Just as our excitement over the beautiful new Andaz Wall Street was finally dying down, Hyatt has done it again with it's new Andaz Fifth Avenue, just across from the New York Public Library on the corner of 41st Street. The Tony Chi-designed hotel woos guests with beautiful public spaces, amazing bathrooms, great attention to detail (like chilled towels in the fitness center), and freebies galore -- mini-bar snacks, a book lending library, Wi-Fi all over, bottled water in the lobby, and a treat of your choice upon check-out (like a small C.O. Bigelow toiletry or Fat Witch brownie).

Below is an Andaz Large Room with a View. (The view? This room happened to look directly over the gorgeous New York Public Library -- currently covered in scaffolding -- and plenty of other midtown buildings). Tony Chi chose sparse furnishings and neutral colors for all guest rooms, which leaves something to be desired, but the 12-foot ceilings, picture windows, up-to-date technology, and free mini-bar snacks and drinks (non-alcoholic) from local companies all go a long way towards negating the bland color scheme.

Andaz Large King with a View

The bathrooms are really lovely and soothing, and quite spacious to boot. Every room has the same sized bathroom regardles of room type, so the bathroom you’re seeing below appears even in standard rooms.

Bathroom in an Andaz Large with a View

And the showers are really, really nice. They are huge! The rain showerhead is really high up because the ceilings are so high, though I doubt that makes them better or worse than any other rain showerhead you’ll encounter.

Shower in an Andaz Large with a View

The lobby may seem unexciting based on the photo below, but there are multiple lounge areas that aren’t pictured, and even a small lending library. Guests are checked in by roaming hosts who carry small tablet computers, or they can check in with a host at the white free-standing desk seen below.

Lobby at Andaz Fifth Avenue

I couldn’t resist being artsy in the entryway. The high ceilings were just really calling my name.

Entrance at Andaz Fifth Avenue

The hotel has a casual dining spot called The Shop, which serves light fare for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In addition to sit-down meals, The Shop also sells NYC-themed books and local snacks like Rick’s Picks pickles, North Fork Potato Chips, Mast Brothers Chocolate, and Blue Bottle Coffee (which is originally from San Francisco but now has a location in Brooklyn). The chefs in the open kitchen are using local products as well, like meats from Katz’s Delicatessen.

The Shop

The retail area shown above sits right along Fifth Avenue, directly across from the New York Public Library. The dine-in tables shown below are in the portion of the restaurant that runs along 41st Street (The Shop sits at the corner of the hotel).

The Shop

The Regular King Room is the hotel’s standard room and it’s smaller than the Andaz Large Rooms (there’s no sitting area), but they start at 322 square feet, which is still generous by New York standards.

Regular King Room

The small library off of the lobby is curated by the New York Public Library, the main branch of which is directly across from the hotel. The idea is that each month or so, staff from the library will come to the hotel to switch up the books as they see fit, and guests can check out the books to read during their stay at the hotel. Plus it’s so aesthetically pleasing and really adds color to the lobby.

Library on the ground floor of Andaz Fifth Avenue

The upcoming three photos of the same bathroom doors are overkill, you say? Repetitive, perhaps? I can understand that, but these bathroom doors were really cool, and definitely one of my favorite design elements in the entire hotel. The three pieces of artwork that hang on the doors are different in each guest room, and, granted, are a little zany.

Bathroom doors in an Andaz Large room

But the concept of the doors is great: there are three panels that can be left open when no one is using the bathroom, and then they can be closed from the inside to form a solid wall. Privacy, please!

Bathroom doors in an Andaz Large room

The above photo shows what the bathroom doors look like as they’re closing (taken from outside the bathroom), and the bottom photo shows what the doors look like as you’re inside the bathroom pulling the panels shut.

Folding bathroom doors from inside the bathroom

Several Hyatts, including Andaz Fifth Avenue, allow you to check-in, check-out, and print boarding passes (all by yourself!) using a designated computer in the lobby.

Andaz Fifth Avenue allows you to check yourself in using this computer in the lobby