TWA Hotel (JFK Airport)
Finally, a reason to thank the airlines for your delay! After nearly two decades of disuse, Eero Saarinen’s petite TWA terminal — a Space Age icon that defined the Golden Era of Travel when it debuted in 1962, but eventually closed in 2001 after the airline’s downfall in the ’90s — has been reborn as a hotel. The landmark building’s swooping, winged departures hall is now Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Paris Café, while the Gerber Group churns out killer cocktails in the chili-pepper-red Sunken Lounge. (But don’t miss a martini at Connie, a 1958 Lockheed Constellation retrofitted into a bar and parked on the tarmac.) The 512 midcentury-appropriate guest rooms don’t disturb the architectural beauty, flanking the original concrete terminal in two structures curtained in 4.5-inch-thick glass, so you can keep an eye on your plane bound (hopefully) for the Continent. Day rooms from $139, overnight rooms from $249; TWA Hotel.
Moxy NYC Chelsea
Chic cheekiness is the vibe at the latest installment of Marriott’s millennial brand in NYC. The 349-room Flower District tower, with interiors by Yabu Pushelberg and the omnipresent Rockwell Group, starts by offering guests fresh-cut bouquets from the Putnam & Putnam flower shop; guides them to the Roman-style Feroce Caffé, garden terrace and glassy rooftop bar; then sends them to sleep with ASMR (Google it!) in-room videos, which will either have them racing to their Bumble accounts or off to the Land of Nod. Every month, different free, immersive programs are open to guests and locals: an art-gallery tour from pro “art explorer” Benny Or, a bocce night with booze and prizes, a custom jewelry bar with Kendra Scott. And the freebies are to die for, from prosecco at check-in and rooftop meditation classes to morning coffee every day. Rooms from $341; Moxy Chelsea.
Equinox Hudson Yards
If health is the new wealth, the first Equinox Hotel is a goldmine. Standing smack-dab in the city-within-a-city that is Hudson Yards, this 212-room lifestyle playpen — with interiors by the Rockwell Group and a building by David Childs/SOM — balances downtime with discipline. Check-in through a private plaza and take time for self-care at the largest-ever club built by Equinox (clocking in at 60,000 square feet), where a saltwater pool, a private Pilates studio, a full spa, and an outdoor terrace welcome hotel guests as members. Once you’ve earned your dinner, eat guilt-free at Stephen Starr’s “ingredient-forward” Electric Lemon with 24th-floor views, then collapse onto a Coco-Mat natural-fiber mattress in a totally soundproofed, blackout-enabled room. Before you ask, yes, there is a bar — serving cocktail classics along with something called an “adaptagenic superfood latte.” Rooms from $700; Equinox Hotels.
The Times Square Edition
Hotel and nightlife impresario Ian Schrager does it again with the latest outpost of his high-end hotel brand, Edition, this one in New Yorkers’ least favorite part of town: Times Square. But thankfully, the Studio 54 founder brings his unmatched ability to tap into the zeitgeist, with a heavenly signature Le Labo scent to lure you from the teeming sidewalk into the lobby; multiple indoor/outdoor lush gardens; and the latest Michelin-starred chef (John Fraser) to venture into these touristy streets. The 452 guest rooms are earthtone cocoons of comfort high above West 47th Street, but the sexy seventh-floor Paradise Club is everything but — it’s an immersive dinner theater (with a show from Bushwick’s House of Yes), a modern cabaret and a 21st-century nightclub that rages until 4 a.m. Rooms from $269; Edition Hotels.
Sister City
The Bowery continues to reign as a hotbed of hip hotels. Adding to the Public, the Bowery, the Standard and other late-night dens of debauchery is Sister City, the (ahem) sister to the other Atelier Ace hotel that turned once-icky 29th Street into desirable NoMad. This new brand aims less for last night’s leftovers and more for the mindful traveler, with self-serve kiosks that minimize annoying check-in exchanges, a partnership with Headspace app to offer meditation guidance to guests, and efficient design in each of the 200 guest rooms (including nine four-person bunks). It’s not all inward facing, however. The rooftop Last Light bar serves craft cocktails overseen by manager Kristine Danks (formerly of Death & Co.) and the 200-seat restaurant, Floret, promises a lively atmosphere in its garden patio. If it gets too boisterous, the 24-hour lobby market proffers books selected by nearby New Museum’s staff and, of course, noise-canceling headphones. From $259; Sister City NYC.