Hotel of the Week: Ace Hotel NYC

The Ace Hotel New York is a melange of delicious catchphrases: industrial chic, boutique hotel, historic building, very sexy. Located in the trendy NoMad neighborhood, The Ace succeeds where other trendy hotels often lose sight of their purpose: being a hotel where visitors feel like they are welcome. Rooms are as stylish as they are comfortable, and staff here are genuinely warm, gracious, and refreshingly efficient. It’s cliché to say, but staying at The Ace is fun.

VIBE: Inside the hotel, there are more shadows than there are light bulbs, and the color palette is mostly a range of grays and white, emphasis on the grays. The moody monochrome works. It highlights the original architectural accents of this beautiful building, so take a moment to look around at the details. 

The lobby has a life of its own, as a popular neighborhood spot to hang out:

It is no secret that most of these people are not actual guests of the hotel. Locals use The Ace’s lobby for small business meetings, or they type furiously on their computers as they write scripts, or they sit with their homework on their laps while they look at Instagram on their phones. The lobby is almost always packed, from early in the morning to late at night. The couches are comfortable, but the most popular seats are at the tables with electrical outlets.

Photo courtesy of Ace Hotel

ROOMS:  All rooms have delightful platform beds with soft sheets, and small-but-sexy bathrooms with steampunk fixtures. Metal pipes are used as shelving fixtures, which proves that even shelves can be sexy.

Starting at the Medium Queen level, rooms may have elements like leather couches, and full-sized refrigerators that are filled with minibar stuff.  Some rooms are equipped with guitars, if anyone is looking to strum a six-string. Some rooms have desks, although why do any work if you’re not sitting in the lobby, with all of the NoMad cool kids? 

Photo courtesy of Ace Hotel

The Ace is the kind of hotel that should have Noah Centineo lounging on a bed, hanging with his boys, watching YouTube videos about how to play guitar. Noah would undoubtedly think the pipe shelving looks really cool.

Insider’s tip: even ten storeys* up, New York City is noisy. The Ace has rooms that face a courtyard, which sacrifice city views in exchange for a respite from the noise of the streets. For late/light sleepers, those courtyard rooms are a gift. Although the city views can be great, especially on higher floors.

 
 
 
 
 
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The view from the 10th floor of The Ace Hotel in New York

 

EAT: The Ace has a fancy farm-to-table restaurant (Breslin), a lobby bar, and a coffee shop (Stumptown). Through a doorway by the front desk, there lies an ironically bright and colorful dessert emporium, Milk Bar, which is famous for introducing the world to “cereal milk” ice cream and other super-sweet treats. Or, just exit the hotel and walk a few blocks, and there are lots of options for restaurants, because this is New York and there is amazing food everywhere. Eataly is fabulous.

OUT THERE: The Ace is close to some good bars: Club Cumming, The Cock, and Phoenix in the East Village, Pieces and Marie’s Crisis in the West Village, there is lots of fun to be found nearby, just minutes away by car. As for tourist attractions, take a car to the south end of the High Line, walk up to The Vessel for some selfies, and then walk over to The Eagle for some beers. If that’s not a recipe for a fun day out, what is?

*Did you know that “storey” can have that extra “e”?

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