This hotel is a freestanding building of striking zinc-colored metal panels, glass-sheathed Juliet balconies and projecting bay windows that enliven the modern exterior while forming the focal point of guest room interiors. Lighting plays an important role in all areas of the hotel, from lobby ceiling lights which move up and down to create moods that vary with the time of day, to computer-controlled lights behind the glass walls of the mezzanine which effect choreographed color change, to colored-glass bathroom doors illuminated from within. Designed to complement the area's stylish restaurants and boutiques, the hotel's ground floor entrance on cobble-stoned Ninth Avenue features internally illuminated glass columns and a 14-foot high revolving door. The glass columns, with their ever-changing colors, create the illusion that the building is supported by light. Recalling the canopies of early 20th century meat-packing buildings, the hotel's canopy wraps around the corner of Ninth Avenue and 13th Street.

The Hotel Gansevoort has 187 guest rooms, including 20 corner suites. All guestrooms have nine-foot ceilings and feature bay windows that lend themselves to inspired interior room configurations and include seating areas within the curve of the window. One-third of the guest rooms have balconies and two corner suites on each floor have a living room and bedroom, with an available adjoining guest room. The Hotel Gansevoort's rooftop design features a contemporary roof garden and hospitality suite with soaring 20-foot ceilings offering breathtaking city views in three directions. A 45-foot, year-round outdoor swimming pool with underwater music anchors the roof's other side.