The majority leader of the state Senate, Joseph Bruno, enjoyed thousands of dollars of discounts on a 3,500-square-foot, two-story penthouse suite at a Midtown Sheraton hotel only two months before a state authority linked to the senator selected the hotel chain’s parent company as the front-runner to operate a new luxury hotel in Albany.

During a September visit to the city, Mr. Bruno lodged in a 45th-floor duplex at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers that hotel employees say rents for $5,000 or $10,000 a night. A spokesman for the senator said the room was charged to the campaign committee of the state Senate Republicans, which he said spent between $900 and $1,000. The committee did not report the discount as an in-kind donation on its January 15 filing to the state Board of Elections.

A general manager at the hotel said a VIP club manager chose to upgrade Mr. Bruno, a frequent Sheraton customer, to the hotel’s penthouse suite from a regular suite. “That night, he probably was the top dog,” the general manager, Daniel King, told The New York Sun.

On November 30, the nine-member board of the Albany Convention Center Authority, which includes a member appointed by Mr. Bruno, voted to begin negotiations with Starwood Hotels and Resorts, of which Sheraton is a subsidiary, as operator of a 400-room hotel to be built in downtown Albany near the senate leader’s district.

The board’s decision to begin negotiations with Starwood rather than four other hotel operators came on the recommendation of a special authority task force led by the owner of Jack’s Oyster House in Albany. Mr. Bruno regularly dines at the upscale restaurant, which provides him a private back table, at the expense of his campaign account.

Other hotel operators in the running for the Albany business were the DePalma Hotel Corp., Ocean Hospitalities, Lodgian, and the Waterford Hotel Group, the authority said.

In 2004, the Legislature created the convention authority to oversee development of a new convention center, hotel, and other projects in downtown Albany.

While no evidence of a quid pro quo has emerged, the relationship between the 78-year-old Senate Republican leader and Starwood offers a glimpse into a world of perks and entitlements afforded to powerful lawmakers such as Mr. Bruno, whose usage of a state helicopter to shuttle between Albany and the city came under scrutiny last year.

It also recalls an episode three years ago when the state lobbying commission investigated whether Caesars Entertainment, a casino operator that was seeking to expand into New York, violated lobbying laws by giving the Democratic Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, a heavily discounted rate at a suite at a Las Vegas hotel. The company agreed to pay a $25,000 fine but did not admit to any wrongdoing.

Under tougher ethics rules signed into law last year by Governor Spitzer, a lawmaker is prohibited from accepting any gift of more than a nominal value, including lodging, “under circumstances in which it could reasonably be inferred that the gift was intended to influence him, or could reasonably be expected to influence him, or could reasonably be expected to influence him, in the performance of his official duties, or was intended as a reward for any official action on his part.”

In Albany, the legislative ethics commission, whose board is largely appointed by Messrs. Bruno and Silver, enforces that law.

A spokesman for Mr. Bruno said the Senate leader, a vocal champion of the convention and hotel plans, did not have influence over the authority’s favoring of Starwood and did not receive any special favor from the Sheraton, which is situated on Seventh Avenue.

Mr. Bruno’s office declined to say whether Mr. Bruno has stayed at the penthouse suite on other days or whether the Senate leader has received other discounts from the Sheraton.

“There was nothing done except with full accordance with the procurement policy,” the executive director of the authority, Duncan Stewart, said. Mr. Bruno “had no direct influence over the process, nor did any of the board members,” Mr. Stewart said.

The legislative counsel at the New York Public Interest Research Group, Russell Haven, said Mr. Bruno’s treatment “certainly raises enough questions where it is a fair issue to have looked at.” He said, however, the Board of Elections and the ethics commission historically have rarely investigated legislative leaders.

The Sun published an article on September 21, 2007, about an interview with Mr. Bruno on September 19 at the penthouse suite. The suite’s construction in the early 1990s required the demolition of 13 rooms, according to a 1992 report in Crain’s New York Business.

The Sun article noted that Mr. Bruno munched on a plate of fresh figs, pineapple, strawberries, and Gouda in a living room area with a wrap-around view of a large swath of Manhattan. “Ain’t that beautiful,” he said of the room. “It’s a bit much.”

Board of Election records show that after Mr. Bruno stayed at the hotel the Senate committee did not file a Sheraton expense until October 29, when it made a payment of $504 labeled as a “travel” cost. On November 1, the committee paid Sheraton $2,447, described as a “meeting” expense. Between July 15 and January 15, the committee accrued about $50,000 in Sheraton New York expenses.

In September, a Sheraton reservation agent quoted a price of $10,000 a night for the penthouse suite. Last week, the manager of reservations at the hotel said Sheraton charged $5,000 a night for the suite. The manager insisted that the Sheraton doesn’t offer any customers a reduced rate for the room.

“We don’t offer discounts,” she said.

After the Sun inquired with Mr. Bruno’s press office about the cost of the suite, a spokesman for the senator said the reservation manager was not the right person to speak with and encouraged a reporter to contact the hotel’s general manager, Mr. King.

Mr. King said the penthouse suite is not available to the general public and is used as a perquisite for large groups renting out convention space or as a reward for customers who frequently stay at Starwood hotels.

Mr. Bruno usually stays at the Sheraton during his business and political trips to the city. He has organized Republican fund-raisers and other political events at the hotel.

Mr. Bruno, Mr. King said, is a “platinum preferred guest,” a status achieved by staying at one of the hotels 25 times a year. As such, he said, the senator, who had purchased a regular suite, was eligible for an upgrade.

“We’ve been very good customers,” a spokesman for Mr. Bruno, John McArdle, said.