Typical road warriors require a few different hotel perks than those traveling leisure. An in-room desk, for example, goes a long way. So does a living room-like lobby that encourages you to linger, where comfy couches or armchairs allow guests to sip coffee and catch-up on work emails. A hotel with a conference room? Yes, please. And, of course, an optimum location — in the case of New York, the Financial District or Midtown — where you can walk to your business meetings is ideal.
Busy travelers who want to manage every minute of their trip from their mobile will also find their match on this list, along with cozy spots that may feel more boutique than business.
The Ace Hotel, located in NoMad, just south of Midtown, was once the prime domain of millennial hipsters and creative types. Oh, you’ll still see them lingering in the lobby, headphones glued to their ears, bobbing their heads, as they type away on their MacBooks. But these days, the Ace is also a great spot for business travelers. In addition to that cozy lobby, where the staff encourages you to make yourself at home (or, in this case, the office), the hotel offers high-speed WiFi, a well-equipped gym when you need to sweat out some work frustrations and an in-house restaurant, the Austrian-French hybrid Koloman that will impress a client during a business dinner.
The 164-room Pendry is located near Hudson Yards, making it a superlative spot if you’ve got business on the westside of Manhattan. And even if not, you’re well situated to hop on the subway or in a taxi. Plant yourself in the Garden Room — a cafe that doubles as co-working space — during the day to tap away at your keyboard and then come back in the evening for drinks with clients. Guest rooms have Bluetooth speakers, plush duvets on the king-sized beds and marble bathrooms. This Two MICHELIN Key property features 6,000 square feet of meetings and conference space with high-tech amenities. The 1,700-square-foot gym has Peloton bikes and other state-of-the-art equipment.
This One Key hotel is located within walking distance of Wall Street and other Financial District institutions, making it a deal sealer for anyone doing Downtown business. But there’s much more that the Beekman offers to road warriors. The spacious rooms have a craft cocktail table, marble-topped desk space and ample amounts of USB ports. If you want to really impress the Downtown movers and shakers, the luxe penthouse, with its huge outdoor terrace, can be rented out for work-related meetings and receptions. Need to get to a meeting in a hurry? The in-house town car will whisk you anywhere within a mile of the hotel. When you need to have a power lunch, the in-house restaurants, from super chefs Tom Collicchio and Daniel Boulud, will make quite an impression.
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The 78 rooms and suites at this Union Square hotel have king-sized beds with Italian linen, a writing desk, fully stocked minibars and Italian marble bathrooms. Don’t have time to pack and unpack? The hotel will do it for you, if you ask. The chic private club is open to guests and provides the ideal ambience for business meetings. So does the in-house eatery, Caffe Zaffri, from the chefs at lauded Raf’s and the Musket Room.
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Set in the hip NoMad district, the MADE offers an atmospheric and comfortable ground-floor lobby cafe that is perfect for getting work done or in the evening when the space transforms into a cocktail bar where you can meet clients over drinks. Catering to the creative class, the hotel is tastefully minimalist in design with reclaimed walnut floors and Japanese ceramic tiles. Rooms feature king-sized beds with Frette linens on wooden platforms
The soaring atrium, complete with an enormous and impressive Sol LeWitt sculpture, beckons the visitor into this Battery Park City property. The all-suite hotel has spacious rooms — the smallest is at 430 square feet, making it much bigger than a typical Manhattan hotel room — and features a spacious desk area, in-suite water filtration systems, two TVs, blackout curtains and a seating area with a sofa. Best of all, you’re within walking distance of the World Trade Center and all the Financial District institutions. After a hard work day, head to the wellness center to lounge in an infrared sauna or get an IV nutrient therapy if you need serious revitalization.
Located in the western swath of SoHo, the Dominick boasts a MICHELIN-starred restaurant, Vestry, a stunning top-floor event space and a seventh-floor terrace where guests swill cocktails and graze on Asian-inspired Hawaiian fare. All ideal spaces for power lunches, after-work cocktails and business gatherings. The rooms, with floor-to-ceiling windows and amazing views, have king-sized beds and leather-topped desks, facilitating comfortable in-room work-related tasks. Upgrade to a “spa suite” with an in-room sauna to unwind after a day of meetings and negotiations.
If you’re doing business in Brooklyn, you can’t do much better than booking yourself into the Hoxton, an outpost of the brand that began in London’s hip Shoreditch neighborhood. The top-floor Laser Wolf and ground-floor, all-day K’Far serve Israeli and Middle Eastern fare from chef Michael Solomonov. The Apartment meeting space is ideal for AV equipment usage; there’s even a greenroom and TV and audio recording equipment at your disposal, plus ample spaces for conferences and meetings. The 175 guest rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows — many of which have striking views of the Manhattan skyline just across the East River — plus blackout curtains, a telephone where you can make free international calls and desk space. Need more room to work? The spacious lobby is inviting enough to linger for hours (although many locals will have the same idea, so get there early for a prime table).
Location, location, location. If you’re in town to do some business dealings that revolve around the Financial District, lay your wheeling-and-dealing weary head right here where you’re within walking distance of Wall Street’s closing bell. Guest rooms have steamers, ironing boards, heated floors and Bluetooth speakers. When you want a nightcap and/or a snack, head up to the 15th-floor Bar Tontine, the rooftop bar where MICHELIN-starred chef John Fraser serves up south-of-the-border fare like shrimp al carbon and truffle-laced tuna tostadas. The 24-hour gym has Peloton bikes and interactive fitness mirrors, among the usual work-out machines. And the 6,500 square feet of meeting and event space means the hotel can tailor any size of event or conference you need. If you want to get some work done, the spacious, comfortable lobby is perfect for catching up on emails or filling out a spreadsheet.
Architect Thomas Juul-Hansen and designers Stonehill Taylor have transformed this upper Midtown property into luxurious home-away-from-home for leisure travelers and road warriors alike. It’s got the vibrant mid-century Modernist-inspired style you expect from Thompson, as well as all the comforts required of a high-end boutique hotel, and the upper floors have impressive views of Central Park. Bigger-than-average guest rooms feature a sofa sitting area and table that you can transform into a workstation. The sleek third-floor meeting space can be divided for small conferences and meetings. And the location, smack in the center of Billionaires’ Row, is perfect.
Equinox occupies 15 floors of one of Hudson Yards’ tallest towers. That means you’re going to have a stunning view of the Hudson River and the twinkling Manhattan Skyline. And if you’re not a gym rat, don’t be put off by the name. Equinox Hotel was designed with business travelers in mind just as much as their adrenaline-loving gym members. Guest rooms have blackout curtains, ensuring a good night’s sleep. If that’s not enough, king-sized beds have temperature-regulating natural fibers. And if that’s still not enough, the hotel has an on-site sleep coach. There’s also Electric Lemon, serving up inventive mid-Atlantic fare and ideal for business meals, with an expansive rooftop bar for an afterwork libation. Plus, there are plenty of private spaces created for meetings and events. And, of course, there’s a gym — in this case, an enormous, luxury-laden gymnasium.
New York real estate prices being what they are, you can see why a spacious hotel room can easily run you a month’s rent back home. The flip side of this rule is that an affordable room is often laughably small. The Arlo NoMad, however, goes a long way toward solving the equation — through a combination of clever, compact layouts and the plentiful sunlight afforded by the full-length windows of a brand-new hotel building, its rooms manage to feel livable rather than laughable, in spite of their modest square footage. Even better for the business traveler, the hotel appears to have been made for working vacations or just business trips: in addition to the usual high-speed WiFi and desk space, the hotel offers co-working spaces, conference rooms, a business center with AV capabilities, a sizeable 24-hour gym and a rooftop bar to celebrate closing that deal.
Hero image: Ace Hotel New York
