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The good elements of this hotel are the location (centrally located in the city around good shopping, restaurants, etc.) and the decor. They had Moulton Brown bath products which was an amazing touch, very classy.However, the bad service outweighed all of that. We booked our room online and called well in advance to request a room with two double beds. A long story short, we were given a room with only one bed and had to squeeze two cots into the room in order fit everyone. The man at the front desk named Phillip was extremely unfriendly and unaccommodating.This property is extremely nice, but unfortunately, the service was terrible which puts a major damper on the rest of the features of the hotel. The customer service needs to be greatly improved at this establishment.

We booked this hotel for the first time, based on price and its good reviews. We knew we were getting a small room with only a queen bed (New York hotel rooms are usually small), but we should have realized something was up when there were no photos of the bathroom on the web site. It was tiny! Plus the sink was tiny -- something suitable only for washing hands -- no way to bend over it and wash your face without splashing water everywhere, especially since the mirror was sticking out due to backlighting. Also, it had one of those frosted glass sliding doors that everyone thinks are so high-style, but they offer no privacy;this one didn't even shut properly.We did not ask for a change of room because we had such a busy schedule we couldn't take the time. However, in the hotel's defense, I will say that they did take money off our bill when we complained at checkout. I think there are rooms with bigger bathrooms -- just not the one that cost only (!) $299 per night.The hotel does have a good location, and the public areas are attractive.

We stayed two nights on business, which was in that part of Manhattan. The complimentary wine and cheese at 5:30 P.M. was a nice perk. The staff was friendly and helpful. We had dinner at the restaurant one night and enjoyed an assortment of small plates, for not too much money. There was a fashion show in the lobby on one night. The impression was that this is a "happening" place. A couple of little glitches, like no shampoo or no coffee cups with the room service breakfast, were remedied immediately. The Empire State Building is right nearby and the Madison Avenue location is not far from good shopping.

I have stayed at the Carlton Hotel at least 6 times over the past several years. The lobby is lovely, decor, beds and linens are all fitting for this price range, however the rooms and bathrooms very dramatically, and in some cases are so small as to be useless. Rooms can very from being average-small New York hotel rooms, to being so small that you cannot pull the chair away from the desk because their is no room due to the bed being up against them. I have had tiny rooms that are awful and average sized rooms that are tolerable. Baths very from being large and beautiful, to the bath I had on this most recent stay, which was horrible.The issue with this property is that I would guess it was not designed to have en-suite baths, but rather had some sort of shared-bath configuration. In going "upscale" with the property via a renovation a number of years ago, they jammed new baths into small spaces, some of which were obviously just closets before the renovation. The bath I had this trip was so small that the toilet was jammed against the wall so that you had to sit at a 45-degree angle from the wall on it (not fun), with the tissue holder right next to you, bumping your leg. The sink was a cheap pedestal model with the sink basin extending over the toilet tank. So, you are seated at an angle on the toilet with the toilet tissue holder bumping your left leg, and the edge of the sink poking you in your right side. There was no room for a tub in this tiny bath, so instead a small shower. It was acceptable, however for the price of these rooms, I expect a tub. This is a luxury hotel? I don't think so!Be aware that as with many other vintage NY hotels, the building is shaped like an "E", so many of the rooms face other rooms, which can be no more than a few feet away. Keep those shades drawn, including the inner "room darkening" roller shades, since you see right through the white sheer ones that will be down when you enter the room. Also be prepared for tiny elevators, and allow plenty of time to get in and out of this hotel. The waits for the elevators can be long!If this were a budget hotel, people would complain, however they might live with the bath and room sizes, if priced appropriately. As a luxury property, this is completely unacceptable. It is a shame the renovation was not done properly to yield fewer, larger rooms with reasonable bathrooms. For the same (or less) cost, you can do much better in this area of Manhattan.

If you are looking for a conveniently-priced and -located hotel in Manhattan, try the Carlton, located on Madison between 28th & 29th. Bus and subway are nearby. Try to get a deal through whatever means you can, which we did, so it significantly lowered the "rack rates". The rooms were clean though small--more like a typical European hotel. The concierge was especially notable in a competent overall staff. The restaurant was adequate but nothing to write home about. I would return on a future NYC visit and recommend it.