My first thought upon walking into the new Andaz 5th Avenue hotel in Manhattan: “Where the heck is check-in?”

My second thought: “Who are these smiling people dressed in black? And why are they carrying laptops?”

The answer? The super-contemporary Andaz 5th Avenue, at the corner of 41st Street that opened in August 2010 as part of the Hyatt Hotels chain’s foray into the boutique hotel market, doesn’t have a desk.

That's right, no desk—just supremely helpful staffers in black trousers and blouses armed with tiny laptops with swipe-card set ups. You’re escorted to a comfy lounge to check in. Quick, efficient, friendly and wonderfully different.

New on the Boutique Scene

The Andaz 5th Avenue is one of the newest hotels in bustling Manhattan, directly across from the New York Public Library – the country’s second largest- and its famous, glowering lion statues, opening several months after its sister hotel on Wall Street. There are five in the Andaz family, with others are in London, San Diego and West Hollywood.

The Andaz 5th Avenue is a sparkling beauty carved out of a building that was the largest and last of the Rogers, Peet & Co. department stores, and most recently had been Tommy Hilfiger’s global headquarters.

Sunshine splashes abundantly within. Our room was an Andaz large king, long, narrow but surprisingly roomy, 400 square feet with 12-foot ceiling and a gorgeous third-floor view of the library across the avenue through a massive window.

Use of space is efficient. We had no closet, only a tall, rectangular tube of chrome and glass for clothes and suitcases, with a mini-bar loaded with free New York-made snacks and drinks, including North Fork Chips, Fred Water and Fizzy Lizzy soda.

The bath was superb with polished travertine marble, rainfall head in a huge shower and a neat little touch: A black porcelain footbath for city-weary feet. Our room fronted Fifth Avenue and by the towering window was a comfy long couch for lounging with a good book.

Cool Amenities

Speaking of books, heavy is that theme at the Andaz. The lounge by the lobby, with 14-foot Carlos Capelan paintings and a Nick Hornby sculpture, also holds the hotel library, a rotating stock of books from the New York Public Library.

The hotel’s small, ground-floor restaurant, known as “the shop,” is run by Executive Chef Roberto Alicea, using York State farms staples and local purveyors of note, including Katz’s Deli, a Manhattan legend.

Adjacent is a small retail store offering artisanal Blue Bottle coffee, and selling things like Hurd Orchard honey-apple spread and Bumblebars. A cellar bar opens this month, dark, moody and warmed by a brick wall pulled from a 1790 Connecticut farmhouse.

Top-of-the-line suites here are stunners, by design and price, some $2,635 a night. One I toured was nearly 1,800-square-feet of luxury, with wrap-around terrace and jaw-dropping views of the Empire State Building, library and Fifth Avenue.

The hotel’s location is ideal for just about any city pedestrian’s purpose. Quite close are Bryant Park, a spacious oasis of green, Grand Central Station, the Empire State Building, Times Square and fabled Fifth Avenue shops.

The Andaz is the first full hotel designed by internationally known design firm, Tony Chi and Associates, and is a gleaming example of redoing an old structure into a contemporary space reflecting the Manhattan lifestyle.

Rates start at $435 a night.