Side-by-side
The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel vs Four Seasons Hotel New York
The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel: Art deco rooms, Ludwig Bemelman's murals, chandeliers and wood panelling get consistent praise. 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.
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.
Rosewood
Fat FavoriteThe Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel
A room here starts around $1,400 a night and a basic deluxe king can run closer to $1,200 before taxes, and what you get for it is a hotel that still feels like a hotel rather than a lobby full of…
Four Seasons
Four 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
The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel
Strengths
- Art deco rooms and suites, with the Central Park Suite singled out for space and views
- Bemelmans Bar and Cafe Carlyle give the hotel a genuine draw beyond the rooms themselves
- Staff go out of their way, from arranging a house car in the rain to full-floor privacy for a guest recovering from surgery
- Quiet Upper East Side setting a short walk from Central Park and Madison Avenue shopping
Trade-offs
- Plant-based and room service dining is limited for a hotel at this level
- Gym is small and dated compared to nearby competitors like the Surrey
- Some recent stays report real lapses: brown water, unresolved maintenance issues, cold service
- Some rooms and bathrooms haven't been renovated in a long time
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 | The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel/ 20 | Four Seasons Hotel New York/ 20 |
|---|---|---|
| Tier | Fat Favorite | — |
| Overall Fat Score | 17 | Not in collection |
| Service | 17+1 Most guests describe genuine warmth, a complimentary suite upgrade during a cold snap, and staff who remember names, though a handful report cold, dismissive treatment. | 16 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 | 17.5+4 Art deco rooms, Ludwig Bemelman's murals, chandeliers and wood panelling get consistent praise, though the elevators and some bathrooms feel their age. | 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 | 16.5 The Upper East Side address puts Central Park and Madison Avenue shopping within a short walk but sits away from downtown dining and nightlife. | 18.5+2 Steps from Central Park and Madison Avenue in Midtown, which almost nobody disputes even when they're complaining about everything else. |
| Dining | 16+1.5 Bemelmans Bar and Cafe Carlyle draw people back for the jazz and the crowd, but room service is thin and plant-based options are limited. | 14.5 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 | 12.5 The gym gets called out as needing a real upgrade, and there is little else on the wellness side to speak of. | 13+0.5 The spa and pool exist but barely come up next to the rooms and restaurants in what people actually write about. |
Where they differ
Only Four Seasons Hotel New York
Nothing the other doesn’t also offer.
Ahead on location +2 and wellness +0.5.
Where they sit
New York, USA
New York, USA
The Verdicts
The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel
A room here starts around $1,400 a night and a basic deluxe king can run closer to $1,200 before taxes, and what you get for it is a hotel that still feels like a hotel rather than a lobby full of phones. The art deco rooms and the Ludwig Bemelman murals in the bar downstairs are the reason people keep coming back, and more than one guest mentions getting waved past the two-hour line at Bemelmans just for being a hotel guest. One traveler recovering from surgery at a nearby hospital was given an entire floor to herself and a stocked kitchen with a blender for protein shakes, arranged by a travel advisor who'd told the hotel why she needed the quiet.
The catch is consistency. Some rooms haven't been touched in years, the elevators are slow, and a few recent stays describe real problems: brown water from the taps, a scabies scare that the hotel wouldn't document, room service orders that never showed up. The food on property is the weakest part of the case — plant-based options are thin, the cheese plate on room service has been described as a few cubes on a dish, and the gym is small enough that regulars book the Surrey next door just to work out. None of that is universal, and the good stays outnumber the bad ones by a wide margin, but at these prices a brown-water afternoon or a missed room service order lands harder than it would somewhere cheaper.
Book it for the Central Park Suite or a high floor if you can get one, for a seat at Bemelmans, and for a version of New York that doesn't exist much anymore. Skip it if what you actually want is a modern gym, adventurous food, or to be near downtown. For anyone chasing old New York glamour with real service behind it, nothing else on the Upper East Side does it quite the same way.
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 The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel 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 — The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel or Four Seasons Hotel New York?
The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel: Art deco rooms, Ludwig Bemelman's murals, chandeliers and wood panelling get consistent praise. 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.
What's the difference between The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel and Four Seasons Hotel New York?
Both are Urban, Heritage, Architecture and Romantic. The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel adds Design. The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel is ahead on the rooms. Four Seasons Hotel New York is ahead on where it puts you.
Which is better for design, The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel or Four Seasons Hotel New York?
The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel leads on this. The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel: Art deco rooms, Ludwig Bemelman's murals, chandeliers and wood panelling get consistent praise, though the elevators and some bathrooms feel their age. Four Seasons Hotel New York: Reports since the reopening keep calling the rooms beige and dated for the price, with one sink centered oddly in an otherwise long counter.
Which is better for location, The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel or Four Seasons Hotel New York?
Four Seasons Hotel New York leads on this. The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel: The Upper East Side address puts Central Park and Madison Avenue shopping within a short walk but sits away from downtown dining and nightlife. Four Seasons Hotel New York: Steps from Central Park and Madison Avenue in Midtown, which almost nobody disputes even when they're complaining about everything else.
Where are The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel and Four Seasons Hotel New York?
Both are in New York, about 1.5 km apart — close enough that the choice is the hotel, not the neighbourhood.
How does Fat Voyage compare The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel 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.