The Roosevelt Hotel Rating: 3.5 Pearls

Midtown East, Manhattan, New York City

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Huge, stunning lobby

Built in 1924, the 1,015-room Roosevelt Hotel boasts a stunning lobby and 30,000 square feet of meeting space.

Entering the hotel and walking up a half flight of stairs to the lobby, one is immediately struck by the grandness of it all -- the two-story ceilings, the huge chandelier, the gleaming marble floors, the surrounding balconies. One guest said the lobby reminded her of the Waldorf Astoria, where the rooms tend to cost twice as much.

From 1995 to 1997, the Roosevelt closed for a massive, $65 million renovation. Today the lobby remains spectacular, but many of the guest rooms could use an update. Hotel management says room renovations are constantly ongoing, with new mattresses, flat-screen televisions, and shower curtains added in late 2008 and early 2009. Despite such renovations, the rooms feel a bit old, with worn furniture, unfresh carpeting, and walls that call for a fresh coat of paint.

Perhaps because of the lobby-to-room shabbiness ratio and the fact that the hotel is in and of itself a sort of tourist attraction, guests seem to enjoy lounging about in the lobby, sitting at their laptops on slightly worn velvet furnishings. The Madison Club Lounge spills out into the lobby and is a popular place for drinks for guests as well as middle-aged locals who work in the area.

A number of major films have shot at the Roosevelt, including Wall Street, Quiz Show, and Maid In Manhattan. It's also regularly mentioned on the television series Mad Men, with the show's fictional 1960s characters drinking or spending the night there after fighting with the wife.

When I visited, some 250 people were staying at the hotel for a computing conference and occupying many of its conference facilities and common areas. I also encountered pilots from various airlines and a number of European tourists. Yet unlike the Park Central, another large, relatively inexpensive, and centrally located hotel, the Roosevelt doesn't cater to student groups and class trips. A hotel staffer explained that it houses no more than 10 class trips a year and that these are carefully selected and approved -- like a regular group of students that perform at Carnegie Hall -- not just any old hormonally charged group of adolescents.

Doorman at the entrance

Check-in was a hassle. I arrived at 2:52 p.m., eight minutes early. A less-than-friendly woman at the front desk told me no rooms were available and to try back in a half-hour, when housekeeping listed available rooms in the computer system. At 3:15 p.m., I went back to the front desk and spoke to the same woman. She then said only smoking rooms were available and that I would have to wait an hour for a nonsmoking room. I stood my ground. Then she realized I had already tried to check in once and said a nonsmoking room was available, in the form of an upgrade to a Deluxe King. It was a happy enough ending (complete with a free upgrade), but if I hadn't tried to check in early, I would have been waiting until 4 p.m. for a nonsmoking room. Other guests have also noted issues at check-in, especially for those arriving late at night.

Like the woman at the front desk, bartenders weren't friendly or chatty -- heck, I could barely get them to talk to me about what beers were on tap. Sure, the bar was a bit busy with an after-work crowd, but bartenders seemed more interested in huddling in the corner than in hustling a bit to serve customers.

The concierge service is outsourced to Continental Guest Services, the same company that provides concierge services to the Grand Hyatt, Doubletree Times Square, the Holiday Inn, and a number of other hotels in the city. This means hotel guests are likely to encounter several different concierges during their stay. I asked one for subway directions during my stay. He was kind but not exactly helpful. He didn't give me a map, and he failed to figure out which subway lines would actually get me from Grand Central Station to my desired destination. Thankfully, I know the subway better than him.

Service to the room varies. When I requested a robe and ordered some tea from room service, all the lounging ingredients were at my door in moments. The server even offered to pour my first cup of tea. I had less luck getting extra towels, however. It took a full half-hour to get them.

As a whole, service isn't especially warm or accommodating. Smiles are few and far between, and conversations are short. I did encounter some kindly doormen who put me in a taxi at the end of my stay. Few Roosevelt employees seem to be enjoying themselves or helping guests do the same, compared with what we found at smaller hotels like the Mansfield or even larger chain hotels in the area like the Marriott New York East Side.

View on a Larger Map

During the day the area is busy as commuting office workers fill the surrounding high-rise buildings. The energy is high but focused. Everyone is trying to get somewhere, be it work, lunch, or an errand, quickly. This is the business, not the pleasure, side of the city. For the most part, it's lacking in the bright lights and tourist groups of Times Square or the colorful characters of downtown.

At night, it closes up. The worker bees head to Grand Central, perhaps grabbing a drink first, and then hop a train or subway home.

The hotel's main entrance on 45th Street is open 24 hours, while another entrance on 44th Street is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The ground floor is occupied with shop tenants ranging from John Allan's, a fancy men's grooming club, to a not-so-fancy wireless phone store. Beyond the hotel's ground floor, additional upscale shops -- including a Lindt chocolate store and a luggage store -- occupy a "shopping promenade" below the lobby.

Guests leaving the hotel can simply cross 45th Street and enter Grand Central through a small (and not clearly marked) entrance. There's also a J.Crew store across the street and a popular place to grab a cheap breakfast or lunch called Blake & Todd.

The Deluxe Room

With the splendor of the lobby and the size of the hotel, it's easy to forget that rooms are quite cheap for the area -- standard rooms average less than $175 a night -- and pretty nice for the price. At the nearby Jolly Hotel Madison Towers -- an odd little Euro-chain hotel without the amazing lobby and with no fitness center, concierge, or business center -- standard rooms cost about the same and aren't quite as nice. The Jolly's bathrooms are a bit newer, but their beds are old and uncomfortable and some standard rooms have small tube TVs.

Still, the standard Superior rooms can be a bit small. They range in size from 160 to 192 square feet. For an additional $40 to $60, guests can upgrade to a Deluxe room; these range from 200 to 300 square feet.

Thanks to a free upgrade, I stayed in a corner Deluxe King. It was bright and spacious (a rare thing in New York). Corner rooms have two windows that look out onto midtown skyscrapers, including a bit of the famed Chrysler Building. The square-shaped room also features two closets, both a desk and a lounge chair with side table, and an LG flat-screen television. The furniture, like the heavily scratched side table, appeared a bit worn, and the insides of the closets were badly in need of a fresh coat of paint.

Pay-per-view movies are not currently available, but there are plans to add them. In the meantime, there's a good selection of cable channels, including free HBO.

All rooms feature their own heating and air conditioning units, which you can control via analog dials on one of the units. It's not an elegant digital system where you set your exact temperature, but it's still more individual climate control than many older hotels offer.

Bathrooms, even in suites, are quite small. My bathroom was also dirty. Shower tiles were dingy, there was a bit of mildew and dust throughout, and the caulking around the shower doors was wasting away. The sink is freestanding, so there's no counter space to set a cosmetic bag. A spare toilet paper roll was placed on the window sill, reminding us of a college apartment. Due to our room's layout, the door to the bathroom only opened halfway. Entering the bathroom made for a tight squeeze between the half-open door and the nightstand. Several TripAdvisor reviewers have also noted the dirty bathrooms.

Beds are fairly comfortable, for the price. Though the sheets are supposedly 300-count, they don't quite feel it, but they're nice enough. The duvet is filled with poly filling, not down, and pillows are a mix of the two; both are fluffy and nice. A renovation completed in January 2009 resulted in new mattresses and box springs in the rooms. They're comfortable but not amazing. Hotel management did acknowledge that renovations are ongoing, here's hoping rooms become more attractive and comfortable in the wake.

Most guests I spoke with seemed happy enough with the rooms. They're not fabulous, but they're serviceable and well priced, and they come with a great lobby.

Meetings at the Ballroom

The fitness center is located on the second floor, amid a maze of meeting rooms. It's accessed with a guest room key and is relatively spacious, with windows on the long wall. Life Fitness brand cardio machines -- four bicycles, four elliptical machines, and four treadmills -- feature individual cable televisions in good repair. But the weight machines appeared a bit older than their cardio counterparts, and the stretching matt had missing corners. Towels, a water cooler with Styrofoam cups, and fresh fruit -- a basket of apples when we stayed -- are also supplied. The fruit is an especially nice touch at a hotel in this price range. Still, like elsewhere in the hotel, the fitness center seemed in need of a good cleaning. It didn't appear in any way unsanitary, but there were bits of paper on the floor and dusty areas here and there.

The main business center on the second floor is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. It features five computers, a printer, a copy machine, and a fax machine that wasn't functioning during our stay. There's also a nice, long counter area that would be handy for collating. A second business center on the lobby level, called the Web Zone, is open 24 hours and has two computers and a printer.

Though the hotel staff says they welcome kids, the businessy atmosphere and grand, somewhat austere lobby don't feel all that family friendly. I didn't see a single kid during my stay there.

Cribs are available at no extra charge, and roll-away beds are $35 per night. A Deluxe room or bigger is needed to accommodate roll-aways, though. Adjoining rooms are also available and can be requested when reserving, but there are no guarantees until arrival.

For guests needing a baby sitter, the concierge provides the number for the Babysitter's Guild, a child-care agency that specializes in out-of-town visitors. At the agency's suggestion, the concierge asks that guests call the Babysitter's Guild directly to schedule service, address any questions, and make sure all are comfortable with the arrangements.

Bathrooms could be cleaner

In our Deluxe King room, shower tiles were dingy, there was a bit of mildew and dust throughout the bathroom, and the caulking was worn away around the shower's glass doors. Even in the suites, the bathrooms we saw didn't exactly sparkle. They look and feel old and gray, despite updates like stainless steel waste baskets and new shower curtains. Many other guests have also noted the dirty bathrooms.

Outside of the lobby, rooms and halls are passably but not thoroughly clean. Dust lingers in crevices and odd windowsills, floors have a few bits of debris or bleach spots, and the mats and weights in the gym could use some straightening up. There's a general feeling that the property could use a bit more TLC. Rooms feel as though they've been cleaned hastily -- a bit too much like home.

Breakfast buffet at Roosevelt Grill

The Roosevelt Grill stopped its dinner service in early 2009 due to the economy, though you wouldn't know it from the posters throughout the lobby touting the restaurant's steak dinners. It's now only open for breakfast and lunch or private events. Though the space is lovely, most guests skip the $28.95 breakfast buffet and grab a cheaper continental breakfast at the Madison Club Lounge.

Room service (available from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to midnight) includes the Roosevelt's Grill's pricey American fare. My $10 pot of tea didn't come cheap, but it did come quickly -- in a matter of minutes. Just as I'd requested, there were loads of lemons and honey along with the hot water and tea bags -- the perfect way to end the day.

The Madison Club does double duty as both coffee and cocktail bar. In the morning, guests line up along the bar to grab fruit, cereal, and pastries and order Starbucks coffee and espresso drinks. On my visit, the pastries appeared mediocre. A better bet is to grab breakfast just out the main entry and across 45th Street at Blake & Todd. The bagels there are fresher and cheaper.

Come cocktail hour, the space fills with business travelers and locals grabbing drinks after work before heading to Grand Central Station. On Mad Men, the hit television show set in 1960s New York, the characters occasionally grab drinks at the Roosevelt. Sitting and sipping at the bar, it's easy to imagine the decades of drinking and smoking the stately place has seen.

The cocktail menu focuses on $14 martinis. An unfriendly bartender told me that Cosmos and Appletinis are popular. Bloody Marys also appeared big with the computer conference crowd. There's also a decent selection of scotches. With no dinner service at the grill, the bar is the only place to order food in the evening. Fare tends toward the standard and overpriced: $22 chicken Caesar salads and $19 club sandwiches.

Since opening around Memorial Day in 2008, the Roosevelt's rooftop bar, Mad46, has been popular, as New York is forever in need of more places to drink outside. High up on the 19th floor, it attracts older dudes who work in finance and can afford multiple double-digit martinis. It opens each season in May and closes when things get too chilly in the fall. An indoor lounge, added to the space in 2009, offers table service and hosts private events.

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

To save some cash, group shuttles 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 for as little as $7 per person, but travel times 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.