Bathtubs have largely disappeared from New York hotel rooms — swapped out for walk-in showers and the promise of more floor space. The ones that remain tend to be worth seeking out: deep soaking tubs in marble bathrooms designed to actually slow you down, some with views of the Hudson River or the Manhattan skyline, others so well considered they’re the best thing in the room. These are the hotels where the bathtub earns its place.
Table of Contents
New York City Hotels
| 1. Mandarin Oriental, New York Best Tub with a View ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: 5-minute walk to Columbus Circle, 10-minute walk to Central Park Guest Reviews: Soaking tub overlooking the Hudson River, floor-to-ceiling views, immaculate spa, exceptional staff Best Room: Hudson River View Room, 1 King Bed Price: From USD $800 – $1,200 per night |
| 2. The Whitby Hotel ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: 2-minute walk to MoMA, 5-minute walk to Central Park Guest Reviews: Individually designed rooms, deep tub with in-bathroom TV, exceptional staff, lively bar Best Room: Junior Suite Price: From USD $825 – $1,400 per night |
| 3. The Peninsula New York Best In-Bath TV Setup ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: On Fifth Avenue at 55th Street, 10-minute walk to Central Park Guest Reviews: Marble bathrooms with TV in the tub wall, rooftop bar with Fifth Avenue views, pool, exceptional concierge Best Room: Deluxe Room Price: From USD $975 – $1,500 per night |
| 4. The Langham, New York, Fifth Avenue Best Value Luxury ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: 3-minute walk to Empire State Building, 7-minute walk to Bryant Park Guest Reviews: Enormous rooms for Manhattan, deep soaking tub with city views, exceptional Michelin-starred restaurant, outstanding staff Best Room: Deluxe Room Price: From USD $595 – $950 per night |
| 5. The Ned NoMad In-room Bathtub ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: 7-minute walk to Empire State Building, steps from Madison Square Park Guest Reviews: Freestanding clawfoot tub in a beautifully restored Beaux-Arts building, Cecconi’s Italian restaurant, lively bar, outstanding atmosphere Best Room: Studio Price: From USD $575 – $850 per night |
| 6. The Dominick Hotel Best Skyline Views from the Tub ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: 10-minute walk to Hudson River waterfront, 5-minute walk to SoHo Guest Reviews: Spectacular skyline and Hudson River views, Italian marble soaking tub in every room, rooftop pool, generous room sizes Best Room: SoHi View One-Bedroom Suite Price: From USD $380 – $700 per night |
| 7. The William Vale Best for Brooklyn Stays ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: 15 minutes by subway to Midtown Manhattan, steps from Williamsburg’s main strip Guest Reviews: Soaking tub positioned next to the window with Manhattan skyline views, wraparound balconies, rooftop bar with 360-degree views, outstanding Italian restaurant Best Room: Suite, 1 King Bed with Sofa Bed, Balcony Price: From USD $260 – $550 per night |
| 8. Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown Best Bathroom Design ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: 3-minute walk to One World Trade Center, 6-minute walk to Wall Street Guest Reviews: Oval marble soaking tub in every room, spa-like bathrooms with heated floors, world-class pool, outstanding staff Best Room: King Room Price: From USD $767 – $1,100 per night |
| 9. Crosby Street Hotel Best SoHo Base ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: Heart of SoHo on a cobbled street, 5-minute walk to Spring Street subway Guest Reviews: Spectacular Lower Manhattan views through full-length warehouse windows, individually designed rooms, outstanding Crosby Bar, exceptional service Best Room: Junior Suite Price: From USD $1,100 – $1,800 per night |
| 10. Warren Street Hotel Newest Opening ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: 5-minute walk to One World Observatory, 10-minute walk to Brooklyn Bridge Guest Reviews: Lavishly designed rooms with freestanding bathtub and TV in the wall, exceptional concierge, private terrace suites with TriBeCa rooftop views, outstanding restaurant Best Room: Luxury Junior Suite Price: From USD $889 – $1,400 per night |
| 11. The Mercer Hotel ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: Heart of SoHo at Mercer and Prince Streets, 3-minute walk to Spring Street subway Guest Reviews: Deep marble soaking tub with shutters that open to the bedroom, loft-style rooms with exposed brick, free minibar refilled daily, outstanding Sartiano’s restaurant Best Room: Studio Price: From USD $350 – $700 per night |
Do All Rooms Have a Bathtub, or Do You Need to Upgrade?
This is the most important question to settle before booking, because the answer varies significantly across the hotels on this list — and getting it wrong means paying for a standard room and arriving to find a rainfall shower where the tub should be.
- Hotels where every room has a bathtub — Mandarin Oriental, New York, The Peninsula New York, The Langham, New York, Fifth Avenue, Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown, and The Dominick Hotel all include a soaking tub as standard across every room category. At these properties you can book the entry-level room and still get the tub. The Mandarin Oriental goes further — the soaking tub in standard Hudson River View and Central Park View rooms is positioned against a picture window, so the view comes with the tub regardless of which room category you book.
- Hotels where the bathtub requires a specific room type — The Ned NoMad gives you the clawfoot tub in the Studio room category; standard rooms at the hotel have showers only. The Mercer Hotel includes the soaking tub in Studios and above but not in Mercer Rooms or Courtyard Rooms, which have walk-in showers. At both properties, specifying the right room type at the time of booking is essential — checking in and discovering a shower-only room is a common complaint in guest reviews at hotels with mixed inventories.
- Hotels where the bathtub is suite-only — The Whitby Hotel (Junior Suite and above), Crosby Street Hotel (Junior Suite), Warren Street Hotel (Luxury Junior Suite and above), and The William Vale (suites only) all require a suite booking to get a tub. At these properties the suite is the product, and the bathtub is one of several features — larger rooms, sitting areas, and in some cases private terraces — that come with it. The price jump from a standard room to a suite at these hotels is significant; factor it into your budget before comparing rates across the list.
Where to Stay: How Neighbourhood Affects the View from the Tub
The 11 hotels on this list span six distinct areas, and where you stay shapes both the view from the tub and the experience outside the room. A soaking tub with Hudson River views at the Mandarin Oriental is a very different experience from a clawfoot tub in a TriBeCa townhouse building at the Warren Street Hotel — both are compelling, but they’re not interchangeable.
- Columbus Circle and Midtown — The Mandarin Oriental, The Whitby, and The Peninsula sit within a few blocks of each other near 5th Avenue and Central Park. This is the most central base on the list: Central Park, MoMA, Rockefeller Center, and the best Midtown restaurants are all walkable. The trade-off is price — this cluster commands the highest rates on the page, and they peak hardest in September–October and December. The Mandarin Oriental has the additional advantage of sitting 35 floors above Columbus Circle, which means even standard rooms deliver unobstructed views.
- NoMad and Midtown South — The Ned NoMad and The Langham, New York, Fifth Avenue occupy the stretch between the Flatiron District and Midtown proper. The neighbourhood punches above its weight for restaurants — Eleven Madison Park, Gramercy Tavern, and Le Bernardin are all within striking distance — and rates run slightly lower than the Columbus Circle cluster. The Langham in particular offers some of the most generous room sizes on the list for the price.
- SoHo and TriBeCa — The Mercer, Crosby Street Hotel, and Warren Street Hotel sit within 15 minutes of each other on foot. The strongest design hotels on this list are concentrated here — Kit Kemp’s maximalist interiors at both Crosby Street and Warren Street, and The Mercer’s 1890 Romanesque Revival bones. TriBeCa is quieter than SoHo and has some of Manhattan’s best restaurants; Warren Street’s position puts you a short walk from the Hudson River waterfront and 5 minutes from the 9/11 Memorial.
- SoHo and Downtown — The Dominick sits in SoHo proper, with its floor-to-ceiling windows facing north toward the Midtown skyline — exactly the view the marble tubs are positioned to take advantage of. Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown is a 10-minute walk further south near One World Trade Center, quieter by Manhattan standards and with easier access to the Financial District, the ferry terminals, and the Brooklyn Bridge.
- Williamsburg, Brooklyn — The William Vale is the only hotel on this list outside Manhattan. Williamsburg has one of New York’s most interesting concentrations of restaurants, bars, and independent shops, and the hotel’s rooftop and suites face west toward the full Midtown skyline across the river. The tub-with-view argument here is genuinely strong — you get the skyline panorama rather than a sliver of it — and rates run considerably lower than comparable Midtown hotels. The one honest trade-off: getting to Midtown requires either a 10-minute subway ride or a 20-minute cab, which matters if you’re planning to split your time between the hotel and uptown Manhattan.
The Hotels Where the Tub Actually Faces a View
Not every hotel on this list positions the bathtub at a window, and the distinction matters if the tub-with-view experience is what you’re booking for. Here is the honest breakdown.
- Mandarin Oriental, New York — the clearest tub-with-view claim on the entire list. The soaking tub in Hudson River View rooms is positioned against a picture window overlooking the Hudson, confirmed across multiple independent reviews. Central Park View rooms offer the same setup facing east. This is a standard room feature, not a suite upgrade.
- The Dominick Hotel — SoHi suites and Penthouses position Italian marble soaking tubs directly in front of floor-to-ceiling windows with unobstructed Midtown skyline or Hudson River views. Multiple reviews confirm the tub faces the window rather than an internal wall.
- The William Vale — the suite soaking tub is positioned beside the window with the Manhattan skyline across the river. One guest review is explicit: “The large soaking tub and shower are positioned next to a window overlooking the city.” Suite-only, but the view is the strongest argument for booking one.
- The Langham, New York, Fifth Avenue — city-facing rooms on upper floors have soaking tubs with Empire State Building views. One reviewer noted bathing “with a city view” specifically. The tub is in the bathroom rather than the bedroom, but the windows are large and the position is confirmed on upper floors.
- Warren Street Hotel — the Deluxe Junior Suite has a marble bathroom with a deep tub described as “overlooking the city” in the hotel’s own room description. Upper floors face TriBeCa rooftops and the Hudson beyond.
- The remaining hotels — The Peninsula, The Whitby, Crosby Street Hotel, The Mercer, The Ned NoMad, and Four Seasons Downtown all have genuinely distinguished bathtubs, but the tub’s relationship to the window is less direct. The Peninsula’s TV-in-the-wall setup, The Whitby’s Kit Kemp ceramic tubs, The Mercer’s marble two-person soaker, and Four Seasons’ oval heated-floor bathrooms are design stories rather than view stories. All are worth booking; just go in with accurate expectations about what you’re getting.
When to Book and What to Pay
Hotel prices in New York follow a predictable seasonal pattern, and it matters significantly at this price tier because the swings are large.
- January and February are the cheapest months — rates at luxury hotels drop an average of 42% below the annual average in January and February. This is the window where the hotels on this list — which normally start from $400–$800 per night — occasionally offer their most accessible entry points. The trade-off is cold weather, shorter daylight hours, and fewer outdoor activities. If the bathtub experience is the point rather than the skyline from a rooftop bar, a January or February booking makes more financial sense than any other window.
- September is the most expensive month — the UN General Assembly, the start of fall conference season, and the city’s peak tourist window combine to push rates sharply upward. October follows closely. Rates at hotels on this list can run 40–60% higher in September and October than in January. If you’re planning a fall visit specifically, book 6–8 weeks in advance — rooms at properties like The Mandarin Oriental, The Peninsula, and Warren Street Hotel sell out early in this window.
- December spikes hardest of all — the two weeks around Christmas average 61% above the city’s annual hotel rate. Thanksgiving weekend is also expensive. If a holiday stay is important, book 3–4 months out and expect to pay peak prices regardless of which hotel you choose.
- For special occasions, book direct — every hotel on this list offers anniversary, honeymoon, and special occasion packages that are available only when booking directly with the property. These typically include welcome amenities, room upgrades where available, and sometimes complimentary champagne or bath products. Booking through a third-party platform at a marginally lower rate often means forfeiting these additions, which can represent genuine value at this price tier.
What to Request When You Book
Most of these hotels are responsive to specific requests, and a brief note at the time of booking can meaningfully improve the tub-with-view experience.
- Request a high floor — at hotels like The Mandarin Oriental (floors 35–54), The Dominick (SoHi suites from floor 27), and The Langham (city-facing upper floors), the view from the tub improves significantly with altitude. Lower floors at these properties can face other buildings or offer partial views. Mentioning this in the booking notes costs nothing and is often accommodated based on availability.
- Request a specific orientation — at The Mandarin Oriental, rooms divide between Hudson River views (west-facing) and Central Park views (east-facing). Both have soaking tubs positioned against the window, but the views are very different. Hudson River views are particularly strong at sunset; Central Park views are the more sought-after and command slightly higher rates. Specify which you prefer when booking.
- Ask about bath amenities in advance — The Mercer provides bath salts and oils with the tub as standard. Warren Street Hotel stocks Kit Kemp’s Tall Trees bath products. The Peninsula provides its own branded bath collection. If a specific brand or bath set matters for a special occasion, call the hotel directly — most at this tier will accommodate requests for specific products or add-ons.
- Flag special occasions explicitly — the concierge teams at these hotels — particularly The Langham, The Peninsula, and Warren Street Hotel — are responsive to anniversary and honeymoon notes left at the time of booking. Upgrades are never guaranteed but are frequently offered where inventory allows, and having a note on the reservation is the only way to make it possible.
FAQs
1. Do NYC hotels still have bathtubs, or have most switched to showers only?
Most standard hotel rooms in New York have moved to shower-only configurations over the past decade, driven by space constraints and renovation trends. Bathtubs are now a genuine amenity rather than a default feature, which is why hotels that retain them — particularly those that position the tub as a design or view feature — have made it a selling point. The hotels on this list were specifically chosen because the bathtub is a deliberate part of the room rather than an afterthought.
2. Which hotel on this list has the best bathtub view in a standard room?
The Mandarin Oriental, New York is the strongest answer — the soaking tub in standard Hudson River View and Central Park View rooms is positioned against a picture window with unobstructed views, and you do not need to book a suite to get it. For suite-tier options, The Dominick’s SoHi suites and The William Vale’s suites both position the tub directly at a floor-to-ceiling window with strong skyline views.
3. Are the bathtubs at these hotels big enough for two people?
Several are specifically designed with two people in mind. The Mercer’s Studio soaking tub is described in reviews as comfortably fitting two. Warren Street Hotel’s Luxury Junior Suite tub and The Dominick’s suite tubs are both large enough for two guests. The Langham and Four Seasons Downtown have deep soaking tubs that accommodate two at a stretch. If bathing for two is the specific goal, ask the hotel directly before booking — most front desks will give you an honest answer.
4. Is it worth staying in Williamsburg at The William Vale instead of Manhattan?
For the right trip, yes. The William Vale runs significantly cheaper than comparable Manhattan hotels, the suite soaking tub has one of the strongest skyline views on this list, and Williamsburg has its own excellent restaurant and bar scene. The honest trade-off is convenience — getting to Midtown or the Upper West Side adds 15–20 minutes each way. If your plan involves spending significant time in the room, the value proposition is strong; if you’re sightseeing uptown all day and returning late, Manhattan hotels remove the friction.
5. What is the cheapest month to book a bathtub hotel in New York?
January is consistently the cheapest month for luxury hotels in New York, with rates averaging 42% below the annual average. February is close behind. Both months see the sharpest drop in corporate and leisure travel after the holiday season, and hotels at this price tier discount meaningfully to maintain occupancy. The trade-off is winter weather, but for a stay focused on the room rather than outdoor time, it is the best value window of the year.
6. Can I request bath salts or special amenities for an anniversary stay?
All of the hotels on this list offer some form of special occasion service, but the quality varies. The Peninsula, The Langham, Warren Street Hotel, and The Mandarin Oriental all have dedicated concierge teams that handle anniversary and honeymoon requests and can arrange in-room amenities, champagne, and turn-down extras. Book directly with the hotel rather than through a third-party platform, mention the occasion in your booking notes, and follow up with the concierge by email a week before arrival to confirm.
7. How far in advance should I book these hotels for a special occasion?
For travel in September or October — the busiest and most expensive window — book 6–8 weeks in advance, and aim for 3 months out if you have a specific hotel and room type in mind. For holiday travel in December, 3–4 months is the safe window. For January and February travel, last-minute availability is more common and rates are better closer to the date, though specific room types at smaller properties like Warren Street Hotel (71 rooms) and The Mercer (73 rooms) can still sell out.
