A funny thought stuck me as I stood in the box like lobby of the London NYC hotel located at 151 West 54th Street, New York, N.Y.; (866) 690-2029, between Times Square and Central Park. The funny thought crossing my mind was that if this was how you bring a taste of London to NYC, what would a hotelier in London do, to bring a taste of New York there? I look forward to your comments about what would make a New Yorker feel at home in a London hotel….Anyway, back to the London NYC.

Granted, it’s a pretty big box of a lobby, and very stylish, but a box it is. It was exactly the kind of hotel where you would imagine stuffed British nobility with lotsa chips on their shoulders would feel right at home - Tons of class, understated luxury, no psychedelic colors, staff speaking in hushed tones, very conservative decor and nothing close to the bedlam that usually exists in an NYC hotel. We’ll get to the suites (no rooms here) shortly.

Even the location speaks volumes. The Big Apple lives by the minute, and a minute away from the center of everything is a minute lost. NYC hotels just aren’t hip if there’s no view of Times Square. Not so for the British experience, it seems, where a view of Central Park is considered more appropriate. The London NYC is the middle of nowhere, but just a stone’s throw from every important place in New York - Times Square, Central Park, the Avenue of the Americas, Fifth Avenue shopping…. It’s like the planners of the hotel, which until 2006 was named the Rihga hotel, took out a map of NYC and stuck a pin on a place which they deemed to be perfect with a birdseye view of the city, and then proceeded to buy an existing hotel at said location and give it an English makeover.

As for the rooms…sorry - the suites, it was upscale ($300 plus taxes), and the decor reflecting the overall prim and propah tone of the hotel. Very spacey - 1800 sq feet awash in luxurious furnishings, big French windows leading to the bedroom, flat screen televisions in both rooms, and solid furniture, as you would find in a plush manor. Just not the tacky kind of put together stuff you find in hotels.

This was the real deal - A massive sofa which could easily hold upto a dozen people, a huge work desk with a nice deep chair (again not the kind you find in hotels). And it had just about anything you might need - personal bar, refrigirator, complimentary wireless internet, iPod docking stations.

The restaurant and dining facilities at the London NYC are in the capable hands of renowned chef Gordon Ramsay, and modelled after his own restaurant in the UK. The food’s a tad bit too costly to really enjoy the taste, so it would be advisable to limit your in-room or in-hotel dining to a cup of tea or coffee.

I’ll say this for the London NYC. Like it or not, they do things in style, and if you’re the kind of person who wants quiet luxury, and you have a limo to whisk you to your destination, no better place to stay in than the London NYC hotel.