Photo: Gramercy Park Hotel
The USP: It's difficult to know where to start... The New York landmark was given its current incarnation by Ian Schrager, a man who counts co-founding Studio 54 and the invention of the boutique hotel genre amongst his achievements. And perhaps as you'd expect from a hotel conceived by a man with this kind of CV, the Gramercy Park Hotel is a perfect blend of opulence and cool.The hotel was beloved for its faded-glory and rich history (Humphrey Bogart married actress Helen Menken on the rooftop) and bar that served everyone from Babe Ruth to Joe Strummer.
Book it now if: You fancy an indulgent, eccentric, extravagant and downright fabulous trip in NYC.
Bedding down: The dark wood panelling, heavily perfumed eccentricity and a louche, bohemian atmpsphere result in a hotel that manages to be both cosy old world and achingly hip. Kind of like Iris Apfel.The walls drip with artwork from the likes of Warhol, Hirst and Twombly.
The Drawing Room, Gramercy Park Hotel
Feed me: The 18th floor rooftop terrace is a five star oasis with a breakfast buffet fit for a king, while restaurant Maialino and is a Roman-style trattoria. This might have once been the haunt of Bogart, but if you head to the hotel's Rose or Jade bars now, and you're likely to be nursing an exotic cocktail by a current paparazzi darling in the intimate candle-lit space.
The Terrace, Gramercy Park Hotel
Easily bored: You're smack bang in the heart of New York City and it is therefore (by our reckoning) physically impossible to get bored. But if don't feel like venturing from this idyllic patch, the Rose Bar and the Jade Bar are Manhattan's hottest see-and-be-seen cocktail lounges. And for a bit of piece and quiet (a rare commodity in NYC) you can request the keys to Gramercy Park. New York's only private park boasts beautifully manicured gardens that are accessed only by hotel guests and the chi chi residents who live on Gramercy Square.
What's the damage: Room prices start from $600.
Point me in the right direction: 2 Lexington Avenue, Gramercy Park, New York NY 10010, + 1 212 920 3300, gramercyparkhotel.com