Profile

Opened in 2010, the W Downtown is the brand's only city outpost south of 14th Street, and its first foray into the increasingly popular world of combined hotel-residential living. Built from the ground up over a five-year period, the 58-floor glass-and-limestone tower houses 217 guest rooms and over 223 W-branded for-sale apartments. Windows look out over the Hudson, the Statue of Liberty, and the World Trade Center site, which sits just across Albany Street from the property. For overnight guests, amenities include a SWEAT fitness center (but no spa), a business center, and W's signature Whatever/Whenever concierge service. Up in the rooms—where you’ll find feather-top mattresses, 350-thread count sheets, high-tech entertainment systems, and stocked Munchie Boxes—all of the furnishings (save one rolling desk chair) are built into the walls to help maximize space. (Berlin-based GRAFT-studio created the rooms’ red-and-white, energy-wave-inspired designs.) The hotel also courts residents and Wall Streeters with comforting New American fare at the first-ever BTL Bar & Grill (already a power-lunch favorite) and seasonal events like skating on a synthetic, icelike surface in the winter. — Sandra Ramani

Lively scene made up of both visitors and locals; creative cocktail menu from mixologist Charlotte Voisey; free WiFi in public areas; rainforest showers.

Cons
WiFi fee ($14.95) in rooms; no spa; bathtubs only in select suites.