Hotel Cappuccino

Here’s a Gangnam pied-à-terre for the Williamsburg set. At 18 gleaming stories, Hotel Cappuccino artfully balances right on the line between hostel and condo, borrowing the former’s drop-in flexibility with the latter’s unsurpassed upscale convenience. The lobby’s a handy microcosm for the design sensibilities at work here: massive floor-to-ceiling windows illuminate a bricolage of reclaimed materials — polished wood, valises, cements — while reception doubles as an EPIGRAM pop-up shop. More than a comfy bed for travel-weary misanthropes, this is a social platform in which the crowd is invited to participate.

Thus, causes matter. Just about every aspect of your stay comes with a feel-good partnership: So Car for ride-sharing, an “Earn & Giveaway” basket of amenities in every room with the option to donate the price of the unused portion to charity, clothing donation bins, even an alternative menu at the food outlets. That devil-vs.-angel vibe is relentless, but on the whole the “Shared Value” approach makes a real difference, as does the commitment to water-saving and recyclable goods.

Many of the 141 rooms are single-occupancy, to give you an idea of the demographic, though custom beds by ACE and sizable flatscreens go a long way towards ensuring comfort regardless. There’s a pleasing futuristic quality to the geometric, brushed-steel, perforated-metal visual themes, with touches of urban chic in the exposed pipes, loft windows, and grayscale palette. You’ll want the view from the upper stories if at all possible.

What with self-serve laundry facilities and the gym, it clearly knows its youthful audience, and rest assured there are spots to mingle. Hot Eatsue mixes Japanese, Vietnamese, and Thai influences with Korean comfort food on the 17th floor, its surprisingly down-to-earth vibe a welcome contrast to the accommodations. Across the way there’s a rooftop bar with a gin fixation. Downstairs, a café does the hotel’s name justice with hearty blends by Anthracite and all-important microbrews by Magpie. It’s extremely dog-friendly, it turns out, with a portion of the menu devoted to feeding our canine companions — which, combined with everything else, makes it more or less the making-friends capital of the world.