Behind Ace Hotel's Development of Its First Luxury Property

“So if you want to know the secret of Ace, it's all about baking,” said Brad Wilson, president of Ace Hotel Group, during last month’s Hospitality Design Americas show in Miami Beach. “I’m a professional baker and I ran an artisanal bakery for seven years, and in some ways that's the root of everything we do at Ace,” he continued. “It's about handmade, it's about craft, it's about organic and good quality ingredients.” Wilson was on hand to discuss the development and design of the 50-room American Trade Hotel Casco Viejo, which opened in the fall last year in the original part of Panama City. But as he talked, he was really discussing the development of the Ace brand and its evolution beyond the brand. He opened his speech by stressing that, while people know him as the president of the Ace Hotel Group, his real role is president of Atelier Ace, which he said is the creative force behind the hotel operation, as well as other products and services outside hospitality. The company presently has about 50 people with a dozen or so working full time in architecture and design. That’s an interesting distinction because this is the first hotel in the group that’s not branded Ace. It has its own public relations arm, it did have its own dedicated url before redirecting to the Ace portal, and it’s the first hotel in the group to be positioned as a luxury property. This is purely conjecture, but the Am