Side-by-side
Aman New York vs Four Seasons Hotel New York
Aman New York: The three-floor spa with Banya, Hammam and cold plunge terraces gets the strongest reactions of the whole stay. Four Seasons Hotel New York: Doormen, bellmen and concierge get named and praised constantly.
Can't split them? Tell us the trip and we'll say which one we'd book — then book it at the same rate as direct, our perks attached.
Aman
Fat ApprovedAman New York
Aman New York is a city-centre property with a jazz club, spa suites with fireplaces, and an indoor pool.
Four Seasons
Fat ApprovedFour Seasons Hotel New York
An I.M. Pei-designed limestone tower on East 57th Street, steps from Central Park, reopened in late 2024 after an extended closure.
Strengths & trade-offs
Aman New York
Strengths
- Jean-Michel Gathy's dark, tactile room design paired with soundproofing strong enough to block street noise entirely
- Three-floor spa with Banya, Hammam suites, and cold plunge terraces rated as a standout even by disappointed guests
- Entry-level rooms run around 725 square feet, unusually large for a Manhattan hotel
- Basement jazz club open to non-guests draws consistent praise as a night out
Trade-offs
- Advertised butler service frequently described as missing or one-way (iPad only, no direct line)
- Concierge has dropped confirmed dinner reservations and been slow to resolve billing and checkout issues
- Pool has run cold with no complimentary access to jacuzzi or cold plunge outside a paid Banya booking
- Food and beverage described as good but unremarkable given the price, with limited bar hours reported on at least one stay
Four Seasons Hotel New York
Strengths
- Staff repeatedly singled out by name across unconnected stays
- I.M. Pei lobby remains one of the most striking hotel interiors in the city
- Large rooms by Manhattan standards, many with Central Park or skyline views
- Concierge team gets guests into fully booked restaurants
- Unmatched Midtown location steps from Central Park and Fifth Avenue
Trade-offs
- Guest rooms and bathrooms feel dated despite the recent reopening
- Room service and restaurant execution inconsistent
- Spa still limited pending a planned refresh
- Occasional front-desk and housekeeping missteps at this price point
Scoreboard
| Dimension | Aman New York/ 20 | Four Seasons Hotel New York/ 20 |
|---|---|---|
| Tier | Fat Approved | Fat Approved |
| Overall Fat Score | 15Even | 15Even |
| Service | 13.5 Front desk and spa staff get praised by name in some stays, but a real share of guests report a missing butler, mixed-up reservations, and slow callbacks. | 16+2.5 Doormen, bellmen and concierge get named and praised constantly, though a few guests describe a rude phone call or restroom encounter that never got resolved. |
| Design | 18.5+5 | 13.5 Reports since the reopening keep calling the rooms beige and dated for the price, with one sink centered oddly in an otherwise long counter. |
| Location | 16 The 57th Street address puts you next to Fifth Avenue shopping, but the lobby sits on the 14th floor and many guest rooms below it get poor views. | 18.5+2.5 Steps from Central Park and Madison Avenue in Midtown, which almost nobody disputes even when they're complaining about everything else. |
| Dining | 14 Guests call the food fine rather than special for the price, and one wedding-anniversary checkout was disrupted by a lobby flooding incident and billing confusion. | 14.5+0.5 The Garden and the TY Bar draw real praise, but room service has landed as a sad club sandwich and the Red Lounge as tiny portions for the price. |
| Wellness | 17.5+4.5 The three-floor spa with Banya, Hammam and cold plunge terraces gets the strongest reactions of the whole stay, though the pool has run cold and the pool windows are painted over. | 13 The spa and pool exist but barely come up next to the rooms and restaurants in what people actually write about. |
The Verdicts
Aman New York
A base room here (Deluxe Suite, roughly 725 square feet) runs from about $1,100 to $3,500 a night depending on season, and what arrives for that is real: Jean-Michel Gathy's dark, warm interiors, a working fireplace, and soundproofing so good you can watch a fire truck go by outside and hear nothing. The building itself, the 1921 Crown Building on 57th Street, is one of the best-designed hotel shells in the city, and the three-floor spa with its Banya and Hammam suites gets more genuine enthusiasm from guests than almost anything else on the property, cold plunge terraces and all.
Where it gets complicated is everything Aman built its name on outside the room. Several guests who've stayed at other Amans describe a butler service that's advertised but doesn't really exist, a concierge that lost a scheduled dinner reservation entirely, and a front desk that can feel like a well-run five-star chain rather than the anticipatory, name-remembering service the brand promises elsewhere. One couple celebrating a tenth anniversary got a chaotic, unresolved checkout after a lobby flooding issue; another found the pool disappointingly cold with no complimentary access to the cold plunge or jacuzzi unless you book the paid Banya treatment. The food is consistently described as good but not memorable, which stings less in a city with this many restaurants but still doesn't match the price tag.
Book it if you want a quiet, beautifully built room to retreat to in Midtown and you're not counting on Aman's resort-level hand-holding to show up. The rooms alone justify a stay for anyone who values a genuinely soundproofed, well-finished space over a livelier boutique address. If personal recognition and a fully realized butler relationship are the point of paying Aman prices, that's inconsistent here. Go for the room and the spa.
Four Seasons Hotel New York
The I.M. Pei tower and that 52-storey lobby still stop people mid-step, and on Central Park South that alone buys a lot of goodwill. Guests write in about a bellman named Eddie who made a birthday stay feel personal, and a bartender named Olga who quietly remade an over-salted appetizer and remembered a returning guest years later. The staff is what people come back talking about, and it's the strongest, most consistent thing this hotel has going for it: the concierge team in particular gets singled out for landing reservations at restaurants that were supposedly full.
The rooms are the catch. This reopened in late 2024 after years closed, and plenty of longtime Four Seasons guests expected a full overhaul that didn't arrive: furniture, fixtures and even the artificial flowers read closer to a 1990s hotel than a 2020s Four Seasons, and more than one regular has called it a step down from the brand's other flagships. The bathrooms and finishes are the specific complaint that won't go away, and it sits alongside occasional housekeeping slips (hair left in a bathroom, a room service club sandwich one guest compared unfavorably to a child's cooking) and a front desk that isn't always as gracious as the doormen. The spa is also still limited while a refresh is pending, so don't book this one for wellness.
Book it for the location, the lobby, and a team that still performs like it's the 1990s in the best sense: walking distance to the park, Fifth Avenue, and Midtown's best tables, with people who go out of their way for you. Anyone chasing the newest rooms in this category has other options in the city (the Carlyle comes up often in comparison), but anyone who wants the classic New York hotel experience, run by people who still care, should book a higher floor, ask for a Central Park view, and not worry about the decor.
Still torn between Aman New York and Four Seasons Hotel New York?
We're Sofie and Nicolas, the two of us behind Fat Voyage — and we've stayed in hotels like these ourselves. Tell us what the trip is and we'll tell you which one we'd book, and why. We're not a booking service, but a few times a year we plan one properly for someone; if that's what you're after, say so.
You'll be dealing with the two of us the whole way through, which is why we only take on a handful of trips at a time — if we're full, we'll say so. We reply by email, usually within one working day. The hotel pays us, not you: your rate is the same as booking direct, and the perks come on top.
Common questions
Which should I book — Aman New York or Four Seasons Hotel New York?
Aman New York: The three-floor spa with Banya, Hammam and cold plunge terraces gets the strongest reactions of the whole stay. Four Seasons Hotel New York: Doormen, bellmen and concierge get named and praised constantly.
What's the difference between Aman New York and Four Seasons Hotel New York?
Both are Urban, Architecture, Heritage and Romantic. Aman New York adds Wellness and Design. Aman New York is ahead on the rooms. Four Seasons Hotel New York is ahead on where it puts you.
Which is better for wellness, Aman New York or Four Seasons Hotel New York?
Aman New York leads on this. Aman New York: The three-floor spa with Banya, Hammam and cold plunge terraces gets the strongest reactions of the whole stay, though the pool has run cold and the pool windows are painted over. Four Seasons Hotel New York: The spa and pool exist but barely come up next to the rooms and restaurants in what people actually write about.
Which is better for service, Aman New York or Four Seasons Hotel New York?
Four Seasons Hotel New York leads on this. Aman New York: Front desk and spa staff get praised by name in some stays, but a real share of guests report a missing butler, mixed-up reservations, and slow callbacks. Four Seasons Hotel New York: Doormen, bellmen and concierge get named and praised constantly, though a few guests describe a rude phone call or restroom encounter that never got resolved.
Where are Aman New York and Four Seasons Hotel New York?
Both are in New York, about 292 m apart — close enough that the choice is the hotel, not the neighbourhood.
How does Fat Voyage compare Aman New York and Four Seasons Hotel New York?
Fat Voyage scores every hotel out of 20 across five dimensions — service, design, location, dining and wellness — from independent signals: the most active luxury travel communities, major editorial publications, and verified guest reviews, weighted by source credibility, depth and recency. Nothing is paid for, and no hotel can buy a place.