Carlton Moscow

Carlton Moscow occupies the first block of Tverskaya Street, a few steps from Manezhnaya Square and the Kremlin. It opened in July 2007 as The Ritz-Carlton Moscow, set the city's standard for large-scale luxury in the years before the pandemic, and took its present name in 2022 after Marriott withdrew from Russia. The building is new, but it stands on one of the oldest hotel sites in Moscow.

History

From 1970 the site was occupied by the Intourist, a 22-storey glass and concrete hotel that served foreign visitors in the late Soviet period. It was demolished in 2002, in part because its modern tower sat awkwardly against the Kremlin and the historic street. The replacement was designed as a classical building in the manner of the surrounding Tverskaya facades, and The Ritz-Carlton opened there in 2007 as the brand's first hotel in Russia.

For fifteen years the hotel received state visitors, business delegations and the city's largest society events. When Marriott International announced its exit from Russia in 2022, the owners kept the operation running and renamed it Carlton Moscow, dropping the Ritz name while keeping the staff and the building.

Architecture and design

The facade follows the stone-fronted, neoclassical pattern of Tverskaya's 1930s and 1950s buildings, so that the hotel reads as part of the street rather than as an addition to it. Inside, the lobby is in marble and dark wood in the classical idiom of the brand that built it, with a central atrium and tall columns. The top floor holds the hotel's rooftop lounge, whose glass walls and terrace give one of the clearest views in the city of the Kremlin towers, St Basil's Cathedral and the State Historical Museum.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has 334 rooms including suites. The rooms on the Tverskaya side on the upper floors look towards the Kremlin, and the largest suites occupy the corners with views of both Tverskaya and Manezhnaya Square. Club-level rooms have access to a lounge with its own service. Bathrooms are in marble with separate baths and showers, and the larger suites include dining rooms for private entertaining, which is how many of the hotel's diplomatic guests use them.

Dining

The rooftop lounge is the hotel's best-known venue, used for drinks, dinner and late evenings in summer when the terrace is open. The ground floor holds the main restaurant and a bar off the lobby, and afternoon tea is served in the lounge.

Wellness

The spa occupies a lower floor with an indoor pool, treatment rooms and a fitness centre. The pool is lined with mosaic and sits under a vaulted ceiling, and it is among the largest hotel spas in central Moscow.

Weddings and events

The hotel has a ballroom and function rooms on the lower floors, with the largest receptions taking about 350 guests, and the rooftop lounge is used for cocktail receptions with the Kremlin as the backdrop. It hosts weddings, product launches and corporate dinners.

Location

The address is Tverskaya Street 3, at the foot of the street where it meets Manezhnaya Square. Red Square is five minutes on foot, the Bolshoi Theatre the same, and Okhotny Ryad metro station is at the corner. The Aeroexpress to Sheremetyevo leaves from Belorussky station, two metro stops up the Tverskaya line.