Ace hotel tops list of hospitality operators in CoolBrands list
Ace hotel in Shoreditch, London, is the only hospitality business to appear in the top 20 list of the UK's coolest brands.
The 258-bedroom hotel is one of 63 hotels and restaurant on the full CoolBrands 2015/16 list, which features a total of 772 companies operating in a variety of industries including food, fashion and technology. They were selected on authenticity, desirability, innovation and originality.
Ace has been a hit with the surrounding creative community of Shoreditch since opening in September 2013. Originally a Crowne Plaza hotel, the property was acquired out of administration by Starwood Capital Group in June 2012, before undergoing an extensive refurbishment and rebranding to an Ace hotel.
The property was sold in March this year to venture capital company Limulus for its asking price of £150m, equivalent to £580,000 per bedroom, a record figure for the locality. Ace Hotel Group, which operates properties in Los Angeles, New York, Palm Springs, Seattle and Panama, manages the hotel of behalf of the owners.
Apple heads the CoolBrands list, with Ray-Ban and Glastonbury in second and third place respectively, followed by Nike in fourth place and Netflix (fifth).
The top-rated hospitality operators were as follows:
- Travel - hotels: Ace hotel
- Travel - members' clubs: Soho House & Co
- Restaurants - light food and snacks: Ottolenghi
- Restaurants - multi-site: Hawksmoor
- Restaurants - stand alone: Chiltern Firehouse
Apart from Ace hotel, which was ranked 17th, all the other brands on the list were listed alphabetically. They included:
Travel - hotels
- Ace hotel (17th)
- Firmdale Hotels
- Ham Yard Hotel
- Lime Wood
- Mondarin London at Sea Containers
- Rosewood London
- Shangri-La hotel at the Shard
- Snoozebox
- The Beaumont
- The Connaught
- The London Edition
- The Pig
- The Zetter Townhouse
Travel - members' clubs
- Home House
- Library
- Quintessentially Group
- Soho House & Co
- The Arts Club
- The Club at the Ivy
- The Garrick Club
Restaurants - light food and snacks
- Bea's of Bloomsbury
- Cereal Killer Café
- Crussh
- Gail's
- Ottolenghi
- Paul
- Peyton and Byrne
- Pinkberry
- Od
- Pret A Manger
- Snog
- Tossed
Restaurants - multi-site
- Albion
- Burger & Lobster
- Caravan
- Dishoom
- Five Guys
- Gaucho
- Hawksmoor
- Hix
- Honest Burger
- Kurobuta
- Leon
- MeatLiquor
- Polpo
- Sticks'n'Sushi
- The Breakfast Club
Restaurants - stand alone
- Balthazar
- Berners Tavern
- Bocca di Lupo
- Chiltern Firehouse
- Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
- Duck & Waffle
- Pollen Street Social
- Restaurant Nathan Outlaw
- Sky Garden at 20 Fenchurch Street
- Sushisamba
- The Clove Club
- The Fat Duck
- The Hand and Flowers
- The Palomar
- Typing Room
