Ace Hotel New York: Not Open as Advertised

Seattlest spent the weekend in Gothamist territory to see one of our favorite acts, Japan's Mono, perform one of only two tenth anniversary dates in North America (and with a full orchestra to boot). The show was positively transcendental (pics, official pics), but that's not the point of this post. Instead, we've got to call out the experience we had with the Ace Hotel, as we had plans to stay at the new Manhattan location of the boutique chain.

Well, plans were forced to change. We arrived at the front door and were met by butcher paper announcing that we needed to use a different entrance around the block. No biggie. Get there, and we were met by a staff member, who proceeded to inform us that the lobby wasn't quite done yet, and therefore, we weren't allowed to stay there. It's the kind of small detail you'd think they would have gone out of their way to announce, no? Nope. Sure, an email was sent (which we read after checking into our eventual hotel), but the phone number we left with our reservation went unused. To their credit, they did put us up in another hotel (the great, and wonderfully staffed Hotel Roger Williams) and comped us with a free night on a future stay, but it was still a pretty big curveball to start a trip.

For those of you planning a trip to the Big Apple, know that the Ace is coming along swimmingly. We got a tour of the new lobby and bar, and it looks like they're continuing the progression demonstrated by differences between the Seattle and Portland locations. It's positively gorgeous, and we appreciate their making the best of the situation. However, Ace, next time you can't fulfill a reservation, how about you pick up the phone?

The Ace Hotel New York is located at 29th at Broadway.