Andaz Wall Street, Hyatt’s first New York boutique hotel, opened this week (with a Midtown location to follow this spring), and if I’m reading the tea leaves about what this means for many of the nearly 50 hotels that will open in New York this year, one theme emerges: recession luxe. The Andaz property, part of an entirely new brand for Hyatt, is a far cry from last year’s extremes of old-school opulence and flophouse chic. In June, the unabashedly luxurious Pierre Hotel reopened, flaunting a $100 million renovation and posting room rates of the “if you have to ask …” variety. Then the Crosby Hotel opened, with each of the 86 rooms awash in bespoke fabric and art, and priced to match. Conversely, the aggressively gritty Ace and Jane Hotels, the latter featuring communal bathrooms, promised hipster cred on the cheap.

Read the full article at nytimes.com