Millennial State of Mind

1 March 2018

From its accidental co-working space to the Martin guitar in your room, Ace Hotel New York has tapped the millennial market in every way that counts

As far as zeitgeist movements go, the Ace Hotel New York is definitely on to something.

It is one of several branded city lodgings from the sartorial-leaning Ace Hotel Group, a company intent on setting aside everything we once thought about good New York hotels – that taste equals expense and style arrives via silver service.

In fact, here, taste arrives in a takeaway cup from a hipster barista and the only silver in sight is the sea of illuminated MacBook’s attached to the professional day-trippers who congregate en masse in the hotel lobby.

It’s a place where you’re just as likely to find a floppy-haired tech millionaire rubbing shoulders with a trio of twenty-somethings from Tokyo wearing brands you’ve never heard of by designers who only sell on Instagram.

They’re huddled here to network for a few hours and suck up some of the creative energy (along with their cold-pressed brew from the adjoining Stumptown Coffee Roasters) that permeates the public spaces of this achingly hip hotel.

Fuelling the lobby’s dimly lit, all-day-cocktail-hour vibe, there’s the Breslin Bar & Dining Room and John Dory Oyster Bar that draw a youthful Midtown crowd as well as a photo booth, a gallery space and a branded merchandise store.

There are free DJ nights all week and events of cultural relevance such as micro art fairs. The hotel even streams live music on SoundCloud.

Upstairs, the rooms ooze urban cred styled with Ace’s signature vintage and reconditioned furniture, ranging from novelty bunk rooms to loft suites.

But it’s the Martin acoustic guitar casually propped up in the corner of the room that defines the unspoken desire of many a millennial drawn to this city: when in New York, everyone wants to be a rock star.

www.acehotel.com

Words: Gina Johnson
Images: Ace Hotel Group