Makeover Monday: W Union Square gets playful

USATODAY

All 270 guestrooms at the W Union Square have been renovated. The headboard is sculpted with an abstract interpretation of Union Square.

NEW YORK — Just so you won't forget where you are, the headboard of each guestroom bed at the W Union Square is sculpted with an abstract view of the square itself.

It's one of the new features in the hotel's recently renovated rooms. Walk into one of the hotel's 270 rooms and you'll find all sorts of playful touches. Think pillows depicting a woman's leg in a high-heeled shoe wrapped around a man's laced-up boot.

"Even the pillows tell a narrative," General Manager Christophe Thomas told Hotel Check-in during a recent tour of the property.

What's the story with the intertwined legs? "Opposites attract," Thomas said.

Telling a narrative is the W Hotel brand's goal, Starwood executives told reporters during a recent tour of the company's new design center in Stamford, Conn. The W Paris Opera Hotel, for instance, has six different personalities from French history reinterpreted by artists on walls and pillows throughout the building.

Each W Hotel throughout the world has its own theme. For the W Union Square, one of the brand's first hotels, it's all about converging the uptown Manhattan style with downtown's counterculture, Thomas said. Hence, the contrast between the white wall coverings in a soft "Park Avenue" white in the guest room against a downtown, bohemian metallic blue.

The newly renovated guestrooms at the W Union Square have playful accents such as pillows that tell little stories.

The $15 million renovation is the first since the hotel opened in 2001. The hotel is located in a landmark Beaux Arts property built in 1911 as the flagship of the Guardian Life Insurance Company.

The designers have kept much of the building's original design intact, including its turn-of-the century Great Room with a 23-foot gilded ceiling and large windows overlooking the square. The Great Room, a 2,300 square-foot event venue, got a full restoration over the summer.

The guest rooms, however, have a more modern, edgier flair. On each bed is a lacy pillow that looks very Jean Paul Gaultier. There are day beds instead of pullout sofas. The beds have orange accents, with a bright blue wall behind them.

"In so many hotels you see cream colors," Thomas said. "I think it's nice to bring back color."

The choice of fabrics, Thomas said, is flirty. The carpets have a wavy design. "The carpets are for playing around," Thomas said.

The Extreme-Wow and Wow suites, the W's version of the traditional presidential suite, also have gotten makeovers. They now have state-of-the-art audio and video equipment as well as wall units that can transform the space from a dining room to a DJ booth. A wraparound couch gives guests a clear view of the city.

Such attention to detail will come at a price. Rates for all the rooms have started at around $600 this month. But at other times, such as January, they can range from $299 to $4,000, depending on room type.

New places to party

The newly renovated rooms at the W Union Square have daybeds instead of pullout sofa beds.

Along with the guest rooms, the lobby bar has been redesigned and incorporated into the space occupied by the Todd English's Olives New York restaurant, which also was fully renovated.

"They wanted it to be part of the action," Thomas said. "There's much more interaction."

On a recent early evening, there was plenty of interaction going on at the bar. In fact, every seat was either taken or reserved.

The living room, the W's version of a lobby, was also filled up. That space has yet to undergo a renovation.

But soon it too will be completely transformed. A wall of leaves surrounding the windows will be gone. The outdated feature didn't seem to fit in with the sleek, sophisticated new bar next door. New furniture will appear. The ceiling will get darker. Thomas said there will be more of a "lounge feel."

The large windows overlooking Union Square will remain.

The hotel's subterranean nightclub and bar Lilium, which was re-launched by the Gerber Group in December, now has a twisted metal ceiling that cascades down the walls. The 1,600-foot space has the look of a cave of wild lilies, with black steel lilies sculpted into the wall and gold accents.

After a night in the dark, brooding Lilium, I returned to one of the guest rooms and was happy to be greeted with a burst of color.

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