HotelChatter

The hotel will have a mix of standard rooms, junior suites, and apartment-style penthouse accommodations—and Freyberg has planned the seventh floor so that all rooms can be booked together for the utmost privacy. Guests can use an ADA elevator to reach this level discreetly, and the terraces will feature large planters to protect famous guests from the paparazzi. It’s ideal, says Freyberg, for celebrities traveling with an entourage and security (the Brangelina brood was not named but came to mind), or perhaps the members of a royal family.

Freyberg, a native of New York, and a hotel-industry vet, has been painstakingly cultivating every single detail of this hotel. The prep includes drawing on his own experience taking care of high-end guests at The Waldorf Towers and The Carlyle, taking notes from Oprah (the guest room’s Kashwére robes are O-endorsed), and watching old movies from the 1930s for inspiration.

Freyberg promises lots of surprises at The Chatwal—details that will wow his hotel-world peers and the discerning guests likely to stay here. We’ll bring you more on these top-secret touches as soon as we can.

In the meantime, we’re already wowed by that $695-a-night starting rate. Let’s hope that New York is ready for it, and that the Chatwal doesn’t go the way of The Plaza …