Heralded as America's "first micro hotel with four-star design", Arlo Hotels brings a fashion-forward approach to their two properties located in the stylish neighbourhoods of SoHo and NoMad. Thanks to their wild popularity, a third outpost, the Arlo Midtown, is slated to open in 2019. The brand's thoughtfully designed rooms measure an average of 150 square feet, but even its smallest spaces come with smart amenities like hand-held clothing steamers and sleek walnut furnishings. The hotel prides itself on its lively public spaces, which put an emphasis on community programming - think sustainable pop-up shops, wellness workshops, Cozy AF Knitting Classes and Really Sexy Variety Parties...

Since opening in January 2018 in the Flatiron district, Freehand New York has attracted a cool-kid following for its imaginative design evocative of European-style hostels. This is the second Manhattan property by Sydell Group, which is best known for the The Line Hotel in Los Angeles and the NoMad Hotel just a few blocks away. The Freehand lives up to its hype with 395 highly functional Roman and Williams-designed guest rooms (including the 250-square-foot "Three's Company" room featuring a twin-sized bed lofted over a queen bed). Spaces are accented with artwork by MFA students from Bard College, which the hotel partnered with for its artist-in-residence program - a perfect homage to the building's history as a hotel for famous writers, artists and musicians.

There's a reason that Moxy Hotel's Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge is one of the best places to play in Manhattan. The cheeky hotel chain, which made its NYC debut in September 2017 with the opening of the 612-room Moxy NYC Times Square, is designed to appeal to the young-at-heart. Its Yabu Pushelburg-designed quarters are petite (ranging between 150-350 square feet) but have all the bells and whistles including ultra-comfy beds, luxurious rain showers and "flexible furniture" that can be stowed away when not in use. Its expansive public spaces include New York City's largest all-season hotel rooftop bar and lounge, which hosts events ranging from dance parties to yoga classes. With two new properties opening in Manhattan - Moxy NYC Downtown and Moxy NYC Chelsea - modern travellers will have more sophisticated play spaces to choose from this year.

With four properties in New York City, Pod Hotels has challenged the status quo of tiny living in the Big Apple. Their newest Manhattan location, Pod Times Square, opened its doors in January 2018 to unveil 665 guest rooms (each measuring 115 square feet) as well as its tropical-inspired rooftop tiki bar, The Polynesian. Its other New York locations (Pod 51, Pod 39 and Pod BK) follow the same design philosophy, offering budget-friendly, socially connected and tech-savvy amenities. This past summer, the brand launched its Pod Pads, a collection of 45 extended stay suites that give travellers and digital nomads a chance to enjoy an ethos of "timeliness, cleanliness and simplicity" for a little bit longer.

Since opening its first hotel in Amsterdam, citizenM has been on a mission to bring its version of the futuristic micro-hotel to cities around the world. Naturally, its first New York location in Times Square has become a buzzy spot for tech lovers. Each of its pod-style rooms come equipped with Samsung tablets that control everything from the lighting to the music, while public spaces are equipped for business travellers. The brand's newest location, the citizenM New York Bowery Hotel, is set to open in September 2018 and has already nabbed the title of the world's tallest modular hotel. The 20-storey building features 300 rooms that were all pre-assembled in Poland, a rooftop bar with sweeping views and several collaborations with local artists that give the property a distinctly Lower East Side vibe.