Which New York hotels offer the best Club or Executive lounges to guests? By reviewing each of these Club or Executive lounges, I conclude which hotel has the best club lounge in New York.
Club Lounge Access For Free
Book a standard room at the InterContinental Barclay in New York, which is a partner hotel with our luxury travel concierge, and you will get Club Lounge access free. This has got to be one of the best hotel deals in New York! You will also get relevant loyalty and status benefits if you share your loyalty account number with our agent.
The Club Lounge at InterContinental Barclay New York is excellent, as outlined below, so getting it for free makes this InterContinental our best luxury hotel choice for value in New York. In addition, book with us, and you will not be charged their destination/resort fee.
Why Choose A New York Hotel With A Club Lounge?
When deciding which hotel to choose for your stay in a city like New York, it is sensible to consider the added extras provided by a hotel club lounge. Offerings usually include complimentary drinks and snacks throughout the day, breakfast in the morning, and evening cocktails with canapés. Annoyingly, very few club lounges in New York offer free alcoholic drinks, but the food tends to be filling and plentiful. The food and drink offering is often more than enough to replace the need to go for any food whatsoever, even your evening meal is provided in the lounge.
Club or Executive hotel lounges provide an interesting environment for working and relaxing. Some lounges also offer dedicated meeting rooms, although I prefer to hold smaller meetings in the main lounge area. I’m not particularly eager to sit in restaurants alone when I travel for business. Room service is also rather lonely, so a club lounge provides the ideal environment to enjoy good food and atmosphere while comfortably sitting at a table for one.
1. Ritz-Carlton Nomad
You may have noticed that a second Ritz-Carlton launched in New York in 2022, and this is easily one of the best hotels in New York with one of the best executive club lounges. Newly built from the ground up and situated in one of the tallest buildings in the area, the 250-room Ritz-Carlton hotel boasts spectacular views from the Empire State Building down to the Statue of Liberty.
Ritz-Carlton New York Nomad is steps away from Madison Square Park, the Flatiron Building, and a short walk to the Highline. Rising 500 feet above New York’s streets, the hotel sits within the city skyline as one of the tallest buildings in NoMad, which for those of us who aren’t New Yorkers, is the birthplace of American popular music at Tin Pan Alley and today is a nexus of art, entertainment, fashion, and technology.
The guestrooms and public spaces all showcase elegant floral expressions, such as natural elements and textures, that reflect the soft curvature of petals alongside sleek accents and lines, which echo New York City’s verticality and city grid.
Many rooms have stand-alone bathtubs next to the window, so you can relax while looking out over the New York skyline. Watch the setting sun cast a warm glow over the skyline as the city transitions from day to night. The views from the bed, the bath, the room are just fabulous.
The hotel also houses the signature 6,800 ft² Ritz-Carlton Spa and Fitness Center, accompanied by complimentary fruit-infused water and cold towels. There is, however, no pool at this hotel. Restaurants and bars are by Michelin-starred chef José Andrés. Zaytinya and Andrés also oversees the hotel‘s rooftop bar, where guests can drink 500 ft (150 m) in the air, as well as in-room dining, and banquet events, including weddings and more.
This Ritz-Carlton feels more modern than the original Ritz-Carlton in New York. The decor in much of the hotel has a jungly feel with dark browns, greens, and lots of foliage. But the bathtubs by the window make this hotel stand out for us.
The Ritz-Carlton Club® lounge here offers fabulous views, as shown in the image above. The lounge combines intimacy, comfort and exclusivity with personalized service and attention to detail. This oasis in a well-appointed, relaxed lounge environment on the 36th Floor of the building offers 180-degree views to Downtown Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. The Club Lounge provides continuous complimentary culinary offerings throughout the day by Michelin-starred chef José Andrés and also offers alcoholic drinks for free.
In our opinion, this is the best club lounge in New York, although it comes with a high price tag. You need to book an executive club room here to gain access to this lounge.
2. Ritz-Carlton New York Central Park
The original Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park also offers a Club Level. It also has a fun location on the second floor with ever-changing views of iconic Central Park and lively 59th Street but does not offer a birdseye view like the Nomad above.
This club lounge does include alcoholic drinks (hurrah!), including beer, wine, cocktails, and spirits. In fact, it goes a step further with wine tastings and similar events. For example, on Friday evenings from 5:00 – 7:00 pm, club lounge guests can indulge in exclusive tastings from the wine cellar, focusing on local and regional wines, or sip on a select distinct spirit accompanied by exquisite hors d’oeuvres alongside picturesque views of Central Park.
3. InterContinental New York Barclay Club Lounge Review
The InterContinental New York Barclay club lounge is one of the best in New York. This InterContinental New York Barclay is located behind Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue store on East 48th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues. The hotel rooms here are large by NYC standards, but the bathrooms are quite cozy. There are 702 rooms, including 33 suites, at this hotel, and the interior look is elegant and classy.
The lounge here is called Club InterContinental and is excellent. It can be found to the left of the lobby and is open 6:30 am – 8:00 pm. It serves a delicious buffet breakfast, including gluten-free options, snacks, afternoon tea, evening cocktails, and hors d’oeuvres. Club guests can check-in here and use its business center and a meeting room.
Access costs $150 USD for double occupancy on top of the room rate, but if you book a standard room at the Intercontinental in New York via our concierge and you will get the lounge access absolutely free in addition to our other complimentary benefits.
4. JW Marriott Essex House Club
JW Marriott Essex House is located on 59th & 7th and is close to Central Park, making it a good base in the city. The club lounge is on the ground floor near the lifts. Breakfast is noteworthy here, served from 6:30 – 11:00 am on weekdays. Breakfast is served in a room that standard and Club lounge guests can access via two separate entrances. This means the offering is enormous. Piles of fruit, a massive variety of cereals, muffins, bread, yogurts, and an array of hot food; eggs, potatoes, sausage, bacon, etc. This is undoubtedly the best club lounge breakfast in New York.
In the evening, you get crackers, cheeses, salad, and also a couple of hot items like eggplant lasagna and veal pasta that should fill you up. The alcoholic drinks offering is, however, paid for. This is still an excellent lounge, although a notch below the Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge.
5. Hilton New York Midtown
This huge Hilton has 1,985 rooms and is located on 54th Street at Sixth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. The art deco-style lobby has swathes of cream marble and is ultra-luxurious. Executive-level rooms (187 guest rooms and 41 suites) are located on floors 39-44 and have been recently refurbished, so they have a super modern look, with 55 square inch flat-panel TVs. Room perks include robes, bottled water, and access to the Executive Lounge. The Hilton Executive Lounge is open seven days a week and has the usual daily continental breakfast, hors-d’oeuvres in the evenings, and coffee and teas plus snacks and soft drinks throughout the day.
Once again, there are beautiful views from this lounge on the 44th floor, with windows that line both sides of the room. It’s your very own penthouse above the city. The breakfast includes fruit, bagels, pastries, bread, spreads, and more. There are soft drinks and cookies during the day, and in the evening, the complimentary hors-d’oeuvres buffet includes items like dim sum, shrimp, crackers, and cheese. There’s a bar service in the evening, but as usual in New York, this is a paid-for bar. However, this is a superb place to enjoy a bagel and coffee in the morning and a glass of wine in the evening while looking down at Central Park from the 44th floor.
6. Sheraton New York Times Square
The Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel Club Lounge is open 24/7. It offers gorgeous views through large panoramic windows on the 44th floor. As the hotel is located close to Times Square, the Club Lounge has views overlooking 7th Avenue toward Times Square, Central Park, and the Hudson River.
The hotel offers true luxury and recently underwent a multi-million dollar renovation. Rooms are spacious, and you can upgrade to use the club lounge for $50 USD a day per room; good value when you consider what is included. Location wise, it is hard to beat this hotel. Broadway is also just a few steps from the hotel for a show. Central Park, with its walks, playgrounds, and zoo, are just a short walk away.
The Lounge offers continental breakfast from 6:30 – 9:30 am on weekdays and 7:30 – 10:00 am on weekends. The spread includes fresh whole fruits, yogurt, cereals with a selection of toppings, assorted pastries, hard-boiled eggs, juice, and coffee.
There are snacks and drinks available throughout the day. In the evening, hors d’oeuvres are served daily from 5:30 – 7:30 pm, including a vegetable crudité with a cheese display, fresh fruits and crackers, and an antipasto salad.
The alcoholic drinks on offer in this lounge but must be paid for and are available from 5:00 – 11:00 pm.
7. Sheraton Tribeca New York
Sheraton in Tribeca has one of the best hotel Club Lounges in New York if you like a terrace with a view (pictured above) and crucially, free beer and wine. I love the outdoor terrace with relaxing outdoor sofas and sweeping views across the panoramic skyline of New York City, including the Empire State Building and Hudson River. Located on the 21st floor, this Club Lounge is spacious inside, and the outdoor terrace also has plenty of comfy seating. I’ll be honest; the inside is not overly luxurious. It has all the right offerings in terms of food and drink, but the feel is more luxury cafeteria than 5-star Club Lounge.
This Club Lounge is open 24 hours a day. There is a daily continental breakfast between 7:00 – 10:30 am and snacks and drinks all day. Most noteworthy is the Starbucks® Coffee, which is also included. As you would expect, there is free Wi-Fi along with a business center.
In the evening, there are complimentary hors-d’oeuvres, which includes fruit, salad items (sliced cucumber, carrot, tomatoes), cheese, crackers, and two hot options (like spring rolls, chicken wings, etc.) along with some alcohol; beer, and wine, from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm.
The hotel’s location is in Tribeca, a trendy area of New York with a completely different vibe from midtown or the Financial District. This means the hotel is not overly central. The corridors of this hotel (a feature I don’t usually mention) are a bit dingy and narrow. They do not feel particularly luxurious, although the rooms are fine. I particularly love the super comfy Sheraton “Sweet Sleeper’ beds along with the views across the New York skyline.
Bottom line, this hotel offers one of the best Club Lounge terraces across New York, but if you are used to a Four Seasons or Mandarin Oriental level of luxury, you will not be impressed with this hotel or the interior of this Club Lounge. There are more luxury SPG properties across New York, including the St. Regis and the Chatwal.
Other Marriott Bonvoy hotels that feature club lounges include M Club Lounge at the New York Marriott East Side and the New York Marriott Marquis, which also has an Executive Lounge.
8. Midtown Club Lounges & Floors
Which hotels with club lounges are the most central and near Central Park, Times, Square, and Broadway? Some of the best choices include Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel and the Ritz-Carlton New York Central Park.
Which Club Lounges In New York Include Complimentary Alcohol?
Unfortunately, most club lounges in New York charge extra for alcohol. The Sheraton Tribeca New York club lounge offers free alcoholic drinks and is a bargain, although its location is not so central. So in this category, both Ritz-Carltons winswith free beer, wine, cocktails, and spirits, along with specialist wine tastings once a week.
Which Is The Best Club Lounge In New York For Food?
Nothing beats the Ritz-Carlton club lounges for food.
Which Is The Best Club Lounge In New York For Views?
The Ritz-Carlton Nomad club lounge.
It is worth mentioning that you may have found articles online detailing the Grand Hyatt New York Grand Club Lounge. This was probably was our favorite club lounge in New York for cost per enjoyment but this lounge is now closed.
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