DREAM DOWNTOWN HOTEL

Within spitting distance of Soho House, The Standard and the Gansevoort, Vikram Chatwal’s new Dream Hotel has hardly made life easy for itself in terms of competition. But for those looking for a bit of LA flair with a side of Vegas-style partying: Welcome home.

Built into the famous Albert Ledner ‘cheesegrater’ building, the Dream sits butt to butt with the Maritime Hotel and shares its port-hole style windows, though that’s where any nauseatingly nautical similarities end. Here, loft-style rooms are visions in plump white furnishings, slick wooden accents and modern fixtures with pre-loaded iPods, 300-count Egyptian cotton sheets, Etro amenities, free Internet access and the softest robes this side of a cashmerean goat.

The real draw, however, is the entertainment. There’s already big hype about the hotel’s rooftop club PH-D (short for Penthouse at Dream rather than an indication of the clientele’s educational achievements), whilst gourmands can flit between steak at Marble Lane (with Ferrari leather booths no less) and neurologist-cum-chef Dr. Miguel Sánchez Romera’s holistic haute cuisine (called ‘the most unique food in the world’) featuring a $245, ten-course prix-fixe menu.

The hotel pool finds itself suspended between the building’s two towers, has a mini beach, direct room access for the lucky few and a translucent bottom hovering over the lobby. With a series of pool parties, including Shark, the gay splish-splash on Sundays, the swim spot is already one of the hottest summer tickets.

Prep the body for public display at the 24 hour fitness centre or give up on the good will and call in a midnight masseur (happy endings not included). Where dreams come true? If yours is to look up and see the water-warped bodies of your fellow guests in the pool, consider Vikram Chatwal your new fairy Godmother.