4/10/09
The Ace Hotels are taking the hospitality industry in a new direction. More raw and less refined, these “hipster hotels” as some reviewers have started to categorize them, are starting to expand across the country. Located in Palm Springs, Portland, Seattle, and now New York City, Ace Hotels describes itself as “the low card and the high card” because the rooms are affordable (in the grand scale of hotel prices) but come with “cool” amenities and individually designed rooms. Some rooms come with turn tables and funky wall art, but each room is designed with layers and “takes its cues from the vibrancy of street life, the honesty of materials and the potential of invention.” The details count in the room designs such as in New York Ace, one room has a stocked SMEG refrigerator (think That 70s Show) with local beer from Brooklyn Brewery.

An inside look at an Ace Hotel lobby.

The hotelier, Alex Calderwood, intrusted his New York Ace hotel design with Roman and Williams to outfit the 247 rooms with old records and other accessories like blank sheet music and custom-made unstrung Gibson guitars propped in the corners for a riff on a rock star’s pad. And a nice little additional touch should you feel like picking up the six-string in a moment of creativity, you can buy guitar strings at the front desk.

Some of the furniture to grace the Palm Springs Ace rooms.

New York Ace rates start at $179 for bunk beds (with en suite bathrooms) to $1,499 for a palatial loft. Which brings us to our favorite room to make a reservation in.  The 700-square-foot loft features all the typical loft details with hardwood floors plus a built-in banquette, vintage furniture, separate living room, and a claw foot tub!

A standard room at Seattle Ace.

Calderwood left no angle undone as far as guests who find themselves with free time during their stays.  The New York Ace as well as a couple of the other hotels carry the Northwest’s favorite cup o’joe, Stumptown, in an adjoined coffee shop and a Rudy’s, an old-school barbershop (also founded by Calderwood), sit on the first floor.

Low-key and rad layered room designs make up the rooms at Portland Ace.

Visit any of the four Ace Hotels to sleep happy in hispterdom and carefully crafted industrial and utilitarian rooms that are clearly all about the aesthetic experience.

Posted by Kyra Shapurji

Tags: ACE Hotels, Kyra Shapurji, New York, Portland, Seattle, Stumptown