A Room With a View, and a Price: For $35,000 a Night, a Butler, a Waterfall and Free Room Service (Caviar May Be Extra)

The Ty Warner Penthouse, named for the Beanie Baby mogul and the hotel's owner, is the most expensive hotel room in the country outside of Las Vegas, an important distinction in the industry since rooms in the gambling capital are often comped for high rollers. The suite has sweeping views of Manhattan in every direction, bathroom sinks made of solid blocks of rock crystal and a personal butler on-call 24 hours a day. Guests have the use of a Maybach or Rolls-Royce—with driver, of course. Room service from the hotel's restaurants, including one run by celebrity chef Joël Robuchon, is included in the price and nearly unlimited (though one guest was charged for a $1,000 order of caviar).

The living room

The suite, which opened in 2007, cost $50 million to build and took seven years to design, the hotel says.

Mr. Warner says the room is important because it gives the entire hotel an air of luxury and exclusivity. "By having a suite in there that kind of sets the standard and gets talked about ... gives a halo effect to the rest of the hotel," he says.

High-end hotels suites have been increasingly popular since the 1980s, usually used as a free or discounted perk for VIPs or to attract lucrative corporate meeting business, says Bjorn Hanson, a New York University professor specializing in the hospitality industry.

While occupancy and rates overall at the hotel have fallen during the recession, the priciest suites have held steady. "That specific customer tends not to be affected by the economic situation," says Christoph Schmidinger, general manager for the hotel.

The Ty Warner suite is only occupied about 25% of the year. And the 368-room hotel says it never gives a discount on the suite. Instead, the nightly rate jumped by $1,000 in 2009. The hotel also has two suites listed at $18,000 a night and one for $14,000. Penthouse guests are usually billionaire businessmen traveling with their significant others, Mr. Schmidinger says. The I.M. Pei-designed hotel's least expensive room is listed at $855.

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