At the last minute we will be in New York this weekend and need some advice on hotels please. We have been before but stayed near central park and the theater district, would like to stay in the village, SOHO, or someplace less touristy with good boutique shopping and quaint restaurants. I looked at the SOHO grand, 60 Thompson, and liked them. Was wondering about the area the 2 Ian Schrager hotels were in and the W Hotels. Would like a HIP hotel in a good area if anyone has any advice. Thanks SO Much!

I've stayed at the Soho Grand a few times, and really liked it. The hotel and rooms are very cool, and the location is great.

I've never stayed at the W Hotel, but I've had drinks at the one in Union Square. That is a GREAT location. I wouldn't hesitate to stay there. I'd say it's probably in the "hippest" location of all the W's.

Thanks Jende for your thoughts, would you recommend one over the other? Also, what do you think of the Tribeca Grand and it's location? Thanks again!

Hi. My husband and I will be in NYC later this month and we are looking to stay in a "hip" hotel. We've stayed at two Ian Schrager properties in London, so something along those lines.
Heard good things about the W hotel. We're going to be in New York after 3 years and would appreciate any suggestion.

Thanks, Aarti

Try the Soho House New York [UK members club]. Rooms are available for non-members [I'm pretty sure] and they are fantastic.

www.sohohouseny.com

Thank you badger0412. Soho House looks nice. Any other options? How is the W hotel?

Hip Hotel in NYC=Tiny rooms.

Caveat emptor unless you are going to pay for a suite.

If size doesn't bother you (and some are tiny) you will be fine.

If it does, you may opt for another type of hotel and just have cocktails in the Hudson or W.

IMO, the choice between the Soho Grand and W Union Square comes down to which location you prefer. Both are great hotels in great locations, so I would suggest thinking about where you want to spend most of your time and then decide which place is nearer to those things.

Both are very close to subway stations, so transportation to other parts of the city is easy.

traveling101, I always stay with a friend who lives a block from the Tribeca Grand, so I can tell you anything you want to know about the location. Some of the advantages:

* If you want to take the subway, one line is right in front of the hotel and 2 other lines are very close by -- very convenient.

* It is really easy to get a taxi at that location. I don't think I've ever waited more than 3 minutes except during afternoon rush hour when the cabs coming up from the financial district are all full.

* There are lots of excellent little restaurants in the neighborhood.

* SoHo is a short walk away (also Little Italy and Chinatown and the cheapo stuff on Canal St.)

Disadvantages: only one IMO and that is that it's a long ride uptown if you are going farther than midtown.

I have been staying in that area for at least 15 years and have really seen the neighborhood change. I love it.

Not sure what you have been seeing for prices from the Soho Grand, but I received an e-mail from Cheap Tickets that is advertising a one day "sale" for the SG at $260 for a Superior Queen, and 289.99 for a grand king. Of course shop around - I don't know how much of a "sale" this actually is. I plugged in dates for the weekend and they do have rooms at this rate.

I am interested in these postings as I am currently looking for a "somewhat hip" hotel to take my 11 yr old daughter to for a March weekend. The reason I say "somewhat hip" is that I stayed at the Royalton on business awhile back (at request of the client I was with) and it was WAY too hip for me- sleeping on a matress basically on the floor was too much for me, and I felt like I was in a cave instead of a room w/the slate floor, dark lighting, etc. Are the hotels you are mentioning above "cool" in nature but not "hip" in the way the Royalton was? I like normal beds and decent lighting and a little less attitude, but woudl like to be a hip Mom for my kid.

emd, check the hotels out on line. You can usually get a reasonable idea of what the room looks like -- although the room is always smaller than the online photo makes it look!

Marilyn: Good suggestion, but I always do that (somewhat of a compulsive traveler), and the problem w/the Ian S. hotels is there aren't pictures of the rooms on the site- all kinds of pics of the lobby and bar, dining and public areas- but I never saw anything about the beds being on the floor til I opened the door to the room and was "floored" more or less.

There is such a thing as "too hip," in my opinion!

I never stayed at the Royalton, but I did go to a fabulous party in a penthouse suite. The bed was definitely not on the floor.

I would say the Soho Grand probably is hip in the way emd defines it. The bed was a queen, but shorter than normal (probably because of the small room size). My 6'0 tall husband had a little trouble fitting on it!

Also, the room was fairly dark, I think there were only table lamps, and the closet had a beaded metal "curtain" which was fairly noisy! But, I think any "hip" NYC hotel is going to have touches like this. I thought it was a cool place to stay.

emd, we have stayed at Hudson (loved it and we are hardly part of the "hip" crowd!) but the beds were the platform type and the lighing was dim, two things that I know are on your "NOT" list! Thought I would let you know in case you came across a nice rate and were attempted to book! I don't know what you were budgeting, or what you were looking at for a location, but what about the Maritime Hotel in Chelsea? There are some good reviews for it on TripAdvisor.

thanks much, no Hudson then. Thinking $200 to 250 (or less). Will check the Maritime though, if Chelsea is a "cool" area. (I feel like breaking into that Huey Lewis song, "it's hip to be square")

I think the W Union square would probably suit your "hip but not too" needs - the rooms are small but not tiny. The Maritime is painfully hip - and is quite the scene now with two very hot restaurants and a hopping bar scene (I live 2 blocks away). I think they only have queen size beds - but I could be wrong . . . You might also check out the Giraffe Hotel, which has contemporary designed decor and very nice one bedroom suites with sofa beds . . . for pretty reasonable rates. It's in the upper Flatiron/gramercy park neighborhood - good access to midtown and downtown . . . .