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