When it comes to travel planning no matter whether business or vacation I am usually the one, who selects hotels. However, for our recent NYC trip my husband had booked Ace hotel NYC. Googleing the hotel for the first time I have to admit that I was a little shocked. Sure its industrial and sure I like industrial style But only to a certain amount. Some of the hotel rooms seemed industrial to a point thats almost painful! Consequently, I was more than suspicious on how a stay at Ace hotel is going to look like!
Photos like that made me a little worry about how a stay at Ace hotel NYC is going to be! photo@tripadvisor.com
Ace hotel NYC – The location
Ace hotel is situated in Midtown Manhatten. Just a few minutes to walk from Penn Station, which offers perfect metro connections and a stop of the NYC airporter (the bus service running from JFK airport to Manhatten). Several tourist sight like Time Square and Empire State building are just a short footwalk way. There is a Le Labo store just next door (♥), a really huge Victoria’s secret store is a 3 min footwalk away, Dover Street Market NYC is in the neighborhood … So from a shopping perspective its pretty good too. Regarding dining you have plenty of options at the hotel, a few min down the street there is Eataly, an Italian import store with in store dining options and a late night ice cream counters well as.
The Empire State building is just around the corner from Ace hotel NYC! photo@stylecloseup.net
The only drawback for a person like me, who loves romantic European cities, is that this region is constantly crowded with tourists, cars, ambulance cars … . It exactly offers zero opportunities to relax. Even at the 11th floor you still hear the roaring cars from the street!
Ace hotel NYC – The ambiance at the hotel
The hotel has a really huge lobby! That was the first thing that caught my eyes upon arrival. The lobby is full of communal tables and overtly loud even after 12 00 p.m.. Our room was on the 11th floor of the hotel and had a view directly towards Empire State building, which was pretty cool.
View onto Empire State building from our room at the 11th floor of Ace hotel NYC, photo@stylecloseup.net
Remembering a chapter from Paris based interior designer India Mahdavi’s book “Home chic”, which says that a good interior needs the right mix of masculine and feminine elements, I can only say that the masculine aspect dominates the furnishing at Ace hotel NYC. There are plaid throws on the bed, a huge graffity depicting some kind of Alien at the Empire state building was positioned directly above our bed, a closet is completely lacking and only an extremely tiny coat rack is present.
My friend the graffiti alien just above our bed at Ace hotel NYC made my sleep a little uncomfortable at first! photo@stylecloseup.net
Our bathroom at Ace hotel NYC, photo@stylecloseup.net
Ace hotel NYC – The service
Service is a big thing at Ace hotel NYC. Its extraordinary! Very beautiful flower arrangements, that change almost every day decorate the entrance.
So beautiful the daily changing floral arrangements at the entrance of Ace hotel NYC! photo@stylecloseup.net
…another beautiful floral arrangement that decorates the entrance at Ace hotel NYC!
For breakfast you can choose between a classic hotel breakfast at the restaurant or directly enter the Stumptown coffee shop from the lobby. (We only tested Stumptown as we got a little addicted to their cappuccino and almond croissants – I still miss it terribly!) Besides the coffee shop you can enter an Opening Cermony store directly from the lobby. Besides very cool fashion they offer a selection of travel essentials ranging from Marvis toothpaste to a fab DVD selection.
All in all I think that woman might need some time to adapt to the roughness of the hotels interior. After some adaption a certain lack of coziness might persists but chances are that the great service and some of the lovely details might compensate for that. I am not sure whether I would book this hotel for a trip with girlfriends or family, but its definitely great for men and works for couples too!
