Cooper Square Hotel

Class: First

Style: Modern design

Rooms: 146

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 Cooper Square Hotel, situated in gleaming new modern high-rises. It’s hard to miss the towering curves and angles of the Cooper Square, 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 floor-to-ceiling, and the in-room amenities are pure luxury-boutique: iPod stereos, Blu-ray DVD players, mosaic-tile bathrooms and three different bathrobes to choose from. All this and warmth too — the modern furnishings are set off against charmingly retro wood paneling and bookshelves stocked with handsome leather volumes. The other half of a New York boutique-hotel package is the nightlife. At the moment Table 8 is still a work in progress, as are the Cooper Square’s bars — though one of them is opening at this very moment, and should be up and running by the time you've dropped your bags at your room. By way of compensation, however, the service promises to exceed boutique expectations; the general manager, among others, is a high-end hospitality veteran.