Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to spend a couple of nights in the “industrial-chic” accommodation of NYLO in New York City. The NYLO chain offer “innovative urban boutique hotels” in five locations around the country, including in Dallas, which we were lucky enough to review earlier this year. And like their Dallas counterpart, the New York location – which opened two years ago – offers flexible room options with stunning skyline views in a convenient location, with a focus throughout the hotel on local artists and music.
An easy walk to multiple subway lines, as well as the American Museum of Natural History and Central Park, NYLO is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, an area that sits outside the main hustle and bustle of the New York business district and tourist areas. As you walk the streets, you feel surrounded by locals rather by tourists, with some great dining options in the area alongside the popular destinations mentioned.
Some of those dining options are in the hotel itself, with the Italian Serafina Restaurant and Chinese RedFarm Restaurant sitting as part of the complex. Both offer comprehensive menus, and Serafina is a popular spot for breakfast, offering a perfect eggs benedict amongst the usual array of Breakfast menu items.
The lobby of the hotel, infused with a “New York Jazz Era” vibe, ensures you have a warm, inviting atmosphere from the minute you walk inside the building’s re-purposed walls. Opposite reception, the LOCL bar sits as the heart of the room, with a garage door in that opens up in the summer. I visited during an unseasonably cold Spring, with one of the last snow flurries of the year being enjoyed during my visit – so it stayed shut. But you can imagine enjoying a cocktail in the Summer as the world passes by being a joyous experience.
Elsewhere in the lobby you’ll find board games, a business centre with free internet, local art (look out for artworks made out of Metro cards) and you might even find some local musicians performing. The hotel brings in musicians – often people found performing in Subways – on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturday. Sometimes they’ll be bands, sometimes acoustic guitarists, sometimes piano players, and their inclusion continues the brand-wide initiative to support local artists. And it doesn’t hurt the atmosphere along the way. Sitting down and enjoying a whiskey in the lobby of your hotel while you watch an artist perform is a fantastic way to spend any day – be it in New York City or anywhere else.
But you’re in New York – the reality is that you’re not going to spend too much time at your hotel. There’s so much to do in the city it’s hard to keep yourself indoors. However, the NYLO offers a number of features that help keep you connected to the city that never sleeps even when you’re, well, sleeping. I was lucky enough to stay in the hotel’s Skyline Penthouse, which had not one but two balconies, one of which provided a view of the Hudson and the local skyline. When I woke up to a bit of snow before it had melted in the sun, which added nicely to my New York experience.
The Penthouse has a living room area, with couch, chair, flat screen TV and its own small balcony. It’s a comfortable place to eat dinner while you watch TV, which I treated myself to one evening. The room was just that nice – and the opposite of the normal shoe-box accommodation Manhattan so often offers. So I had to try and enjoy the space a little bit, you know?
The living area leads into bedroom and bathroom, both of good size and comfort. There are a couple of complimentary bottles of water, a coffee machine, a safe and an alarm clock. And Terry cloth bathrobes which are superbly comfortable; one cannot be in a “penthouse” if they’re not adorning a bathrobe, after all! The only thing the room is really missing given its size is a bar fridge. There is easy ice access, however, should you need it.
The NYLO NYTE King Bed mattress comes with combed cotton triple sheeting and makes for a very comfortable night sleep. Storage is easy in the room with cubes in place of drawers, and the desk and work chair ensures you have plenty of space to get your business done.
They’ve gone for a metallic theme in the bathroom, with an excellent shower and a solid selection of Pure by Gloss amenities – including face bars, shampoos and body lotions. Also I’d like to make particular mention to the excellent towels – muchos soft!
The penthouses – alongside smaller rooms with balconies – are found between the 14th and 16th floors of the hotel. During the warmer months of the year, they’ll also open up lounge areas on the 14th and 16th floors for their guests, with the 16th floor playing host to the LOCL Bar, who comes up and treat guests to a drink or two as the sun sets and you look down Broadway. Elsewhere in the hotel you’ll also find a 24 hour gym.
With affordable rates in an excellent and easily accessible area of Manhattan, that sits outside the mayhem but close enough to it that you still feel a part of the action, the NYLO is a must stay hotel. The room I enjoyed won’t be in everyone’s budget, but the comfort of that room runs across every room I got a look at in the hotel, with the style and level of comfort remaining consistent throughout, in rooms that will fit any budget.
To find out more about the hotel, and to make a booking yourself, head to their official website. NYLO is located at 2178 Broadway, with the nearest Metro line the 1, which stops a couple of blocks from the hotel. Select rooms are pet-friendly for a nominal fee.
The writer stayed as a guest of the hotel. Photos by the author.
———-
