93 Reviews
The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel
Upper East Side New York|0.56km from Upper East Side
This is my third review of The Carlyle over the years (across probably 25 stays), and, sadly, the first one where I didn't feel I could give the hotel five stars. Although this is specifically about a stay in November 2022, it relates more generally to the renovated rooms at The Carlyle -- and here, the 11/22 stay was our third in a renovated room. Two were in Superior Suites, and one was in a Rosewood Suite. First, the good: The service continues to terrific, and greetings from the staff are genuine and caring. Across the board, when I raised an issue, someone tried to make things better. Housekeeping did not miss a beat. The bedding and linens are top notch. I found the beds in all three rooms terrific. And, the renovations fixed what had been a tendency for the HVAC to be spotty, depending on the room. The renovated systems worked flawlessly. And, the rooms are quiet -- no street noise or noise from adjoining rooms. In the Superior Suites, the bathrooms are small. In one of the two we stayed in, we had a half bath, which made things a bit better. But, if you want a big bathroom, then look elsewhere. I find the baths adequate, and the showers delightful (as they have been across 30 years). Now, the not so good: The lighting the renovated rooms is atrocious. In the living rooms of all three suites, there wasn't enough light to read in the evening, other than in the one chair that they equipped with a reading light. The desk lamp -- while stylish -- gives off about the equivalent of a 40 watt light bulb. Who does that? There are wall mounted sconces -- with the equivalent of 15 watt bulbs in them. One room had a ceiling unit that had 3 bulbs with the equivalent of 40 watt bulbs. Why? The traditional Carlyle had great lighting -- three way bulbs with up to 150 watts in total in each of 3 or 4 lamps in the room. In this version, I feel depressed in the rooms in the evening. And then there's the bedroom. While there are lamps on the end tables next to the bed, they are on one switch. Either both are on, or neither. Why? Why not have them separately switched? There's a spot-like reading light on each side of the bed -- but that's a poor substitute from the warmth of the bedside table light. Why would anyone design a hotel room this way? I suppose if all one does in a hotel room is look at one's phone or computer, or watch TV, the lighting will suffice. But if you want to read? Forget it. And then you get to storage. In each of the three suites there was no storage at all for your things (I've seen reviews that show some rooms having dressers). Each of the living room and bedroom had shelving, but the room designers filled the shelves with design stuff that serves no purpose, leaving those unavailable to the guest. Even the closets lack usable shelving, other than a high shelf above the hanging clothes. The old Carlyle rooms had vast amounts of storage space in large dressers. It's almost as if the room design
151 Reviews