The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park

We’ve stayed at a lot of Ritz-Carlton properties. This is our eighth year around Christmas choosing this one in New York. At this point, the pattern is impossible to ignore. The staff acts entitled and irritated the second you ask for anything. No recognition, no warmth, no sense that they care you’ve come back year after year. Room service is hit or miss. The front desk is consistently rude. Nothing feels organized. Nothing feels five star. You pay a premium expecting a luxury experience. What you actually get is the opposite. It’s disappointing every time, and it’s getting harder to justify choosing this property over options like the Aman. It just isn’t measuring up, and it hasn’t for years. Stay elsewhere.

One of our rooms was not ready when we arrived, in spite of the Amex benefit of early check in. The rooms were tired, with rumpled carpeting and scuffed bed frames. The front desk said they were sending up a key for the second room, and they made us wait for 20 minutes, and it still did not show up. I had to go down to get it, at which point they just made me new keys. The breakfast had extremely small portions and was massively overpriced. The American Breakfast seems to charge $12 for a tomato, which was not even provided on the plate. The final straw was that I called for our car to be delivered 45 minutes in advance, as the hotel instructed. Instead, the car came about 1 1/2 hours after we called for it, forcing my entire family to wait for 45 minutes. This was a very poor experience.

A fantastic location with really poor service. I had to wait an hour for an iron, but could not get an ironing board. The breakfast is expensive and pedestrian (and you have to pay extra if you want your eggs anything but scrambled). And there was no coffee or tea in the rooms. It was clean though.

This was our third time staying at this property and we are going back in December. From the moment we arrived, the service was top-notch. A special thank you to Robinson or Robertson (I think this was his name) at the front desk. He was very welcoming to us as we checked in. He surprised us with thoughtful birthday touches, upgraded our room, and even arranged complimentary drinks. The Ritz-Carlton is known for its luxury and service, but Robinson exceeded even those high expectations. This is a great place to stay at!!!

I was warmly greeted by the bellman team (1 gentleman from Turkish origins). My girlfriend and I shared that we were working for another Ritz-Carlton property and he used his empowerment to make us live an amazing experience at the bar ! Thank you