Hotel.

A bathroom at Manhattan’s The Mark Hotel. Photo Credit: Johanna Jainchill

The Mark has plans to fill one gap in its offerings: an in-house spa. The Augustinus Bader Spa is set to open early next year, with more details forthcoming.

Wellness treatments are still offered to guests in their rooms, which are all spacious enough to bring in a massage bed. The room design is cozy, with some overlooking leafy 77th Street. The black-and-white motif continues in the striped floors of the marble bathrooms, which have walk-in showers and square bathtubs.

One of my favorite features of The Mark is one if its simplest: the ubiquity of the illustrations from French artist Jean-Philippe Delhomme, whose sketches adorn The Mark’s website, menus, matchbooks and — where I found it most charming — its shampoo bottles.