CompareNew York
Overall, The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel is the stronger stay.
The Carlyle leads on rooms & design (+2), dining (+1) and location (+0.5); Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown on wellness (+4.5). Level on service.
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Fat Favorite, 17 out of 20. The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel
Fat Favorite, 16 out of 20. Four Seasons Hotel New York DowntownNew York, USA · Rosewood
Art deco rooms, Ludwig Bemelman’s murals, chandeliers and wood panelling get consistent praise.
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…
Read the full verdictNew York, USA · Four Seasons
The indoor pool and steam rooms in the locker area are the most consistently loved amenity, with the spa rated excellent though pricey.
A Four Seasons in Lower Manhattan near the World Trade Center, with an indoor pool and CUT by Wolfgang Puck on site.
Read the full verdictOut of 20. The bars start at 10, so half a point still shows.
Overall +1
Overall: The Carlyle 17 out of 20, Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown 16 out of 20.Service Level Why
Service: The Carlyle 17 out of 20, Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown 17 out of 20.The Carlyle: 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.
Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown: Most stays feature a standout by name (Vash, Assiya, Duran) but a real minority report unhelped valets and staff too cool to engage.
Rooms & Design +2 Why
Rooms & Design: The Carlyle 17.5 out of 20, Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown 15.5 out of 20.The Carlyle: 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 Downtown: Rooms and suites read as spacious and comfortable, but several guests call the lobby small and the decor bland or interchangeable with other Four Seasons.
Location +0.5 Why
Location: The Carlyle 16.5 out of 20, Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown 16 out of 20.The Carlyle: 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 Downtown: Lower Manhattan near the World Trade Center, Tribeca and the subway, quieter than Midtown but a taxi ride from the busiest tourist core.
Dining +1 Why
Dining: The Carlyle 16 out of 20, Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown 15 out of 20.The Carlyle: 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.
Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown: CUT by Wolfgang Puck gets steady praise for steaks and breakfast pastries, but it’s the only restaurant and room service pricing draws complaints.
Wellness +4.5 Why
Wellness: The Carlyle 12.5 out of 20, Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown 17 out of 20.The Carlyle: The gym gets called out as needing a real upgrade, and there is little else on the wellness side to speak of.
Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown: The indoor pool and steam rooms in the locker area are the most consistently loved amenity, with the spa rated excellent though pricey.
Strengths of The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel
Strengths of Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown
Trade-offs of The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel
Trade-offs of Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown
Only at The Carlyle
Only at Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown
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.
This is Four Seasons doing what Four Seasons does, in a part of Manhattan that lets it do it quietly. Downtown near the World Trade Center and Tribeca, it trades the Midtown crush for calmer streets, a genuinely large indoor pool, and rooms that run bigger than almost anything comparable in the city. The suites are the strongest argument here, especially the newly renovated ones, and more than one long-time Four Seasons guest says this is the first property that made them loyal to the brand rather than just a fan of a particular city.
The catch is consistency. Plenty of stays get a doorman who drives you to Little Italy when your Uber cancels, or a front desk that tracks down a coffee order and a pastry preference by day two. Just as many describe staff who walk past an open door without offering to help, or a valet who watched a bag get loaded without lifting a finger. Room service runs $10-12 over what you'd expect for the quality, the lobby reads small and can feel cold rather than welcoming, and the one on-site restaurant, CUT by Wolfgang Puck, is good but not a reason to skip the rest of the neighborhood's options. None of that is disqualifying at this price, but it means the experience depends more on which shift you catch than it should.
Book it for the pool, the room size, and a location that lets you avoid Midtown chaos without losing subway access. Business travelers and families both report being genuinely well taken care of, especially with kids or pets in tow. If flawless, name-remembered service every single day is the whole point of paying Four Seasons rates, know that it's inconsistent here rather than guaranteed, and price that in before you book.
We’re Sofie and Nicolas, 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 really a booking service, but a few times a year we plan one properly for someone; if that’s what you’re after, say so.
It's just the two of us, so we take on a handful of trips at a time. If we're full, we'll say so. We reply within a working day. The hotel pays us, not you: your rate is the same as booking direct, and the perks come on top.
The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel: Art deco rooms, Ludwig Bemelman’s murals, chandeliers and wood panelling get consistent praise. Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown: The indoor pool and steam rooms in the locker area are the most consistently loved amenity, with the spa rated excellent though pricey. Overall, The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel is the stronger stay.
The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel is ahead on the rooms. Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown is ahead on the spa. The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel adds Heritage, Architecture and Romantic; Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown adds Wellness, Family and Culinary. Both are tagged Urban and Design.
Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown leads on this. The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel: The gym gets called out as needing a real upgrade, and there is little else on the wellness side to speak of. Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown: The indoor pool and steam rooms in the locker area are the most consistently loved amenity, with the spa rated excellent though pricey.
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 Downtown: Rooms and suites read as spacious and comfortable, but several guests call the lobby small and the decor bland or interchangeable with other Four Seasons.
Both are in New York, about 7.9 km apart — close enough that the choice is the hotel, not the neighbourhood.
Fat Voyage scores every hotel out of 20 across five dimensions — service, rooms & design, location, dining and wellness — read from the trip reports in the most active luxury travel communities, critics’ reviews and verified guest reviews, with the long, detailed and recent ones counting most. Nothing is paid for, and no hotel can buy a place.
