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View from the couch region. The bathtub is more than enough for two people.
Note the exposed ceiling beams – each as thick as a reasonably fit nail technician!

This picture doesn’t do the size of the room justice as the bed is enormous. You need to
use the writer’s desk at the window as reference. The room is just about 70 square meters.

Say no to minimalism. Say yes to heavy Murano glass chandeliers!

There’s nothing ‘mini’ about the minibar in the Playhouse room.

The gym at the Soho House comes with a nice bonus:
The view of the rather busy street corner of 9th Ave and 14th.

“It’s a private member’s club.”
Yes, it is. You need to be a member to stay here. Or, actually, you don’t. Although everybody is repeating the ‘exclusivity’ and ‘private’ and ‘members only’ mantra, it is no harder to book yourself in at the Soho House than at any other hotel, provided of course that they have a vacant room. There are only 24 of them, so that may be the catch. Plus; those rooms don’t exactly come cheap.

Expect no neon sign above the entrance.
It’s right in the middle of the Meatpacking District, but not really advertising its presence. It’s a private members only club, remember? The cab driver didn’t have a clue but that’s just fine, if you ask me. The lobby is everyhing but grand. In through the tiny door and up a tiny half a flight of stairs and there’s the tiny reception. The people manning it are very good at what they do (and I think they know it). The relaxed and casual professionalism is felt throughout the whole building, and it’s starts right there, at the front desk.

You enter the room and you realize that it’s just…
…it’s just… it’s just… it’s enormous! Everything you usually find in a hotel room is there, only 150% larger. The bed is as big as a tennis court. The couch is as big as a regular NYC hotel room and there’s nothing mini about the minibar as the bottles are of regular size… Seriously, it is big. I stayed in the Playhouse room, the second largest in the building. It measures just below 70 square meters (750 sq feet), and it feels spacious enough to fly a plane through. It must be almost four meters from floor to the exposed ceiling beams.

And then there’s the so much talked-about pool…
Go to the rooftop and you’ll see it. The pool itself isn’t very large. And to my huge disappointment Penelope Cruz wasn’t swimming in it either. In fact, not a single person used it while I was there. But the rooftop bar is still the ideal place to start the evening as the bartenders are outstanding and the atmosphere is very relaxed despite everybody looking famous. Sorry, erase the ‘looking’ part. I’m by no means a reader of People magazine, but my guess is that most of these people already made it to the C-list or above.

It’s a members only place but you never feel like an outsider.
A place like this could feel like a stuffy men’s club in May Fair but the staff will make you feel just like… a member. The concierge is as superb as you would expect and the rest of the staff are very succesful in providing great service. That is what will stay with me after my first stay at the Soho House – not the egg shaped bath nor the rooftop pool. These people are serious in their ambition to make you feel like their most important guest; they work hard to fulfil that ambition and trust me, they smile while doing it. Five stars. Definitely.

Soho House New York
29 - 35 9th Avenue
New York, 10014
United States

Book the Soho House at tablethotels.com

Tags: , ambitious, club, district, exclusive, house, Meatpacking, member, members only, New York, NYC, pool, private, rooftop, room service, secluded, SoHo, Soho House, spacious