Hotels Of Whim And Vigor

Even hotels at the top end of the spectrum are adopting the high-concept approach. In New York City, the Library Hotel, where rooms run as high as $395 a night, borrows its theme from the neighboring main branch of the New York Public Library. Each of the hotel's 10 residence floors is dedicated to a different area of knowledge, and every room is subtly decorated with art and books reflecting its particular subject. The eighth floor is the literature floor, and the prints hanging on the wall in room 800.005, the Fairy Tales room, are scenes from The Wizard of Oz, Treasure Island and a 19th century children's story about a girl who won't eat her vegetables; a copy of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book Where the Wild Things Are, a collection of Russian tales and volumes of other mystical stories fill the bookshelf. Diane Ackerman, an essayist and poet from Ithaca, N.Y., used to stay at the tony Carlyle and Plaza hotels when she was in town but has become a frequent guest at the Library Hotel. "I have a nomadic mind, and my muse is very miscellaneous, so I like sampling the different rooms and the different subjects," she says. "I last stayed in the Fashion Design room, but I think Astronomy would be great fun." Occupancy rates have averaged about 80%. "As the market gets very difficult, one of the ways to stand out is by creating something different, not just to be another nice-looking hotel," says owner Henry Kallan. He will do it again next summer, in Prague, when the music-themed Aria opens its doors. --With reporting by Kathie Klarreich/Key Largo, David Schwartz/Gila River and Sarah Sturmon Dale/Crosby