For some time now the East Village has suffered from a certain imbalance — plenty of places to dine and drink, but nowhere to stay. It’s a situation that’s found some resolution in recent years, as a building boom in Manhattan’s south-eastern quadrant has made space for a new wave of modern boutique hotels, some of them, like the Standard, East Village, situated in gleaming modern high-rises. It’s hard to miss the towering curves and angles of the Standard, surrounded as it is by a relatively low-rise district. And from inside the rooms it makes for unique perspectives on the East Village rooftops as well as the downtown bridges and classic uptown skyscrapers. Windows are...

From the outside it’s clear enough that the Bowery Hotel is a relatively recent addition to the neighborhood, but what’s inside is such a faithful homage to classic New York you’d be forgiven for starting to think it’s been here forever. Its eclectic, bohemian look helped usher in a new kind of romance in boutique-hotel style, and the timelessness of its aesthetic means the romance is still fresh long after the glossy minimalism of some of its contemporaries has begun to fade. The rooms are inspired by an imaginary prewar Manhattan apartment, with furniture and design elements sourced from all over the world, many of them vintage or salvaged. With cast-iron frames on the ...

In the boutique-hotel world, what’s old is new again. In New York Sean MacPherson’s hotels were among the first to turn away from glossy, futuristic minimalism and towards something with a bit more retro romance. So the historically inspired Marlton, the century-old Greenwich Village hotel which once hosted the likes of Jack Kerouac and Julie Andrews, is perfectly in character. It’s also perfectly full of character. In this town there are always bigger, swankier, more luxurious hotels. Personality is the only way out of that arms race. The Marlton is swanky enough, in its Parisian-inspired way, and it’s also realistically priced, so as to make space for a more ec...

With the advent of the Hyatt Union Square New York, this neighborhood has suddenly taken a leap toward the upscale. It’s most apparent, perhaps, in the quiet architectural confidence of the building, a clean modern structure rising above an unostentatious street-level facade — but really the hotel’s ambition shines throughout. Of course at this moment, even in New York, straight-up ostentation is quite out of style. Here the cavernous, colorful lobby bar is where the (subtle) fireworks really begin. Modern furniture, modern art, modern design — needless to say, this isn’t the typical Hyatt. What it is is perfectly suited to this particular corner of New York, at this par...