Staying at the Moxy Times Square, New York

Empire State Building, as seen from the Moxy Hotel's Magic Hour rooftop bar. Photo / Warren Jagger

Helen Van Berkel checks into the Moxy Times Square, New York.

Getting there: It's about an hour's drive from Newark Airport to the centre of Manhattan outside of peak traffic times. The first time we went over the Verrazzano and Williamsburg Bridges; the return journey took us through the Holland Tunnel.

The check-in experience: The Moxy prides itself on stripped-back style, so no marble lobby dominated by a desk staffed by thousands. Instead, half a dozen little kiosks line the lobby and the individual manning whichever one is vacant checks you in, points you to the lift and off you go. The kiosks are designed to allow self-service. And a cart offers free sweets.

Price: About $201 a night.

The accommodation: The Moxy is about practicality: the room is small with a compact bathroom on the right and a carefully designed sink unit in the room itself. The furniture hangs on the wall on little pegs for you to take down and fold out when you need it and to fold up and hang up again when you don't. The building was previously an office building — suggested by the bobbly glass in the doors but a central atrium reveals before that it was originally a residential building — used as a hostel by construction workers during New York's skyscraper building boom.

The facilities: My room had two narrow windows looking out on an office block across the street. The lights were always on but I never saw a soul. Eleven floors below, tourists and office workers scurried into midtown Manhattan.

Toiletries: Soap plus body wash, shampoo and conditioner in squirt bottles. Handy makeup wipes.

Eat: Egghead is a popular New York eatery offering, you guessed it, egg-based breakfast "sandwiches" — and they're cheaper with coffee. You can either eat standing up at a narrow counter inside or take it back to your room (they also deliver to the Moxy). Take it from someone who made a messy mistake: don't take your little sandwich (bun) out of its packet if you want to avoid a streak of yolk down your shirtfront. The hotel also houses the Legasea restaurant — which was packed with workers from surrounding offices on the day I was there — and a number of bars designed for meetings and socialising.

Drink and be merry: The Moxy is home to the Magic Hour rooftop bar, which has hosted the likes of Beyonce and Rihanna. It's one of the hip places to be seen in Manhattan, as well as one of the places to see Manhattan. The topiaries are a talking point all by themselves, and be careful after a cocktail or three if you're sitting on the turning dais. It's as disorientating as it sounds.

In the neighbourhood: Wonderful, amazing, breathtaking, magical, midtown Manhattan.

Would I stay again: Yes, please! My stay was nowhere near long enough to see all New York had to offer. A second Moxy offering the same simplicity and design on a budget opened last week in Chelsea, in the heart of the flower District. Built from scratch, it follows the philosophy of its Times Square sister: fun, modern and linked to its neighbourhood.