The Carlton Hotel Rating: 3.5 Pearls

Gramercy and Murray Hill, Manhattan, New York City

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The regal, vaulted lobby

Built in 1904 as the Seville Hotel, the Carlton's 12-story beaux arts building sits in a fairly low-key neighborhood with plenty of small-scale offices, shops, and condos. On weekdays, its elegant, vaulted lobby fills with guests tapping away on their laptops, taking advantage of the hotel's free Wi-Fi. Jazz plays unobtrusively in the background while porters carry suitcases down the stately staircase and across the gleaming floors. Unlike the comparably priced Library Hotel, the Carlton is a bit more stately and reserved than it is cozy. But the rooms are a bit larger here, as is the business center. In December 2008, the hotel underwent an extensive, David Rockwell-designed renovation. Rockwell updated the guest rooms and the first three floors of the hotel, but strived to maintain its historical qualities throughout the renovations.

Speedy check-in

Service here is exceptional. During my stay, check-in only took five minutes, extra towels were at my door in five minutes, and room service was ready in only 22 minutes (only two minutes after they said it would arrive). Though the porter didn’t help me with my bags during check-in, I spotted porters helping most guests, and I assume this lapse in service was an unintentional slip-up.

View on a Larger Map

The Carlton Hotel sits on the boarder of several neighborhoods -- Murray Hill, Kips Bay, and the Flatiron District. It's outside the more well-known tourist neighborhoods, like Times Square or Midtown West, but it's still a charming part of the city with a lot of offer. Madison Square Park, the Empire State Building, and the Fashion Institute of Technology are all within walking distance, as are many shops and bars.

• Two to three blocks from R, W and the 6 subway lines; five blocks from the F, V subway lines
• 20-minute subway ride to Central Park
• 15-minute subway ride to Times Square
• 10-minute walk to the Empire State Building
• 30-minute subway ride to the ferry terminal to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
• 20-minute bus ride to Rockefeller Center
• 25-minute subway ride to the American Museum of Natural History
• 30-minute bus ride to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the "Met") and 20-minute bus ride to the Museum of Modern Art (the "MoMA")

The Executive Room

Beds (full-size in standard rooms, king or two doubles in executive rooms) have super-comfortable pillow-top mattresses, soft sateen sheets, and thick down duvets and pillows. All rooms include 42-inch LG plasma TVs, iHome iPod docking stations, energy-efficient lightbulbs, a user-controlled Honeywell air conditioner and heater, a large safe, and a bank of outlets on the desk with a USB and Ethernet port if you couldn’t access the free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel.

The standard room size is 200 square feet, about average for New York City, but my executive double was more spacious, about 315 square feet. The room didn’t feel cramped with two beds, but there was no additional seating -- the only place to sit was on the bed or at the desk.

Bathrooms, however, are especially small (I couldn’t sit on the toilet and close the bathroom door at the same time), a little backward (literally -- faucets turned in the opposite direction), and dark (there’s only one light, and it’s above the shower). A small window in the shower area opens fully (the people across the street could watch you take a shower if you’re not careful), but it doesn’t let in much light. Also, in my room, the overhead fan in the bathroom was really noisy when I flipped the switch. The bathrooms are clean, though, and stocked with superb Molton Brown bath products from London.

Like in all rooms, my view (from the eighth floor) was of another building across the street. But because of the lighting inside, the rooms don’t feel dark or enclosed, and you can open the windows to get fresh air.

Though the higher floors don’t get a lot of street noise, the traffic from busy Madison Avenue below can be a problem on the lower floors.

All rooms have a mini-bar, which is stocked with Heineken, Amstel, Finlandia vodka and Kendall Jackson wine, plus an assortment of soft drinks and fruit juice but no snacks. Guests can also request an empty additional fridge to stock with their own groceries since there isn’t additional room in the mini-bar.

Unlike at most hotels, the rooms also come with free issues of the highly glossy Gotham magazine, and helpful literature about New York with recommendations several cuts above the standard tourist magazines. Copies of USA Today are free, and they’re left outside every room in the morning.

Small Business Center

The hotel caters largely to business travelers (albeit with plenty of tourists mixed in), and features free Wi-Fi everywhere in the building. For those not schlepping their laptops, there are two free PCs in the business center (which also has an ATM). At the time of my visit, the business center was also scheduled for a renovation which has since been completed.

Like many New York boutique hotels, the hotel doesn’t have much on-site in terms of traditional features like a spa or pool. However, it does have an on-site fitness center, which opened in November 2009.

The hotel can also arrange baby-sitting services as well as massages.

There’s not much for children at this hotel, which caters mostly to business travelers. Cribs are available for free, and rollaway beds are $20 per night, but they won’t fit in a standard room, only suites. An executive double (with two beds) would be cramped with kids but not impossible.

The concierge can arrange for baby-sitting with licensed sitters. As a bonus, kids and adults alike can borrow the hotel’s now dated (it came out in 2001!) Nintendo Game Cube.

The hotel was immaculate inside and out. My room was spotless, including the sheets, bathroom, and floors, as were the hallways and elevators. The lobby floors gleamed, and the upholstery was new. Besides a few drink rings on the coffee tables in the lobby, I couldn’t find anything to gripe about.

• Millesime, a seafood brasserie by Laurent Manrique, has a nostalgic 1930's feel and features a marble Oyster bar, and a century-old mosaic floor, and dishes like lobster pot au fin.
• Salon Millesime, the downstairs lounge and bar, serves up light fare, cocktails, and live music at night.

New York City has three nearby airports: JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark (in New Jersey). Flying into JFK or LaGuardia is typically easiest and the least time-consuming. From JFK, it's a (one-hour) $45 flat-rate taxi ride to anywhere in Manhattan. From LaGuardia, it's about a (30-minute) $40 metered cab ride to midtown Manhattan. Rides from Newark cost at least $40 (plus tolls) and can take more than 90 minutes. Don't forget to tip your driver 15 to 25 percent.

To save some cash, try the group shuttles that are available at all three airports for about $14 per person. For more information on the shuttles, go to Super Shuttle or New York Airport Service. You can also take public transit from any of the airports, but travel can take up to two hours and involve a lot of lugging bags up and down stairs. For mass-transit directions right to the hotel, check out HopStop.com.