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Perfectly suited to its artistic neighborhood, the hotel is housed in a landmark cast-iron building. The surroundings are dramatic and contemporary, and the Grand Bar is always hopping.

TriBeCa’s first hotel is a hit. All the neighborhood gathers at the Church Lounge, the dramatic lobby/bar with 70 translucent columns of light. Rooms are a calm counterpoint with an array of high-tech toys.

Designer David Rockwell has turned a Beaux Arts building into a contemporary show-stopper, complete with floating staircase. Trademark W features include a lobby with books and chess sets, and rooms with pillow-top beds.

Ian Schrager’s understated first New York hotel still has loyal fans for its clean, uncluttered look and clever, functional built-ins in the small but trendy rooms. Celebrity favorite restaurant Asia de Cuba adjoins the lobby.

Media and fashion folk flock to this collaboration between Ian Schrager and Philippe Starck, with a space-age lobby, curving hallways, and cool bathrooms. Celebs are the norm in the bar and restaurant.

Appropriately in the Theater District, this hotel is like a theater, thanks to Philippe Starck’s spectacular stairway and lofty lobby. Ian Schrager created the hotel for the young and hip, and they come in abundance, despite rooms that disguise their minute size with playful design.

The Schrager-Starck team pulled out all the stops for this 1,000 room extravaganza, a melting pot of styles described as “organized chaos”. Tiny rooms were billed low-budget, but rates went up when the hotel became a hit.

Bold red, bright yellow, or blue? Each of the 200 rooms in this new hotel is awash in color, courtesy of hot designer Adam Tihany. Take the glass and chrome elevator to the peaceful second-floor bar.

A hit from day one with Hollywood luminaries, the Mercer is housed in an 1890 structure built for John Jacob Astor II, and makes good use of lofty spaces and a voguish, shabby-chic look.

The W Hotel group has a winning formula, turning an ordinary hotel into a hip sanctuary. It features a big, open lobby, plenty of light and clever use of contemporary furnishings in a limited space.