Crosby Street Hotel

The Crosby Street Hotel is an elegant boutique property housed in a tall red-brick building accented with black-framed windows. The funky lobby and drawing room area are full of modern art, including a gigantic sculpture of a head made entirely of small letters, glass coffee table, and a cozy seating area that pays homage to the UK with Union Jack-printed chairs and red walls accented with red patterned curtains. Additional seating is found in a lovely courtyard area full of more unusual art still, with lots of wooden furniture and greenery paired with tall slatted-wood siding. The overall vibe is chic but modern and hip, drawing a crowd of well-heeled tourists and fashionable business travelers. Families do stay here, but kids are outnumbered by adults. 

The Crosby Street Hotel is, naturally, located on Crosby Street, a picturesque cobblestoned street one block east of Broadway in the heart of SoHo, one of New York's most vibrant fashion and dining districts. For those who want to be downtown, the location doesn't get much better than this, and the hotel is convenient for those needing access to both Brooklyn (20 minutes or so away on the subway) and other parts of Manhattan.The MoMA design store and Balthazar (a renowned French restaurant and bakery) are both half a block away, and stores like 3.1 Phillip Lim, Marc Jacobs, and Anna Sui are within an easy stroll. Little Italy and Chinatown are easily reached in less than a 10-minute walk. The area is well-connected to public transportation: it's a three-minute walk from the Broadway Lafayette Street subway station. Times Square is about 15 minutes away by subway, while the south entrance of Central Park takes closer to 25 minutes to reach. The New York Stock Exchange takes under 15 minutes by car or subway, depending on traffic. It's about a half-hour by taxi to LaGuardia, an hour to JFK International Airport, and up to 90 minutes to Newark, depending on traffic. 

This hotel offers seemingly almost as many room categories as it does rooms, starting with 340-square-foot (32-square-meter) Superior Rooms (all on the second floor), running clear up to Two-Bedroom Crosby Suites, which measure 1,500 square feet (140 square meters) and come with two bedrooms, each with its own king-size bed, two bathrooms, and a lovely central living and dining space. Standard amenities found across categories include Bluetooth-enabled Bose sound systems, free Wi-Fi, Tivoli radios, flat-screen TVs with DVD players, safes, and minibars stocked with all sorts of high-end snacks and drinks. Coffee- and tea-making facilities are not provided. However, guests can request kettles from the front desk if they want to bring their own tea or instant coffee. All rooms have a similar aesthetic, but color schemes vary quite a bite. For example, Deluxe Rooms on the top floors come with pale-gray carpets, dark-charcoal wallpaper, and medium-brown matte-finish wooden desks paired with green accents in the headboards and throw cushions. Deluxe Rooms on other floors use shades of tomato-soup red paired with black-and-white patterning. Still, most rooms have huge upholstered headboards, framed wall art and silver-framed mirrors, and huge floor-to-ceiling windows with black framework and padded benches. Bathrooms vary, too, in the sense that some are huge and have double vanities and separate walk-in showers and soaking tubs, but all are clad in dark brownish-gray or charcoal-hued swirled marble and come with robes, heated towel racks, luxury toiletries, and hairdryers. Connecting rooms and rollaway beds and cots are available. 

As expected, the features at this hotel are chic and luxurious. There's no pool or spa, but there is a lovely little gym with a few cardio machines and a rack of free weights, plus medicine balls and a bit of space to stretch. For meetings and weddings, the hotel offers three small event spaces, plus a film screening room that can seat up to 99 people. There's also a DVD library available for those wanting to watch films in their rooms. There's no business center, but there are loaner laptops available through the front desk, plus free hotel-wide Wi-Fi. Valet parking is available, but it's pricey. Dining takes place at the Crosby Bar on the ground level, which is open for all three meals and serves a changing menu of classic European fare based largely on the seasonal availability of ingredients. Much of what's served here is sourced from the rooftop kitchen garden on the 12th floor, where all sorts of plants and herbs grow throughout the year. There's also a chicken coop for fresh eggs. The all-day afternoon tea at the Crosby Street is a big hit with guests, and a gluten-free version is available. Room service is available around the clock.