Hotel Metropolis

Description:

• Located just off of Market Street, a few blocks from Union Square, the Hotel Metropolis is ideal for people who dread staying at boring, corporate-frumpy McHotels. The lobby alone tells the story: Adorning the walls are more than 80 works of colorful (and curiously abstract) art created by the children, yet a Zen-like feel permeates throughout the hotel, starting with the lobby's cascading slate-wall waterfall. The result is a yin/yang combo of playfulness and serenity. As with most downtown hotels, the rooms are on the small side, but all are vibrant and cheery, with vivid colors, custom African Limba-wood furnishings, and comfy beds with wave-shaped headboards with portholes. The six Executive Rooms on the 10th floor are upgraded with feather beds and pillows, iPod alarm clocks, and robes, while the three-room Urban Explorers Kids Suite, which sleeps up to six adults and three children, is filled with pint-sized furniture, bunk beds, a computer, a chalkboard wall, toys and rubber ducky decor in the bathroom. After a busy day in the city, you can relax with a bit of yoga or meditation in the hotel's "well-being room" complete with a miniature rock and sand garden, or enjoy a cup of tea and a good read in the book-filled loft/library. Additional perks include complimentary room service via the adjacent Farmer Brown's restaurant ("farm-fresh soul food"), a 24-hour business center with complimentary computers and laser printers, free Wi-Fi, and a 24-hour exercise room. All this and rates starting at $99 makes the Hotel Metropolis is a real find.

• © Frommer's 2012

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Recommended 2009
•  Recommended 2010