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NYC Downtown Hotel Map :: Soho Grand

Where: 310 West Broadway [map], New York, ny, United States, 10013

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The Soho Grand opened up way back in 1996 around the time dowtown NYC was starting to become cool again, making it the old maid on our downtown map. However, despite age and celebrity guests the hotel manages to stay atop of the game.

Room Rules
There's 363 rooms in this hotel for you to choose from, all sporting "natural materials" of wood, clay, canvas, and leather. But despite the earthy decore the rooms are full of hi-tech amenities like flat-screen TVs, digital cable, iPods, and Bose Sound Docks along with luxury toiletries from Malin+Goetz, Frette linens, a gourmet mini-bar and a pet goldfish upon request. And after 10 years, the hotel is starting to renovate some rooms, although we haven't seen one yet.

As for space in this place, the smallest room, the queen superior has only 230-square-feet to offer and only a walk-in shower no bathtub. The penthouse lofts on the other hand offer two bedrooms and 1,200 sq ft terraces.

Only in NYC Amenity or Service
The hotel offers its guests the use of high-sport Electra bicycles (complimentary!) to get around town during the "warm spring", summer and fall months.

Map-Making Moment
While making the list as one of the best NYC hotels to have an affair was map-worthy, the TV actor doing lines at the bar is by far the more important moment.

Hotel Bar vs. Hotel Restaurant
The Grand Bar & Lounge serves up American fare and cocktails and is a pretty standard boutique hotel bar. However, The Gallery is a "more intimate" place to wine and dine with art works by the city's avant-garde artists and photographers. Yet, if The Yard, the hotel's spring/summer outdoor bar were open year-round we have a feeling this place would beat out both the Grand Bar and Gallery.

Who you are most likely to see in the lobby:
Ad execs, media workers, and Web 2.0 kids using their VC's credit card.

Subway Stop:
The A,C,E at Canal Street or the 1,9 at Canal Street.

Quickest route uptown
The A,C,E.

Manhattan Hotel Reviews / Downtown NYC Hotels / Tribeca Grand Hotel Reviews / Downtown-New-York-City-Hotel-Scene-Map / → All Tags

NYC Downtown Hotel Map :: Tribeca Grand

Where: 2 Avenue of the Americas [map], New York, ny, United States, 10013

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The Tribeca Grand is the sister property to the Soho Grand and when it opened up back in 2000, people were still trying to figure out exactly where Tribeca was located. Today the hotel is one of the city's top boutique hotels but finding the hotel at its strange location on the corner of Walker and Church and Avenue of the Americas and West Broadway hasn't gotten that much easier.

Room Rules
The 203 rooms take a hi-tech approach to the hotel stay with sleek, modern, and minimalist furniture, but as we personally experienced the hotel TVs are broken down chunky boxes. In this instance, the SoHo Grand is the more luxe of the two.

The room sizes are a smidgen bigger, ranging from the 240 sq ft Superior King room to the gigantic Grand Suite & Rooftop Terrace which is totally out of your price league.

Three Day Average
For our selected dates, a Superior King room costs an average $451 a night.

Only in NYC Amenity or Service
Tribeca Grand has the iStudio suite which is full of Apple's latest multimedia technology such as "a fully-loaded G5 computer outfitted with film, photo and sound editing software as well as iSight cameras." So already this suite is a favorite of film-makers, but the Tribeca Grand goes one-step further to appease film auteurs with their very own screening room.

Map-Making Moment
Hands down (or is that pants down?) the Ass Man moment, when a hotel employee delivering an Bose iPod station to Jet Set Lara and her female friend blurted out that he was "an ass man."

Hotel Bar vs. Hotel Restaurant
The Church lounge is a ginormous bar and restaurant area at the front of the hotel that takes on an atrium feel as you can peer up to the room floors. But at night, it sort of reminds us of the alternative future when Biff is the powerful wealthy man in Back to the Future 3 thanks to the railings that line each floor above and the dark lighting. Also, dining there during a fashion week party doesn't help dispel that scary futuristic feeling.

Who you are most likely to see in the lobby:
Fashionistas and Kevin Costner.

Subway Stop:
The A, C, E on Walker St and 6th Avenue or the 1,9 at Franklin Street.

Quickest route uptown
The A, C, E or the 1,9.

Manhattan Hotel Reviews / Downtown NYC Hotels / Gansevoort Hotel Reviews / Downtown-New-York-City-Hotel-Scene-Map / → All Tags

NYC Downtown Hotel Map :: Hotel Gansevoort

Where: 18 9th Avenue, At 13th Street [map], New York, ny, United States, 10014

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When the Hotel Gansevoort opened in the meatpacking District two years ago, it officially ended the grittiness (but not quite the smell) of the neighborhood.

While locals probably abhor the place, lots of Eurotrash and the bridge & tunnel crowd keep the place in business. Them and of course, a few well-intended tourists who have heard legendary stories about the rooftop pool and the newly-opened GSpa.

Room Rules
Book a deluxe room which at 300 square feet is a tad larger than the superior room and also more expensive. On the plus side, these deluxe rooms have 9-foot high ceilings.

Three Day Average
$435 a night is the starting rate but for our selected dates, only the Grand Deluxe rooms (also 300 sq. ft) were available and the average was $565 a night plus $158.14 in taxes.

Only in NYC Amenity or Service
G-Spa, the club that's also a spa during the daylight hours for guests. It's a genius idea and perfect for those hedonistic Euros. And guidos.

Map-Making Moment
That weird sign posted by the pool that talks about expectorating or something.

Hotel Bar vs. Hotel Restaurant
We're sure Jeffrey Chodorow's Ono restaurant is a fine establishment but the 360 degrees of Manhattan from the rooftop pool and bar area are hard to beat.

Who you are most likely to see in the lobby:
Bridge and Tunnel, media executives, Hollywood stragglers, and travel hoi polloi.

Subway Stop:
A,C,E at 14th Street

Quickest route uptown
The A,C,E takes you right into the heart of Times Square.