ACE HOTEL NEW YORK CITY 20 W. 29th St., New York, NY 10001 212-679-2222,
Rates: Start at $149 a night and go up to $1,539 for a two-bedroom suite. The Ace is a place for young Euro- tourists and all-American rock stars alike. There’s parking nearby for $55 a night. (But you’re not gonna take your car into Manhattan, right?)
Stay here if you: like a trendy hotel with a sense of humor. The just-opened Ace offers smart accommodations, decent-sized rooms (for a new New York hotel, that is) and never takes itself too seriously. One example: The do-not- disturb signs are magnets you stick to the metal front door. One side says “NOW.” The other side says “NOT NOW.”
It’s close to: Herald Square and the Empire State Building, not exactly the most popular tourist destinations in New York these days. The Ace chain (also in Seattle, Portland and Palm Springs) is taking a chance locating this new hotel in the no man’s land that is the upper 20s/lower 30s of Manhattan’s West Side. But maybe that means it’s the next neighborhood to gentrify.
The rooms are: unique. Each is decorated piece-by-piece with found objects transformed into clever, modern furniture. There’s a desk, a fridge and a mini-bar. The bathrooms are tiled, spacious and stocked with the softest towels in town.
They put all of the money into: modernization. This is the old Breslin Hotel refitted for today’s upscale tourists and business travelers. It’s hip, but comfortable, starting in the lobby, a huge two-story room decorated with giant wooden library tables. The likable details are relentless, from the fashionable plaid ties the desk clerks wear to the nostalgic (and full-sized) SMEG refrigerators in many rooms.
The bottom line: Lots of hotels say they are a home away from home. But staying at the Ace actually feels like bunking at a friend’s house — if your friend had a spare room, killer taste in furniture and a great showerhead. Ray Mark Rinaldi
