The Carlton Hotel Rating: 3.5 Pearls

Gramercy and Murray Hill, Manhattan, New York City

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.

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 N, R and the 6 subway lines; five blocks from the F, M 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.
• 42-inch LG plasma TVs
• iHome iPod docking stations
• User-controlled Honeywell air conditioner and heater
• Molton Brown bath products from London.
• Stocked mini-bar in every room. Guests can also request an empty additional fridge to stock with their own groceries since there isn’t additional room in the mini-bar.
• In-room safe large enough for a laptop
• 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
• Executive doubles are more spacious, about 315 square feet
• Bathrooms are especially small (I couldn’t sit on the toilet and close the bathroom door at the same time)
• USA Today is free, and they’re left outside every room in the morning.
• Free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel
• Specialty Suites are available with historic themes like in the Speakeasy Suite (Prohibition-era) and the Broadway Dive Suite (New York theater)

Small Business Center

• Free Wi-Fi everywhere in the building
• 24-hour business center with computers and ATM
• 24-hour fitness center with a few cardio and strength machines
• In-room massages are available
• Room serivce is available
• Pets allowed for a one-time fee
• The lobby bar serves cocktails during the day

There’s not much for children at this hotel, which caters mostly to business travelers. Cribs are available for free, and rollaway beds are available for a nightly fee, 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.

• 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.