Moxy Hotels may be in its early beginnings, but the distinct personality of its properties has shaken up the boutique landscape since launching in Europe a little more than four years ago. The Marriott International-owned brand has 30-plus hotels across Europe, Asia, and the U.S., with 85 signed deals worldwide and counting that are set to open in Paris; Warsaw, Poland; Memphis, Tennessee; and Boston, to name a few.

“We see the Moxy brand as a boutique hotel with the heart of a hostel,” says the brand’s senior director of global brand management Vicki Poulos, in cities “that push boundaries.”

No matter the location, Moxy prides itself on its universal appeal for travelers and locals alike with lively coworking spaces and bars that seamlessly blend with public areas. “Our target consumers want to feel [like they’re] part of the community,” Poulos adds.

Because the Moxy guest “is generally intended to be a Millennial,” says Neill Parker, principal at New York firm Stonehill Taylor, which has worked on Moxy’s three New York properties, “their idea of work is not the same as our father’s generation; [work and play] are more fluid.” That idea of work-life balance begins right at check-in, where guests can pick up a complimentary specialty cocktail and their room key. “We work with owners and designers who want to create fun, playful, and stylish hotels that give guests everything they want and nothing they don’t,” says Poulos.

Here’s a look at two Moxys, one on each U.S. coast, that reflect the brand’s distinct character.

Moxy NYC Chelsea

As the second Moxy project in New York from Lightstone Group (the real-estate investment company was responsible for the flagship location in Times Square and has four more in the works, with an East Village location scheduled to open in September), president Mitchell Hochberg says the brand is attractive because it has found a niche in speaking to the everyday traveler in an irreverent way. “We’re not creating things just to be different, but we’re trying to respond to the way guests’ needs are evolving,” he says.

That’s true for the third outpost in the city, which is found on the last remaining strip of Chelsea’s Flower District. “It’s this amazing jungle,” says Parker. “We were concerned that we were displacing some of that, so we wanted to take the idea of a flower-covered sidewalk and turn it up into the building.” Beyond the intentionally rusted steel and raw concrete wall that is a riff on the grittiness of the city, a green wall that stretches three stories high starts on the second-floor conservatory and works its way up as an extension of the brand’s signature bar and coworking spaces.

Along with Stonehill Taylor, Hochberg brought back the same “dream team” that worked on Lightstone’s previous Moxy, including Toronto- and New York-based Yabu Pushelberg and local studio Rockwell Group. For the entry, ground-floor lobby, and guestrooms, Yabu Pushelberg infused a familiar uptown-meets-downtown panache. A serene flower shop entrance echoes the neighborhood’s “retro-industrial style that appeals to the young-minded travelers,” explains firm founding partner Glenn Pushelberg. Adds fellow founding partner George Yabu: “It even feels like it’s blooming within the Flower District.”

From there, guests can either head upstairs to the lobby lounge—past check-in via concrete stairs that look like wood or elevators that feature an LED art installation that rotates fun phrases like “Good morning, stranger” in the elevator lobby—or to Feroce, the first-floor Italian restaurant from TAO Group and the owners of beloved Rome restaurant Antica Pesa that Rockwell Group designed as a love letter to the Italian city. Terrazzo floors with gleaming marble inlays glide seamlessly underfoot and fittingly oppose the cork-lined ceiling that creates a sense of warmth in the front café and cocktail bar. Meanwhile, floral-upholstered booths evoke “fabric you might find in your Italian grandmother’s living room,” says a Rockwell Group partner Greg Keffer, but reinterpreted through a modern lens. For a true sense of the outdoors, windows peek out onto an indoor-outdoor garden terrace backed by a wall of greenery. “It’s a vertical, skinny site, so the idea of discovery as you move through the space is really interesting.”

The firm, which spearheaded the design for the public spaces, continued the floral motif in TAO Group’s showstopping Fleur Room, the highest rooftop nightclub in Manhattan with 360 views of the city’s skyline. Flowers blossom here on rugs, upholstery, throw pillows, and are even cast in resin for two cocktail tables that become “glowing jewels” when the spotlight hits them. The centerpiece though is a massive disco ball above the dance floor recovered from classic 1980s West Hollywood gay bar Vertigo. Conversely, the 349 guestrooms are purposefully muted “to be your escape,” Hochberg says. “Then, when you come down to the public spaces, we really want the party to start.”

Moxy San Diego

For the first Moxy in California, located in San Diego’s Gaslamp District, “the twist was a combination of the Stingaree history of the [neighborhood, once a red-light district] with the Navy influences of the area,” says Brad Criswell, designer at Seattle- and Portland-based firm the Society, which designed the interiors. Nautical elements abound in the public spaces, from a shipping container lining the fitness center to the submarine-inspired elevator cabs and Navy block letter floor graphics. Cheeky elements also nod to Moxy’s brand ethos, like the custom-built tricycle that doubles as a check-in desk or the striking camouflage wall in the lobby. Overhead, a library includes tomes that highlight the city’s naval history and boasts a topographical map of the San Diego Bay.
Criswell says the hotel is for what he calls “fun hunters,” those out-of-town guests or city dwellers who want to discover something new. That includes the Now, a gaming area that is home to everything from pinball machines and classic arcade games to Jenga, shuffleboard, and a DJ. Its sultrier counterpart, Bar Moxy, is swathed in dramatic blue light fixtures that complement the video games’ display screens.

The playfulness extends upstairs where a “speakeasy-style guestroom entry door viewer reinforces the design concept,” says Criswell. Inside, denim-upholstered headboards and porthole mirrors continue the maritime theme. The clever juxtaposition of the neighborhood’s two histories will soon find itself on the exterior of the hotel as well, when Los Angeles-based graffiti artist Paul Nandee adorns it with a custom-painted mural that depicts quintessential San Diego with distinctive lettering and cubist angles.