June 4 (Bloomberg) -- ``Cool shirt,'' says the receptionist by way of a hello, noting my T-shirt with a print by artist Jean- Michel Basquiat. With a prime Tribeca location on Greenwich Street and a co-owner in Robert De Niro, New York City's Greenwich Hotel is a study in measured cool. So, no geeks in bad suits behind the desk, nor Time-Square-seeking tourists in front of it.

My check-in man, Todd, has the friendly air of someone making a guest feel at home at his rich uncle's chic country house.

``Feel free to make use of the drawing room, where you can get drinks or food from the restaurant,'' he says. ``Nobody will bother you since it's for guests only.'' As he takes me up to Room 408, he adds, ``After you get settled, come back down and I'll show you the pool.''

The chic country-house comparison is apt: Most floors, including those in the halls and guest rooms, are fat planks of hardwood. Doors and ceiling beams are reclaimed wood, and the lobby has 12-foot ceilings, diffuse lighting from tall windows and an eclectic collection of lived-in-looking chairs and couches.

With 88 guest rooms, the brick edifice was custom-built in a former parking lot. And while the opening coincided with the Tribeca Film Festival last April, the spa and penthouse are still under construction.

`Discount' Prices

Current ``preview'' rates reflect this. The cheapest room is $475 and will rise to $625 at summer's end; a corner suite is $1,400 and will go for $1,850. My deluxe room is $575. After an entree at the Italian restaurant Ago, drinks, breakfast room service and taxes, it comes out to $831 for the night.

Not exactly inexpensive unless you're paying in sterling (as many guests are) and it's not like Bobby brings up room service himself -- or so I assume.

Still, among notable hotel openings in New York, it's easily the most likeable. While the Greenwich's public spaces lack blockbuster paintings by Warhol (as the Gramercy Park Hotel does) or a storied history (the reopened Plaza), it also lacks the pretension of the former and the unsteady service of the latter. (Service at the Plaza is sure to even out; Ian Schrager's Gramercy was pretty much built on a foundation of hype.)

My room borders on simplicity, with an oversize red- patterned couch, a bed clad in clean white and nothing on the walls except for a bookshelf over the desk, stacked with books and oddities such as antique perfume bottles and a magnifying glass with a horn handle.

Room With a View

It's comfy, airy and, like a pair of stiff blue jeans, will look even better with age. I don't like to work in hotel rooms, yet I'm quite happy to plug in my computer as I look out the large windows (which open slightly) and down the street to the light dancing off the Hudson River.

The hotel plays the game of little extras brilliantly: It doesn't charge for them. Wi-Fi Internet? Free. Coffee delivered to your room in the morning? Free. And, as Todd pointed out, everything in the mini-bar except alcohol is complementary, so ``don't be afraid to crack them open.'' So as I try to work, I'm soon surrounded by Milky Way wrappers, a Cracker Jack box, mixed nuts and a container of coconut water (great hangover cure, incidentally).

Pulp Novel

Work goes even more poorly as I leaf through the books in the room, which include titles ranging from ``Sexual/Textual Politics'' to ``The Wild Ones,'' a 35-cent pulp novel printed in 1952 that touts itself as a ``powerful novel of untamed emotions.''

Despairing of getting work done, I head downstairs to have a drink and wait for my girlfriend to get off of work.

We have a bite at Ago's bar, which is loud, lively and makes for good people watching. And one of my favorite bars, the tiny Smith & Mills, is right around the corner on North Moore Street. I simply must stop by before retiring to the big king-sized bed.

Morning comes early (I should have saved the coconut water), as does my wakeup call. Then, a knock at the door. Still mostly asleep, I manage to pull some clothes on and discover -- no, not the Raging Bull himself -- but my free pot of coffee, delivered less than 30 seconds after the wakeup call. At 6:30 in the morn, that's as close to happiness as I'm likely to get.

Greenwich Hotel, 377 Greenwich St., near North Moore Street; +1-212-941-8900; http://www.thegreenwichhotel.com.

The Bloomberg Questions

Best amenity: Access to spacious guest-only spaces such as drawing room, lobby and courtyard. Guests can bring in their own guests.

Service: Attentive and friendly, if informal. Special requests such as having the room prestocked with a certain kind of water were carried out.

Room service: Good. The kitchen accommodated an order for breakfast after 11 a.m., and food arrived within 15 minutes.

Bathroom: Every room is different; Room 408 has a gorgeous mosaic of blue-and-white Moroccan tile and a full bathtub.

Spa: Not yet finished; currently in-room services.

Price: $475 to $1,400.

(Jason H. Harper writes about travel and autos for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this story: Jason H. Harper at HarperReviews-autos@yahoo.com.

Last Updated: June 4, 2008 00:01 EDT