On my first night staying at the new Ace Hotel in Downtown Brooklyn, I returned around midnight and, having realized that I’d forgotten to pack toothpaste, stopped by the front desk to ask for some. (It would be promptly delivered.) As I chatted with the night clerk, I remembered that I’d also been unable to find coffee in my room. He confirmed that indeed, as a policy Ace Hotels don’t provide coffee beyond the ground floor. It’s one of the most frequent complaints that he fields, but “the higher ups” want it this way, in order to drive guests into the common areas that so define the Ace Hotel brand.
And points also for those common areas. Despite the dereliction of duty with regard to the coffee, it’s true that this Ace Hotel is first and foremost a social experience centered around the first-floor bars and restaurants. The Ace is a great place to set up a laptop for the afternoon, or to unwind with a cocktail in the evening. Because this is a new building, as opposed to the historic conversions of other hotels in the chain I’ve visited, the aesthetic seems more polished, with less well-worn character. But it’s still supremely pleasant. I’d come here even if I wasn’t staying at the hotel, and that’s partly the idea.
The Location: Most media coverage of this newest property in the Ace Hotel chain portrays the surrounding neighborhood as somewhat blighted, citing especially the Goodwill store that sits caddy-corner to it. But there’s a luxury apartment building directly across the street, and Brooklyn’s first “ultra-tall” is going up a couple blocks away. Within a few minutes’ walk, you’ll find a Macy’s, a Trader Joe’s, the lauded Gage & Tollner restaurant, and one of the country’s premiere performing arts venues, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, not to mention the endlessly explorable neighborhoods of Boerum Hill, Fort Greene, and Carroll Gardens. Sorry everyone, a lone Goodwill does not a downtrodden neighborhood make.
The hotel also sits close to nearly every subway line in the city at the Atlantic-Pacific station. The A, C, and G trains are just steps from the hotel’s entrance.
The Room: My expectations for a stay at an Ace Hotel were perhaps set unrealistically by the only other of the brand’s properties at which I’ve stayed, in New Orleans, where my room was nearly half the price and at least twice the size of this one in Brooklyn. That one came with a full-sized Smeg refrigerator, a leather sofa, a huge tub in the bathroom, a sizeable table, an armoire, and a turntable with record collection.
In my room at the Brooklyn Ace, by contrast, a small wooden desk chair provided the only seating option beyond the bed. In lieu of a closet, a series of racks and hooks running down the entry hallway, separated from the bed area by a divider, stored my clothes and bag. I loved the big window through which I had a view over Brooklyn to the Statue of Liberty. The bed was comfortable, and the lighting was easy to use and functional. Even though the hotel only opened in July, a few faint spots already dotted the wall-to-wall carpeting.
Instead of an iron, the hotel provided a steamer in the room. Great move. In lieu of bottled of water in the room, there’s a filtered water station in the hallways. It’s fantastic, as long as you’ve brought your own bottle. I loved the Tivoli speaker and the TV, both of which connected easily to my phone for music-listening or Netflix-watching. Surprisingly, though, there were no USB ports next to the bed.
The Bathroom: Less like a hip hotel bathroom, more like the one in your friend’s nice new apartment in a nearby luxury high-rise. The bathtub was a normal bathtub, the toilet was a normal toilet. The single concrete sink was cool but not exceptionally so. The Rudy’s Barbershop toiletries were great and smelled delicious, but the hairdryer was a cheap Conair.
The Common Areas: The common areas seemed smaller than those at the hotel’s counterpart in Manhattan, but that could be a result of how it’s arranged, with three distinct areas instead of one sprawling one. The tones are warm—even the copious concrete exuded warmth, probably because of the lighting—with sofas and lounge chairs around coffee tables for bigger groups, and smaller seating nooks around the perimeter for pairs. During the day, the bar area is used sparingly by the laptop brigade and consistently by guests waiting for various steps in their check-in or check-out process to be completed. A separate area with a long work desk tends to lure the majority of the remote workers.
The gym is small but adequate, with one each of an elliptical and rowing machine, plus a couple treadmills and various strength-building apparatus. The vintage photos of people lifting weights provided a small delight during what for me is a thankless activity.
Food and Drink: My friend Leah joined me for a drink in the buzzy lobby bar on the second night of my stay. (The bartenders were confirming vaccination status, but not so assiduously that a determined someone couldn’t have slipped through the cracks.) My Old Fashioned ($18) and glass of pinot noir ($12) were both good, if not generously poured.
In the morning for breakfast, table service is available at As You Are, the hotel’s restaurant, as is a counter selling coffee and pastries. I bought a coffee and pastel de nata. Both were well-prepared and satisfying.
The hotel does not offer room service, likely another company policy to keep guests from lingering in their rooms.
The Service: I arrived at 1pm, two full hours before check-in time, and was given my room immediately, a gesture that always starts things off on the right foot.
The aforementioned offer of a coffee from the night clerk was just one example of willingness on the part of the staff to go out of their way for guests. The hip quotient might make a guest steel themselves for haughty exchanges, but employees of the Ace Hotel in Brooklyn are some of the friendliest I’ve come across, without drawing attention to that fact.
The Verdict: The Ace Hotel in Downtown Brooklyn makes a great base for those looking to explore New York City’s hippest borough or visit friends and family who live in Brooklyn. It’s also next door to a new-ish Holiday Inn with relatively big rooms for a fraction of the price, with the ground-floor amenities of the Ace just a hop and a skip away. Just saying.
