SEE ALSO: Grand: The Pierre, Luxury: The Mark

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The properties of London-based Firmdale hotel company, which include the Haymarket and Soho Hotel, have a huge VIP following and regularly host velvet-roped cocktail parties and exclusive movie screenings. But Firmdale’s hotels are far from soulless celebrity pads; thanks to designer Kit Kemp’s inspired vision, they are handcrafted, ultra-luxe retreats whose whimsical interiors bring out the inner child in all who stay.

The brand-new New York addition—the Crosby Street Hotel, which opened on September 29—is no exception. The very-British company’s first foray into a U.S. city, the Crosby sits on a relatively quiet side street in SoHo, occupying a modern eleven-story building, which Firmdale built from the ground up. Interiors are classic Kemp: a contemporary mélange of fabrics, textures and eye-catching hues that are combined with an expert eye. The best part about Kemp’s vision is that it’s decidedly about the fantasy of staying in a beautifully conceptualized hotel that has absolutely nothing to do with your own living room. Walking through one particularly exquisite suite that boasted lime green fauteuils, wildly patterned, bespoke wallpaper and multi-hued silk drapes, I could not help but think, don’t try this at home.

Each of the 86 rooms is different in decor and color scheme, giving the accommodations a personal, handcrafted feel. Each come with hand-chosen antiques and custom-designed light fixtures, as well as original art and a life-size dress mannequin in the corner—a Firmdale signature. Even the smaller-category rooms feel spacious thanks to the building’s high ceilings and amazing floor-to-ceiling, warehouse-style windows. If you’re on one of the upper floors, you have marvelous city views spanning the East Side and down to the Brooklyn Bridge on one side and across SoHo and towards uptown on the other.

Firmdale has big plans on what to do with the outdoor spaces, including planting a garden on a lower rooftop so that guests can also look onto something green, and the lofty bar area that spills into a courtyard facing Lafayette Street will surely become one of the city’s hot spots for an al fresco cocktail. For guests who want to be based downtown in midst of SoHo bustle— Balthazar is around the corner—the Crosby Street Hotel is a stylish new addition. Rooms from $525.

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Like the kid who turned up to the dorm party in a dinner jacket, the Cooper Square Hotel seems to have got the dress code wrong among its low-rise, low-key East Village neighbors. Standing out like a twenty-one-story glass thumb, the Carlos Zapata-designed hotel has 145 rooms (all with at least one glass wall), two bars, a library and Govind Armstrong restaurant. From the enormous wood and glass door entrance, there is no formal lobby so check-in is done in the library over a complimentary glass of wine or champagne. The hotel favors a ‘home away from home’ approach to service and the interiors reflect this, with hard slate flooring softened by antique rugs and B&B Italia furniture. There are also over 6,000 hardcover books throughout the hotel, which were bought from local charity Housing Works. The all-glass walls make it seem as if the library merges into the lovely hidden garden. NYC veteran chef Scott Conant oversees the low-lit Faustina restaurant, showcasing his modern Italian cooking with a menu of formaggi & affettati, insalate and pasta & risotto. The upstairs bar features St.-Tropez-style oversize sofas, and is buzzing until the 8 p.m. curfew sends everyone downstairs to the main bar. Popular with a young and fashionable set, the hotel bar makes for packed sidewalks out front as the cool kids huddle for cigarettes.

The modern but cozy rooms are on the small side but avoid any clutter with sleek furniture and fantastic hotel-art-free walls. The much-talked about beds are incredibly comfortable thanks to the custom-designed pillow top mattresses, and in a bid to make amends with the surrounding community, you will also find custom toiletries, jewelry, T-shirts and make-up for sale from local artists and purveyors—even the pretzels come from the nearby pretzel cart. Rooms from $265 per night.

Tip: If the penthouse suite is not in use, ask if you can take a look. With no high-rise building nearby, the 360-degree views of the city are breathtaking.

Rooms to Get/Avoid: Go for rooms four and seven on a high floor. The corner rooms have unrivalled views of the Empire State Building (seven) or the whole East side of Manhattan (four). Be warned that the ‘courtyard’ view rooms really look directly on to the back of the next building, blocking out much of the light that is the hotel’s great asset.

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The new Mark Hotel is a bricks, mortar and bespoke furniture version of the guests who stay there: elegant, discreet and flawlessly put together. Its return after a two-and-a-half year renovation has been much anticipated by a loyal following of European and fellow Upper East Side guests, and I’m sure they will agree it is a change worth waiting for. Designer and architect Jacques Grange has overseen the refurbishment, replacing the traditional dark interiors with endless plated nickel, a signature black-and-white stripe marble lobby and a neutral palette of soft grey and white. It is streamlined but as far from cookie-cutter as you can get with bespoke, numbered furnishings designed exclusively for the hotel. The impressive cast of designer goods includes a stunning Ron Arad centerpiece lamp, Mattia Bonetti chairs, a Vladimir Kagan sofa, specially commissioned Karl Lagerfeld photography, Bang & Olufsen appliances throughout (the only hotel in New York to be exclusively B&O). Even the staff has been taken into design consideration—the uniforms were created by Turnbull & Asser.

The 100 rooms and 50 suites (32 of which are for sale as co-op apartments) are spacious by New York standards ranging from 400-700 square feet, and all have large bathrooms with deep soaking tubs, a separate shower and TVs built into the vanity mirrors. Wi-Fi is complimentary in all rooms and a ‘geek squad’ team is on hand to help business travelers with technical requests. Rooms overlooking Madison Avenue have a slight view of Central Park (although this is not advertised) so it is worth asking for this on check in.

On the second floor is a 1,400 square foot fitness center by John Sitaras (personal trainers can be requested) and the exclusive Frédéric Fekkai salon, which has been fully booked from the first week of opening. All services in the salon can be performed in guest’s rooms by request. The Mark Restaurant by Jean-Georges is still under construction but will seat 102 guests (on more Mattia Bonetti custom design furniture) in a huge glass-roof restaurant. Adjoining the restaurant will be the Club Room with a fresh seafood bar and Mark’s Bar with its own entrance on 77th Street. Rooms from $825.

Update: A member described his visit as “off the charts” wonderful on our Rants and Raves board

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Straddling the High Line Railway track, André Balazs new transformer-like Standard Hotel in New York’s Meatpacking District seems to float above the Hudson River. In true Balazs style, the property is designed from the inside out. It starts with beautiful furnishings, wood-ceiling paneling and muted lighting—all without an over-the-top feeling—and finishes with a wide skyline view in every room. Of the 337 guestrooms, the smallest, at 180-square-feet, feels commodious thanks to large sweeping windows and see-thru bathrooms with walk-in showers. If showering in an exposed shower is not your thing, make sure to request one without. The hotel had a soft opening in January and will be fully functional come September 2009. There will be a pool bar and lounge on the top floors, and a steakhouse restaurant and indoor-outdoor ‘Living Room’ bar and patio on the ground floor. Rooms starting at $195.