Roger Sonnabend
Roger P. Sonnabend (September 17, 1925 – December 7, 2008) was an American hotelier and businessman who led Sonesta International Hotels. The eldest of three brothers, he studied at MIT and Harvard Business School, and at age 21 took charge of the Nautilus Hotel and Beach Club in Atlantic Beach, New York. He graduated from Harvard Business School in 1949.
His family ran Sonnabend Operated Hotels, which later merged with the Childs Restaurant Group after AM Sonnabend bought a controlling stake in Childs in 1955. The merged company was renamed Hotel Corporation of America (HCA). Among its hotels were the Plaza Hotel in New York and the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. Roger was promoted to president after his father, the chain’s founder, died.
In 1969 the company hired an advertising agency to refresh its name. The agency suggested Sonesta, a name already used by Rib Room restaurants at many hotels. Sonesta comes from "Sonny" (AM Sonnabend’s nickname) and "Esther" (his wife). The Sonnabends also ran a Holstein dairy farm in Massachusetts, and the baked potatoes served at the Rib Room—topped with butter, sour cream and chives—were inspired by a farm recipe called “Baked Potato Sonesta.”
Among the hotels HCA operated was a 400-room luxury oceanfront property in Southampton Parish, Bermuda, originally named Carlton Beach. After lengthy legal disputes among the builder/owner J. Irwin Miller family and HCA, the hotel was purchased by HCA and renamed Sonesta Beach; it was later demolished after severe hurricane damage around 2005.
Roger Sonnabend’s political activities landed him on the Nixon administration’s master list of political opponents.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 16:40 (CET).