From The
Sunday Times Travel Magazine Dec, 2007, issue
The Bowery
‘A modern classic that’s here to stay’ - £244, room-only
You can just see Posh drawling down the BlackBerry to her personal assistant,
Heat magazine in one manicured hand and little Cruz running around her spike
heels: ‘I need to stay in the newest, coolest, chicest place in New York!’
Her PA did well – on a recent visit to the city, the Beckhams holed up at
The Bowery, where many a Fashion Week 2007 party was held as the paparazzi
were shooed away like city rats.
But The Bowery is no mere hotel of the moment. It’s a contemporary classic
that’s here to stay. The owners could have greedily shoehorned a second room
into the seven enormous private terraces, yet they have chosen to leave them
be.
Meanwhile, structural bolts are quirkily concealed with old iron stars, and
other details – retro lightbulbs with exposed filaments, 1940s vanity booths
and the deepest baths in the city – make it feel mature, not a fly-by-night.
The Bowery bar is a wood-panelled, tapestried marvel, while its Italian
restaurant, Gemma, is a lovely little piece of Piedmont in America – book
well in advance if you want to eat before midnight.
Night Hotel
‘It’s Batman meets boudoir’ - £125, B&B
The latest creation from club-owner-turned hotelier Vikram Chatwal feels more
nightclub than boutique hotel. Turn off Times Square and you’re presented
with its looming ebony facade. Beyond is a low-lit lobby patrolled by
pin-thin staff in black, with erotic monochrome shots on walls, and deep
dark-leather chairs.
It’s Batman with a dash of boudoir, oozing a Gothic-glam nocturnal edge that
will ensure its popularity among fashionable young party-goers. (They’ll be
too wired to mind that the 72 sleek rooms are pocket-sized rather than
palatial.) Beds are bathed in eerie uplighting with wraparound black-leather
headboards that flare out like vampires’ capes. Don’t reckon on any colour.
Monochrome decor rules: carpets with Gothic-script motifs, Timorous Beasties
wallpaper and slate-grey shower rooms. Flat-screen TVs, iPods (black,
naturally) and mini-bars of Torn Ranch nibbles mean no need to open the
curtains – just as well, since most rooms look upon stony stairwells. Ask
for one on the upper floors – the restaurant and bar below stay open until
4am, serving Kobe beef hot dogs with truffle mustard to a soundtrack of
hectic chatter.
The London NYC
‘The lobby feels like Mayfair in the 1920s’ - - £172, room-only, booked online
‘Where can I hear a Tony Bennett soundalike tonight?’; ‘Who mixes the best
Bloody Mary within five minutes’ walk?’; ‘Can you hire me a dog for the
day?’ Just dial ‘65’ and the man at the end of the phone will tell you
everything you need to know. This is because he’s no ordinary concierge, but
a member of the Brit-founded Quintessentially team, whose job it is to
‘attain the unattainable’.
Their employment is typical of The London NYC hotel’s philosophy: classic
British service injected into a spanking new hotel. Consequently, Gordon
Ramsay’s first US restaurant can be found here (not surprisingly, The New
York Times named the Room Service menu the best in the city) and the Art
Deco lobby, filled with top-hatted valets, feels like Mayfair in the 1920s.
It’s been billed as both a business and pleasure hotel, but is probably best
suited to the former (they even clean dirty gym clothes free of charge).
Just one year old, The London NYC still has a few teething problems
(construction noise for one) and it lacks the soul of other Midtown grandes
dames. But with Ramsay and the eager-to-please Quintessentially team on
board, it shouldn’t be long before New York falls for its London charms.
And some old favourites…
FOUR SEASONS
One of the best addresses in the city – between Madison and Park Avenues –
and is a classy dame beloved of CEOs. Doubles from £437, room only
THE LOWELL
A delightfully discreet townhouse hotel in uptown power-brunch territory,
with big marble bathrooms, suites refurbed in meditative shades and one of
the most helpful concierges in town. Doubles from £314, room only
THOMPSON
Pulls celebs in droves. It’s secluded, chic, in Soho – and it serves the best
Thai in Manhattan. Doubles from £305, room only.
SOHO GRAND
A trendy traditionalist: while others have come and gone, it’s stood the test
of time. Doubles from £154, room only.
HOTEL CHELSEA
Under new management, but remains the original rock ‘n’ roll hotel for stars
from Gore Vidal to Pete Doherty. Doubles from £59, room only.
Virgin Atlantic (0870 574 747, www.virginatlantic.com)
flies to New York JFK and Newark airports from Heathrow, from £239. Or try www.travelocity.co.uk.
Except, of course, as anyone who has actually stayed there could tell you, as your ahem 'reviewer' patently has not, The Bowery Hotel is notorious for being staggeringly noisy.
liberty, New York/Londno,