1 Hotels: Master Thread (started 2022)
 

These hotels seem like they are high profile enough to start a master thread. I am staying at 1 Hotel South Beach in January and will post a review then. Posters can submit their experiences / reviews of the hotels here. Here are currently open locations:

NYC - Brooklyn
NYC - Central Park
Nashville
San Francisco
South Beach
West Hollywood
Toronto
Sanya

Pipeline:
Hanalei Bay, HI
Austin
London - Mayfair
Paris
Melbourne
Elounda Hills
Copenhagen

I checked out their two NYC hotels online. They are priced like a luxury hotel and they quote rates starting at $580 for the night I checked -- but then add a $40-50 per night "destination charge" on top of the quoted rates, which I always find to be deceptive. Their NYC Central Park hotel is not on Central Park but a block away at 58th st, which likely limits views. Standard rooms at the Central Park location run from 209-270 sq ft. You have to go to a junior suite to get over 300 sq ft. That's tiny; I wouldn't consider it, but there are London luxury hotels with rooms in that size range.

I am wondering if this is a true luxury chain or merely priced like one. Has anyone other than the original poster stayed at one?

I've stayed at the 1 hotel South beach with my family. It was an unpleasant experience. The look and feel is certainly 5*. Check-in was a standard process. The rooms are beautiful, but noisy (we had to change rooms 3 times but I must admit that I'm really sensible to noise). It was difficult to find a place near the pool. Service was slow almost everywhere in the hotel.The staff is cold and almost robotic. The food was good, but you need patience. It has no charisma and lacks character. The amenities are pretty, but overall it lacks character and personality.
I think that this could be considered luxury, but imho there are plenty of better options.

I’m unconvinced as to ostensible luxury category. Time will tell.

TripAdvisor rankings (West Hollywood location ranked #3 out of 21, South Beach ranked 6 out of 231, Brooklyn ranked 12 out of 110, Nashville ranked 18 out of 218) suggest the hotels merit tracking on Flyertalk. The chain is after all owned by Starwood/Sternlict (founder of SPG).

With all due respect, the tripadvisor ranking means nothing to it’s luxury ranking.

There is no question it should be tracked on Flyertalk. My post was about trying to decide if it should be covered in the Luxury hotels and travel forum. For the avoidance of doubt, I am soliciting input as a moderator.

Seems to me the jury is still out until more members have a stay and report back, so for now, I'll leave it here. My point above was to suggest that any newly constructed luxury hotel entrant shouldn't be having 220 sq ft rooms, even at entry level.

RichardInSF, moderator, luxury hotels and travel

Understood - I get the point. That said, the brand is “officially” considered in the luxury chain scale by STR, which is probably the one objective group that categorizes hotels:

https://str.com/sites/default/files/...ugust2022.xlsx

EDIT - I think there are a couple of issues here - one is that the Luxury hotels forum is a catch all for a lot of “nice” hotels, when it could be broken up a bit… It’s clear to me for example that Four Seasons should have its own forum. In addition FlyerTalk doesn’t really have a good forum for high quality independent hotels, which this 1 Hotel brand may or may not be more appropriate for. Given the limits, and the official luxury designation from STR, not sure where else such a thread would go

Agree jury still is out, hence time will tell.

They're a lifestyle luxury boutique brand hotel but nothing luxurious about it. The Toronto 1 Hotel King room looks like they decorated it with West Elm and H&M home. No bathtub with the shower pretty much part of the bedroom and an amenity fee.

The price was very similar to PH Toronto and just $100-200 cheaper than FS.

I think the 1 Hotels chain is just plain LF unworthy.

Maybe PENDRY hotels deserve their own thread.


The PENDRY hotel in NYC (Hudson Yards/Manhattan West) is well-regarded by some of my friends, and I have visited the PENDRY West Hollywood with great pleasure.

I stayed there shortly after opening and my experience back then reflects your description pretty well. The constant noise in our room at early/late hours supposedly resulting from the service elevator motor nearby drove us crazy.
More show than substance on the service front with a property way too large for a luxury resort. The only hotel I was one second away to check out early and return to The Setai where we came from. They didn't fulfill the agreed action (room change with bags transferred) to the noise and nobody cared. Long waiting times to get a seat for breakfast, slow service overall. Way overpriced. But in this specific market location they seemed to get away with all that nonsense.

Instead, I will take The Setai any day.

I’ve stayed at 1 Hotel Central Park. It’s nice. It’s above average. It’s not luxury.

1 Hotel South Beach

Takeaway - if you like sceney hotels with big rooms, lively food and beverage outlets, attentive service throughout the property, good pools, gym, and excellent location on the beach, this is for you. This is a hotel we intend to return to and believe it is worth the market rate.

Check in and lobby - Lobby was full, with lounge and bar busy with people working, drinking, etc. Check in was efficient, with elevators and property layout explained.

Room - I had a rather large two queen layout with a chair, desk, and views of the pool. Nice minibar with a lot of good options. Bathroom design was great, with a strong shower pressure.

Gym - They have a very large gym called Anatomy - more like a local gym than just a typical hotel gym. It had exercise classes, trainers, etc. Gyms are increasingly important for these kinds of resorts, and they invested heavily in it

Pool - They had at leas three pools I saw - a rooftop pool, a center pool (which is where most of the families seemed to hang out) and a "cabana pool," which seemed to be for adults. I unfortunately couldn't use the pool as I was busy, but by 8 AM or so guests started to filter out to the pool chairs and cabanas. There seemed to be a ton of staff available to help out at all times. The number of pools seemed to provide all the options you need. Big bar by the center pool churned out drinks and food for everyone.

Beach - Probably my favorite part of the stay. Walked out to the beach, immediately set up with chairs, towels, etc by staff members. There was pretty frequent attending my hotel staff in terms of ordering food and drinks. The beach itself was full every day with sunbathers / swimmers, all of whom seemed pretty happy. I was served a great daiquiri and Mahi Mahi Caesar salad on the beach for lunch.

Bars and Restaurants - Obviously several options here. The main bars we spent time at were the lobby bar (which both had an actual bar and lounge service provided to seats in the lobby) and "Watr," which is the rooftop bar. In many ays, Watr is the focal point of the resort - a huge rooftop where you can get very expansive views of Miami Beach. Both bars were very packed basically all day, with the top bar in particular attracting a constant stream of good looking people. Food service was OK when we had lunch up there, drink service in the evening was a bit quicker. But overall the drinks, pool, people, views, etc make it a very fun experience being up thee. The lobby bar was also cool, with nice drink specials, serviceable food, etc. There was a breakfast option (Habitat) that serves a standard resort buffet (at $70+), but I didn't sample it. They also service dinner. There is also an STK on premise. One knock may be there is no "fine dining" option for dinner, but not sure how many people go for those anyway.

Spa, Kids Club, etc. These were all available - I didn't check them out as I wasn't using them, but you can find feedback online.

Beach Club - there is I think a "beach club" party most weekend days and nights, with DJs, drinks, brunch, etc. I didn't go, but many may enjoy.

Meeting rooms / event space - they have good outdoor and indoor space for meetings, if people need them.

Is it luxury? Don't really know or care. It is a large hotel, with over 400 rooms. There are smaller, quieter options that many posters may prefer more. However, I think the service was pretty good for the size of the property, and what you are really paying for here are the location, pools, weather, drinks, gym, and the people watching. The hotel really delivered on all of that. I was there for part work and part play - colleagues, friends, etc all remarked on how much they loved the place and how they can't wait to return. I intend to return ASAP.

Pictures


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This was my experience just after it opened. Sounds like it hasn't improved.

1 Hotels are more "sceney/vibey" and tend to attract a younger crowd (20's, 30's). At least that is my experience. I agree with putting them on par with Pendry, Setai, EDITION, etc. I've been to South Beach, Central Park, and I got to see Hanalei Bay before it opened (formerly the Princeville Resort, which they completely renovated and updated). Overall I'm not a huge fan of the brand - I think they are really a 4* that try to look and operate as a 5*, but I have had positive experiences with them.
I would consider Hanalei Bay the only "luxury" hotel in Kauai, but I also thought it's a bit of a monstrosity built into what is otherwise a pristine and dramatic coastline. That's not 1 Hotel's doing, since they just took over the property, but it was a bit of a bummer.

dunno. i'm a newbie to these here FT parts, been reading rather than posting for the past six months.
love this 'luxury' sub forum in particular. it's great reading from some really knowledgable, talented writers.
but i have to admit i don't really get the occasional pushback in this sub over the definition of 'luxury' and what is 'luxury enough' to deserve even one thread here.
i've been thinking about it some, and i think it may come down to 'classic' vs 'modern'. or 'old' vs 'young'. neither of those are fantastic characterizations of what i mean..... i'll try again.....
when it comes to city hotels, if you're the type of traveler that prefers grande dames like the mark or the plaza (nyc) or BHH or bev wilshire (LA), you're not likely to appreciate what properties such as 1hotels, pendry, edition, etc have on offer in those cities. but that doesn't mean the latter don't offer the best you can find for that kind of luxury.

as for 1hotels, i appreciate this review on the miami location. (might not ever stay, i'm kind of a setai loyalist, though i've been eyeing the faena recently.)
i did spend a week at their west hollywood property, and can report it was very much in what i consider the luxury category. i usually like to stay at l'ermitage or (more recently) the WA BH when in los angeles, and kind of hate the sunset strip scene. but booked this 1hotel because it was close to the studio i was working at in weho this summer.
the hotel is a stunner. i'm a 55 year old fat balding dude, and i did not find the clientele to be the 20s/30s party kids. even up on the pool deck. it ain't the sky bar at mondrian. FB options were delicious and also (happily) not too scene-y. the hard product was non-pareil - amex FHR upgrade honored and suite was outstanding with hi-end finishes everywhere.
as a whole, this particular hotel was top notch, well above standards at RC, IHG, lots of other marques cited here with regularity.

i understand some reluctance to allow upstart marques into the hallowed grounds of top luxury. luxury is (partly) about exclusivity, after all. and, of course, newcomers disappoint as often as they surprise (i had a flat-out lousy stay at the new nobu in atlanta two months ago). but for me, i'm excited to see what pendry, 1hotels, conrad, edition and some of these other 'younger' brands can come up with next...

The 1 Miami is quiet large.... you can get stuck waiting for an elevator for quiet a while, especially when the roof bar crowd is large
I miss the Como Miami Beach which was small and personal

1 Hotel Hanalei Bay is now open. Former Princeville (sp?) Hotel.

I'm excited to revisit the 1hotel in West Hollywood this July. Booked there for 5 days on a gig.

Stayed last summer when the same client put me there - i was initially bummed as my normal WeHo fave that i requested, The London, had been fully sold out.
But liked it so much last time i asked for it again this time (same gig). The pool scene in particular was very un-strip like.

WeHo is tough for really nice (if not 'luxury') hotels, especially the sunset strip. Many more options in BH.
I'm psyched to have another option outside of the London.
Have been eyeing this Pendry as well - though a pal told me they have some sort of local private members club with forbidden spaces (and full access to the pool).... this strikes me as a red flag.... .

1 Hotel Hanalei Bay is offering a $500 resort credit plus the rest of the Virtuoso benefits (breakfast for two, room upgrade if available at check-in) for stays of 5 nights or more for stays in 2024.

The Hilton Conrad luxury brand has been around for 42 years. I'm not against anything upstart or new but 1 Hotels is a 4 star brand to me. Vibey, eco friendly but not very luxurious. Some may be better than others.

Agree. Upstart has little to do with this. The brand simply is not luxury. If it fits the needs/desires of some, that’s fine. But does not make it luxury.

1 hotel Hanelei Bay
 

I stayed at this property many years ago, back when it was a St. Regis.

It barely fit in the luxury market under St. Regis but is clearly not luxury under 1 Hotel.

One example, neither of their pools is usable in the winter months. They aren’t heated. It was really sad to see all the kids and guests lined up around the pools in Hawaii looking at them forlornly. They did have two hot tubs, which were delightful and packed. The ocean was significantly warmer than the pools and guests were swimming there.

There are not that many rooms here but the elevators have not been renovated and are extremely slow.

The wood oven pizza at lunch was very good and the service was lovely. There was only one other guest at the restaurant for lunch. The Hawaiian shave ice was $14(?), which would have been fine if high, had not the wait been so excessive. There was only one guest in front of me and it still took 15 minutes to get my order.

The rooms are small but beautiful and the views stunning. Again, everything felt very “one use” and then would need to be replaced. The carpet and all the fabrics are not the type that would do well with water and sand.

All of the beige fabric on the pool chairs is already very moldy and needs to be deep cleaned or replaced. Everything felt very disposable and temporary. I left the hotel feeling sorry for the owner of the property, worried they are going to lose money hand over fist.

If I had to guess, the management company over promised on revenue to get the contract and the property will be reflagged again in a few years.

What a shame. I went to St Regis Princeville just before it was deflagged, and while it was literally falling apart and one of the ugliest buildings I'd ever stayed in, the setting was absolutely spectacular - genuinely one of the most memorable of any of my travels. Breakfast with the ultimate view was hard to top, though the sunset sabering probably came close.

If 1 hotels are not luxury, that suggests to me this thread should be moved out of this forum (it would go to the "Other Hotel Chains" forum). Before I do that, however, I'll give you members a few days to weigh in on this.

Thanks,
RichardInSF, moderator, luxury hotels and travel

The brand hasn't officially been designated into a chainscale according to STR (maybe it isn't big enough):

https://hotelnewsnow.com/Media/Defau...hainscales.pdf

However, if brands like W Hotels, Edition, Andaz and Thompson Hotel are officially "Luxury," then so is 1 Hotels IMO. Though it seems like very few sub forum participants would all any of those brands luxury...

Personally for me, Andaz, Thompson and W Hotels aren't luxury at all. EDITION only charges like a top luxury hotel.

Understood. But the industry categorizes them as luxury, and 1 Hotels is comparable. Understood if Flyertalk wants to categorize these brands differently for purposes of the forum

The word “luxury” often is misused, especially by the industry.

I’m somewhat undecided on this one. Whilst I agree that 1 Hotels doesn’t meet the standards of what many of this forum’s demanding regulars expect, the most logical delineator of “luxury” within markets would seem to me to be price. I might be mistaken, but I would expect that within comparable markets you might see the 1 Hotels at price parity with chains like Belmond, Chedi and even some Four Seasons/ Mandarin Oriental hotels, all of which we would consider luxury chains (Chedi obviously being a bit random just now with its franchising).

Agreed. Certainly not passionate about 1hotels or any of these other 'young' brands, personally, and I agree most in this sub would hardly miss this post or thread.
Not sure why my response from way back got reposted (Kat?), but I ended up liking their West Hollywood property even more the second time this summer.
To me, both that and the Brooklyn outpost read 'young' luxury.
Felt the same about recent visits to the Thompson in Zihuatanejo and the Conrad in Los Angeles.
But I've slowly learned that this forum does not, so i go with the when-in-Rome flow. :)

To me the nuance is between ultra-luxe and luxury - to 90%+ of the world, a Ritz-Carlton, St Regis, Park Hyatt, Andaz, Waldorf Astoria, etc. are luxury hotels. They are in the Amex FHR collection, in the Virtuoso program, are categorized as "5-star hotels", and industry-wide are classified as luxury in their chain scales as a poster mentioned (some examples like the Park Hyatt Vendome even meet the "palace" classification of a luxury hotel from the French Government).

What this forum views as luxury is ultra-luxe / premium which is another half step up from the brands above in most cases (but not all - I've stayed in plenty of mediocre "premium brands" like Four Seasons particularly in North American cities where they are no better than the PHs or Waldorf Astorias of the world). You'll even have random locations for the "young-luxury" brands where an Andaz or W may surprise (e.g., last year in Prague I stayed at the Andaz Prague and Mandarin Oriental Prague and found them to be very comparable - if you look at their average rates, both are a full tier lower than the Four Seasons and usually within ~10-20% of each other and have similar reviews / ratings so it appears to be a situation where the Mandarin Oriental is punching below its weight). You'll see the nuance in most development press releases where a new Rosewood or Aman will be tagged as "7-star" or "ultra-premium" rather than as a simple 5-star / luxury property.

Interesting. I enjoy many properties, some are not luxury. In many locales luxury is not available and I happily go with best. Price is AN indicator of luxury but not consistently reliable. Another indicator is number of keys. Most true luxury venues skew toward fewer keys and the ones that don’t may not stand up to the designation. Service level, concierge expertise both play into luxe determination.


There might be a generational division. “Young” brands target a younger guest pool, in my experience which usually entails furniture and decor that does not appeal to me, and in the case of the former, often is not suited to aging bodies.

Are some of us snooty about hotels? Well, yes. Is that not the point?

Sounds to me like the consensus is that this is not a luxury hotel chain (and having stayed at several Andaz hotels, I would say the same about them), so I am going to move the thread/

RichardInSF, moderator, luxury hotels and travel

Not to mention the very small rooms, on standard categories...

This thread was booted from the luxury forum - but it is interesting to note that several properties landed on this new Michelin ranking system.

https://liveandletsfly.com/michelin-...s-hotels-list/

In my opinion, they took the best parts of what made the St. Regis Princeville memorable and eliminated any desire to stay there ever again. The beautiful lobby entrance with the panoramic views of the ocean was compartmentalized into a small, zig-zaggy entry way, painted in muted colors (yes, eco-centric but still dull) and beams & dividers blocking the beautiful view.
The ocean view from the pool is blocked by a lot more shrubs/trees than before, and the service is subpar all around. The food was mediocre (aside from the pizza at the pool) and the hallways looked very dated.
I've loved visiting the St. Regis (yes, rooms and interior was dated, but the views and service made up for that). Now, it's not worth the visit unfortunately. I am hopeful for a reflag and another change. This last one got it all wrong...