Ace Hotel's President Talks About the Business of Boutique

As global hotel corporations compete to introduce the new lifestyle brand, Ace Hotel is maintaining its position as leader in design and experience in the boutique space.

Ace will open up its eighth location in Pittsburgh in 2015, doubling the number of its properties since 2012. Brad Wilson, president of the Ace Hotel Group, gave a brief overview of the brand and its growth strategy in a Bloomberg video earlier this week.

“Our growth plan, so to speak, to the extent that we really have planned is the idea of one or two hotels a year. It really isn’t a company that’s built on an end game or an exit strategy," says Wilson. "We’re in it to do it.”

Wilson talks about the financial and ideological struggles it must overcome in opening hotels in what could be considered risky markets.

He says in the video that it took close to three years to get the tax credit, local grants and development money in place to acquire the $23 million needed to open a hotel in a renovated YMCA in Pittsburgh.

Wilson names patience and creativity the solution to their challenge of financing quirky projects.

“While other hotel companies might be more focused on planting flags and staying in major markets, we do slightly odder things like go to Pittsburgh.”

Ace’s brand is now a huge part of its business and only about 50 percent of its earnings come from hotel rooms. Ace earns money through merchandise and on-site food and beverage outlets.

The full video of Brad Wilson is below: