Guide to the Five Best Luxury Hotels in New York

One thing every luxury hotel in New York shares is a sheer immaculateness. Everything is pristine, brilliant and flawless. This includes the building itself, often dreamed up by a world famous architect. It includes the rooms with their fresh linens and complimentary terry cloth robes and slippers. The rugs and upholstery manage, miraculously, to be spotless, there is not a dust bunny anywhere and not even a dust mote is allowed to settle on one crystal of the often spectacular chandeliers. There's laundry service, wi-fi, minibars, spas and conference rooms. The food and drink in the restaurants, bars and cafes are peerless. Of course, the guest is going to pay for all this, but with cheap flights to New York becoming regularly available, spending the money you save on a luxury hotel is definitely worth it. Here are five of the best luxury hotels in New York for you to choose from:

The Waldorf Astoria

This is actually the second Waldorf Astoria. The first one was torn down to make way for the Empire State Building. In revenge, perhaps, the Art Deco decor of the new hotel's lobby rivals the Art Deco decor of the Empire State Building. Moreover, the rooms are far more lovely, with the most expensive being at the top, the better to give a view of the city.

The Regency

This is one of the hotels with the boat-sized chandelier in the lobby that is never allowed to be anything less that sparkling. The restaurant, 540 Park, is the gathering place of the mucky-mucks of Wall Street. Despite that, the guest of the hotel is just as welcome. The hotel also has a famous English flavored library, where the guest can relax, read a book and be served food and drink all day long.

The Royalton

This is the swankiest of Ian Schrager and Phillippe Starck's hotel, with a beautifully understated lobby and understated beds fitted with duvets and Italian sheets. Considered a boutique hotel, it's not very big, with only 140 rooms, but it's memorable.

The St. Regis

This very grand hotel was built in 1904 by John Jacob Astor for himself and his rich friends and it shows. Though it was bought by Sheraton in the 1990s, the company was determined that the old place not lose an iota of its splendor. Guests are welcomed to the Astor Court tea lounge and to admire the humorous Maxfield Parrish mural in the King Cole Bar. The suites are serviced by butlers and adorned with crystal chandeliers and French furniture.

The Pierre

Towering over Central Park, the Pierre has all the luxury of a French chateau transplanted to New York. A guest rather floats through the place with its chandeliers, hand woven carpets and Corinthian plinths. Suites are full of chintz, tasselled draperies and bowls of fresh flowers. If the guest wishes, they can arrive at the hotel via horse drawn carriage.

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