The location is excellent in terms of privacy, access to coffee shops, restaurants, subway etc. Central Park is a block away and a number of museums are within a half hour walk. Also, for those of you who have stayed in hotels in Manhattan and have experienced ongoing traffic noise, this location was unusually quiet at night. We also enjoyed the basketball activity at the school yard across the street.
The brownstone was also very spacious and allowed us (two couples - our daughter and son-in-law travelled with us) complete privacy but also a large common space to decompress after a full day of activities.
Frnancesca made sure we understood security, the local amenities and stayed in contact with us through our stay via email and was availalbe via phone if required. We didn't find it necessary to reach out to her as her three page "guidance" letter was more than sufficient for us. We thought it was exactly appropriate.