Looming to the south of cosmopolitan Bryant Park, this modish-yet-affable hotel (complete with red-leather elevator) dishes out bare-bones minimalist rooms, most with huge views and full-size soaking tubs, and all with high-tech sound system, flat-screen TV, travertine bathroom and snug, woolen blanket. If you can, opt up for a suite that faces the park (higher-priced ones have terraces).
Originally the American Standard Building (1934), this black-and-gold tower hotel also features a small fitness center, a sexy, vaulted underground bar called Celón, and an uber-sleek Asian-fusion restaurant, Koi.
