UNBOOKABLE.
Submit a hotel
HomeUnited StatesNew York CityChelsea & FlatironAce Hotel New York
Back to New York City (88)
FILE
UB-NYC-005
SUBJECT
ACE HOTEL NEW YORK
REGION
NEW YORK CITY
OPENED
2009
UPDATED
2026.06.03
← PREV · RANK 08← PREVUrban Cowboy BrooklynV.HIGH
MOST UNBOOKABLE · NEW YORK CITYMOST UNBOOKABLE#09NEW YORK CITYof 88 tracked
V.HIGHThe MannerRANK 10 · NEXT →NEXT →
CASE FILE · SUBJECT PROFILE

Ace
Hotel New York.

VERY HIGH · CONFIRMED
KEYS
286 rooms
PRICE
$$$
ARCHITECT
Roman and Williams
OPENED
2009
DISTRICT
Chelsea & Flatiron
RESTAURANT
Multiple
AIRPORT
JFK · 45 min
Ace Hotel New York
EXHIBIT A · NYC · NORTH AMERICA
● LIVE · 23K
286 rooms in a 1904 Broadway building, with Roman and Williams interiors and a Stumptown at the front door.EXHIBIT A
ASSESSMENT
62
RANK#09of 88
UNBOOKABILITY · / 100
DEMAND
20
SCARCITY
100
CRITIC
30
SOCIAL
20
SEARCH
100
GUEST
100
DESK NOTE
The Ace Hotel New York is a historical document of how a lobby can change a city block. Whether you should stay here in 2026 depends on whether you want to be part of the original blueprint or sleep in a newer room. The property is still the most culturally important design hotel in New York, and that is not nothing.
Filed by UB DESK · MENA
1 critic review
§ 01 · PHOTO ARCHIVE · EXHIBIT A
The evidence.
@ACEHOTELNEWYORK · IG EVIDENCE
EX · A
FEED-NYC005 · @acehotelnewyork
§ 02 · CRITIC DOSSIER · 1 INDEXED
What they
filed.
1 / 1 · CONSENSUS TIER-2
EXHIBIT · F1
Fodor's
TIER-2 · AUTH.
"The lively lobby melds the look of an Ivy League library with the concept of a curiosity cabinet—eclectic artwork, mosaic tile floors"
EX · F1READ SOURCE →
TIER-2 SOURCE
§ 03 · THE READ · ON & OFF BOOK
THE READ.
DESK ASSESSMENT · TWO ANGLES
THE OFFICIAL READ

The lobby absolutely lives up to the hype. It is still one of the best public rooms in New York, and the coffee and bar programming is genuinely good. What is oversold is the room experience. The rooms were revolutionary in 2009 and are now simply good, which is a different category of booking altogether.

THE OFF-BOOK READ

The third-floor Loft rooms have private access to a quiet back staircase that leads directly to the lobby without passing through the main elevator bank. Regulars use it to move between the bar and the room without running into the crowd, and the staff will point you to it if you ask politely at check-in.

§ 04 · ANGLES OF APPROACH · THREE
Three
angles.
REDACTIONS · 0
ANGLE · 01

Roman and Williams in 2009

The Ace brief to Roman and Williams in 2009 was to build something that felt less like a hotel and more like a friend's brownstone apartment. The result set the template for every design hotel that followed: Mascioni sheets, Gibson guitars in the rooms, MusicHall turntables, SMEG refrigerators, and a lobby that treated guests as locals. Fifteen years later the lobby still pulls a daily crowd of Manhattan freelancers, which is both the compliment and the critique of the original design.

FIELD · 001EX · A
ANGLE · 02

NoMad Before There Was NoMad

The Ace opened before anyone used the acronym NoMad for the stretch of Broadway above Madison Square Park. The hotel essentially forced the neighborhood into existence by bringing a Stumptown, a gastropub, and a rotating roster of retail tenants into a corridor that had been empty for years. Every independent shop, cafe, and restaurant that opened in the blocks around 29th and Broadway between 2009 and 2015 can draw a line back to the Ace lobby as the anchor tenant.

FIELD · 002EX · B
ANGLE · 03

The Food and Beverage Reset

The original tenants were Stumptown and the Breslin, and the current lineup includes Bistro 29, a modern French restaurant, plus Libera for late-night cocktails and a new Sadelle's takeover of the rooftop space. The in-lobby bar is still where the photo-booth group shots happen at 1am, and the pre-theater crowd rolls in from 5pm. The rotation keeps the property feeling current even when the rooms are showing their age.

FIELD · 003EX · C
§ 05 · CAVEATS · FILED UNCLASSIFIED
Real
talk.
UNEDITED · DESK COMMENTARY
△ CAUTION · UNCLASSIFIED
△ CAUTION · UNCLASSIFIED
01POINT · SCALE

286 rooms in 1904 Hotel Breslin building since 2009. Roman and Williams design has aged. Medium-category rooms narrow plus Broadway-window-noisy; bathrooms 2009-vintage, slow wifi.

02POINT · AUDIENCE

No published Instagram signal but Roman and Williams lobby created NoMad as design-hotel category. The audience is Roman-and-Williams-historical-document seekers and Ace-newsletter direct-bookers.

03POINT · VARIANCE

286 rooms span Medium (avoid for sleeping), Large King (mid-range), Loft (most-generous flagship with separate sitting area, salvaged-wood, Gibson guitar, SMEG fridge). Loft is the move.

04POINT · COMPETITION

At $$$ in NoMad, Ace competes with PUBLIC and Hoxton. Wins on 2009 Roman and Williams blueprint and Stumptown Coffee corner, not on freshly renovated rooms or Solomonov restaurants.

§ 06 · WHERE IT SITS · PROXIMITY
The ground,
mapped.
4 ANCHORS · ON FOOT
COORDINATES
40.7457° N · 73.9884° W
DISTRICT
Chelsea & Flatiron
REGION
New York City
NEAREST AIRPORT
JFK · 45 min
FIELD BRIEF · PROXIMITY
AnchorOn footDistance
Empire State Building· Tourist Attraction5 min380m
Madison Square Park· Park5 min391m
Eataly - Flatiron· Market5 min432m
Flatiron Building· Tourist Attraction7 min528m
PROXIMITY PLAN · ON FOOT
CULTURAL ANCHORS · WALKING DISTANCE
§ 07 · SUBJECT BRIEF · FIELD NOTE N°005
On the
record.
1 MIN BRIEFING · LAST AMENDED 2026.05.17
FOUNDED
2009
ARCHITECT
ROMAN AND WILLIAMS
KEYS
286 ROOMS
TIER
VERY HIGH
AIRPORT
JFK · 45M
INSTAGRAM
23K
DISTRICT
CHELSEA & FLATIRON
◉ FILED · UB-NYC-005
DOSSIER-OPEN
SUBJECT · ACE HOTEL NEW YORK
CHELSEA & FLATIRON · NEW YORK CITY
CLEARANCE · PUBLIC
¶ SUBJECT BRIEF · OPEN FILE

Ace Hotel New York opened in 2009 inside the old Hotel Breslin, a 1904 building on Broadway and 29th Street that had been rotting through decades of neglect, and within a year it had changed how New Yorkers used hotel lobbies. Roman and Williams, then still primarily known as the firm behind Gwyneth Paltrow's townhouse, built out the ground floor with reclaimed wood, 1970s sectionals, French bakery tables, and industrial lighting that encouraged anyone with a laptop to treat the space as a free office.

A Stumptown Coffee outpost at the corner delivered the caffeine, and the Breslin by April Bloomfield upstairs delivered a Michelin star and a lamb burger that defined the neighborhood for most of the early 2010s. The hotel basically created NoMad as a brand, and though the Breslin eventually closed and the rooftop reopened as Sadelle's, the 286 rooms still carry the Roman and Williams bones that made Ace the original in its category.

EOF · SUBJECT BRIEF— THE EDITORS, UB DESK
§ 09 · TRANSMISSION LOG · CHATTER
What came
across the wire.
2 ENTRIES · ROLLING 90-DAY
TIMESTAMPCHANNELENTRY
2026.04.14 · 11:54ZPRESSFodor's review filed
2026.04.14 · 07:13ZSYSTEMAdded to Unbookable index
ROLLING LOG · LATEST 5-8 SHOWN · RETAINED 90 DAYS
§ 10 · CONDITIONS REPORT · CLIMATE & DEMAND
On the
ground.
12-MO WEATHER RECORD · DEMAND CYCLE
NEW YORK CITY · SEASON CYCLE

Late April–early May beats Met Gala. First two weeks of September beat UNGA. Anything SepDec needs 60–90 days of lead time.

TOURIST DEMAND BY MONTH
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
LowShoulderPeak
WEATHER IN NEW YORK CITY
101010121111131110109114°5°9°15°21°26°29°28°25°19°12°7°JANFEBMARAPRMAYJUNJULAUGSEPOCTNOVDEC
RAIN · DAYS/MOAVG HIGH · °C
JAN-FEBLowCold value window

Demand drops to 45-50 across January and February as overnight lows fall to -4°C and Manhattan visitors thin out for the post-NYE stretch. NYC Restaurant Week in January and NY Fashion Week (Fall/Winter) in February provide cultural anchors, but the broader calendar runs unusually soft for a major destination. Hotel rates fall noticeably below peak across most categories, and properties that rarely discount run winter promotions during NYC Hotel Week in mid-January. For travelers tolerant of single-digit cold and willing to layer, this is when New York runs as a working city without the visitor compression of every other month.

MAR-APRShoulderSpring transition

Demand climbs from 60 in March to 75 in April as temperatures rise from 9°C to 15°C and outdoor New York becomes physically possible again. The St. Patrick''s Day Parade (March 17) compresses Midtown for a day; Easter weekend and MLB Opening Day drive booking pressure across Manhattan and Brooklyn in April. Lead times for Very High-tier properties (Baccarat, The Bowery Hotel, Wythe Hotel) sit at 3-4 weeks outside the parade and Easter compression dates. April second half is where temperature, daylight and pricing align before the Met Gala / Memorial Day events trigger May''s peak structure.

MAY-JUNPeakEvent-driven spring peak

Demand jumps to 90 in May and 85 in June, driven by an event calendar that compresses inventory across distinct one-week windows rather than spreading evenly. May compresses around Met Gala, Frieze NY and Memorial Day weekend; June stacks NYC Pride, Tribeca Festival and Tony Awards in the back half. Temperatures climb from 21°C in May to 26°C in June, before the July humidity locks in across Manhattan and the East Coast. Lead times for Very High-tier properties (Baccarat, The Twenty Two, Gansevoort) tighten to 6-8 weeks during event compression weeks and 3-4 weeks otherwise.

JULShoulderSummer heat dip

July demand drops to 65 as Manhattan residents flee the city for the Hamptons, Hudson Valley and the Jersey Shore, opening inventory across central neighborhoods. Highs hit 29°C with 20°C overnight lows, with humidity and 13 rain days producing reliable afternoon thunderstorms across Manhattan. Independence Day week pulls one short demand spike (fireworks over the East River, July 4 weekend), but the broader month runs as a value window for non-residents. Wildflower Farms (Auberge, Hudson Valley) and Wythe Hotel (Williamsburg) absorb spillover travelers seeking summer atmosphere with lower August-style booking pressure.

AUGLowSummer slump

August demand bottoms at 55, the softest reading for any month outside February, as the city empties of residents and business travel pauses. Highs hold at 28°C, similar to July, but the absence of resident and business demand opens the cleanest direct-channel inventory window since February. US Open Tennis begins in the last 10 days of the month and pulls demand into Queens (Flushing Meadows) and Midtown hotels with USTA partnerships. Outside the US Open weeks, August reads as a value window for travelers willing to work around the heat-and-humidity combination.

SEPPeakAnnual maximum

September is the year's annual peak at demand 100, driven by the simultaneous arrival of UN General Assembly and NY Fashion Week into the same compressed two-week window. Midtown specifically locks down as UN diplomatic delegations, security shutdowns and Fashion Week buyers converge; Baccarat, The St. Regis and The Twenty Two require 8-12 weeks of lead time. Highs hit 25°C with 10 rain days, physically agreeable for outdoor Manhattan activity, but the booking pressure cancels the comfort entirely. First two weeks of September (before UNGA) are the only soft window: late August into early September captures fall weather without the diplomatic-event compression.

OCTPeakFoliage and Comic Con

October demand stays at 90 as Hudson Valley foliage pulls weekend trips upstate and NY Comic Con (mid-month) compresses Midtown across a four-day stretch. Highs drop to 19°C and rain holds at 10 days, the autumn weather window that foliage-trip operators and Hudson Valley packages plan around. Booking discipline matches September''s: 60-90 days lead time at Very High-tier, longer for Comic Con weekend specifically (Wythe Hotel and Brooklyn properties absorb adjacent demand). Wildflower Farms in Hudson Valley peaks here as the foliage destination of choice for travelers blending NYC and upstate; book by August.

NOV-DECPeakHoliday corridor

November holds demand at 80 with NYC Marathon and Thanksgiving Day Parade, and December climbs to 95 on Rockefeller Tree, holiday markets and NYE pressure. The corridor compresses inventory across all sub-regions, but Midtown specifically locks down for Rockefeller Tree visitors, Times Square holiday-window shoppers and NYE pressure. Lead times extend to 60-90 days minimum at Very High-tier; The Bowery Hotel and Ace Hotel see 4-month leads on the week between Christmas and NYE specifically. Overnight lows hit 0°C in December with single-digit daytime, but the festive infrastructure (markets, lights, store windows) is the explicit draw.

§ 11 · LEAD-TIME INTEL · ENTRY WINDOW
Plan the
approach.
DEMAND CYCLE · BOOKING-LEAD INDEX
VERY HIGHACE HOTEL NEW YORK

Book 4-6 weeks ahead for Sep-Dec peaks and Frieze week; weekday and August stays often available inside two weeks.

DESTINATION DEMAND · 12-MONTH
PROPERTY PRESSURE · AWAITING DATA
PEAKHIGHSHOULDERLOWOFF
NOW
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
PEAKHIGHSHOULDERLOWOFF
CHECK AVAILABILITY
§ 12 · KNOWN OPERATIVES · 3 FIELD NOTES
Tradecraft
briefing.
3 OF 3 · DESK-VERIFIED
OPERATIVE · 01UB-NYC-005
BEST ROOM.

Book a Loft, which is the most generous category in the hotel, with a separate sitting area, high ceilings, and the full Roman and Williams kit of salvaged wood, Gibson guitar, and SMEG fridge. The Large Kings are the next best option and come with the same design language at a lower rate. Avoid the Mediums unless you are booking only to sleep between late nights in the lobby.


  • LOFT CATEGORY
  • LARGE KING NEXT BEST
  • SKIP MEDIUMS
OPERATIVE · 02UB-NYC-005
THE WORKAROUND.

Ace runs a direct-booking rate through the acehotel.com site that is consistently 10 to 15 percent below the major OTAs, and includes a free welcome drink at the lobby bar. The Ace newsletter occasionally drops flash rates on midweek nights. Avoid the Breslin-era rooftop crowd times on Thursday and Friday after 10pm if you are a light sleeper.


  • DIRECT 10–15% UNDER OTA
  • NEWSLETTER FLASH RATES
  • AVOID THU/FRI 10PM
OPERATIVE · 03UB-NYC-005
LOCAL TIP.

Ace is 45 minutes from JFK via taxi and about 25 from LaGuardia. The corner of 29th and Broadway sits walking distance from Madison Square Park, the Flatiron, Eataly, and the Oculus is one subway stop away. The best way to spend a first afternoon is a slow walk down Broadway to Union Square through the flower district, ending with cocktails back at the Ace lobby bar.


  • 45 MIN FROM JFK
  • FLATIRON ON FOOT
  • SLOW WALK TO UNION SQUARE
§ 14 · DEMAND INTELLIGENCE · THE SIGNALS
What the
signals say.
5 OF 9 SIGNALS · LIVE · REFRESHED 1D AGO
DOMINANT ON SEARCH · DOMINANT ON BOOKING · DOMINANT ON GUESTS
INSTAGRAM DEMAND
23K
QUIET
followers on file
SEARCH DEMAND
50K
DOMINANT
monthly keyword searches
CRITIC CITATIONS
1
MODEST
review on file
BOOKING DIFFICULTY
100/100
DOMINANT
availability pressure
GUEST SCORE
10.0/10
DOMINANT
from guest reviews
§ 15 · COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT · 6 DIMENSIONS
How it
stacks up.
#9 OF 88 · NEW YORK CITY
#9IN NEW YORK CITY · OF 88
#88GLOBALLY · OF 405
Room Demand
2/10
TOP 86%
Booking Difficulty
10/10
TOP 12%
Search Demand
10/10
TOP 11%
Critic Score
3/10
TOP 91%
Guest Score
10/10
TOP 6%
Viral Reach
2/10
TOP 94%
PERCENTILE COMPUTED LIVE · 405 ACTIVE PROPERTIESMETHODOLOGY · /HOW-WE-RANK
§ 19.7 · SIGNAL MONITORING · PAST MONTH
Signals
holding.
18 SNAPSHOTS · DAY 18
Composite Unbookable Score · 17-day trace
62 0from 62
Room Demand
2 0
Booking Difficulty
10 0
Search Demand
10 0
Critic Score
3 0
Guest Score
10 0
Viral Reach
2 0

Signal stable — composite holding within ±2 points over 17 days (currently 62). No single dimension moved more than the rest.

§ 18 · FILE CLOSED · UB-NYC-005
Final
assessment.
CONFIRMEDDESK SIGN-OFF

File closes at VERY HIGH. Book direct four to six weeks out for September through December peaks and Frieze week. Skip if you sleep light; the lobby crowd runs late.

FILED BY V. BRANSON · UB DESK · NEW YORK CITY · 2026-05-17
Submit Intel
Add to the dataset
COMING SOON
Set Alert
When availability opens
COMING SOON
Compare
Against peer set
§ 19 · ALSO ON FILE — NEW YORK CITY
88 RANKED

More from New York City.

See all 88 in New York City
Baccarat Hotel
01 / 88
#1
VERY HIGH

Baccarat Hotel

74
Midtown
114 ROOMS · $$$$$
The St. Regis New York
02 / 88
#2
VERY HIGH

The St. Regis New York

69
Midtown
238 ROOMS · $$$$$
The Bowery Hotel
03 / 88
#3
VERY HIGH

The Bowery Hotel

65
SoHo, NoHo & Nolita
135 ROOMS · $$
Wildflower Farms, Auberge Resorts Collection
04 / 88
#4
VERY HIGH

Wildflower Farms, Auberge Resorts Collection

64
Outer Boroughs & Hudson Valley
65 ROOMS · $$$$
The Twenty Two New York
05 / 88
#5
VERY HIGH

The Twenty Two New York

64
Chelsea & Flatiron
77 ROOMS · $$$$$
Wythe Hotel
06 / 88
#6
VERY HIGH

Wythe Hotel

64
Brooklyn
69 ROOMS · $$$$
Gansevoort Meatpacking NYC
07 / 88
#7
VERY HIGH

Gansevoort Meatpacking NYC

63
Greenwich Village, West Village & Meatpacking
186 ROOMS · $$$$$
Urban Cowboy Brooklyn
08 / 88
#8
VERY HIGH

Urban Cowboy Brooklyn

62
Brooklyn
5 ROOMS · $$$
The Manner
09 / 88
#9
VERY HIGH

The Manner

62
SoHo, NoHo & Nolita
97 ROOMS · $$$$$
Faena New York
10 / 88
#10
VERY HIGH

Faena New York

61
Chelsea & Flatiron
120 ROOMS · $$$