The InTervIew : Brad Wilson
The lobby of the Ace Hotel in New York City often is a calling card for the brand , but Brad Wilson says it is just another space unique to its location . emerging neighborhoods . Do you feel the strength of the brand enables you to do that successfully ?
BW : We obviously do our homework . We know what things make destinations work . We ’ re not just shooting out there anywhere . We ’ re not out looking for awful locations — we ’ re looking for great locations the other guy hasn ’ t found yet .
If anything , we end up in super locations a couple years before everybody else , which actually lets us be the anchor of the neighborhood . There is a lot of intelligence that goes into that process , but there ’ s also an instinct , when you feel like this is one we love , this is one we know is going to be right .
H : What is your overall focus in terms of development — do you acquire on your own or with partners , or is your focus more on strict management ?
BW : We have ownership interest in various properties . We ’ re not going out and finding the world ’ s most expensive real estate ; we ’ re actually changing real estate . In the end , really what we do is creating value in real estate .
H : How do you find partners to complete your real estate deals ?
BW : Every one of our deals is completely different . We have a development team that works out the financing , all the way from a more traditional structure
like an equity fund to a project like Pittsburgh , where working with a local developer we have to find tax credits to low-interest development loans to get the project to pencil out . Some projects , like Pittsburgh , take two or three years to figure out [ the financing ]. In a city like New York , L . A . or London , you can attract equity pretty quickly .
H : What do you see as the central legacy of Alex Calderwood to the Ace brand ? How is his presence still evident in the brand ’ s DNA ?
BW : We ’ ve always been a collaborative company , and that largely is Alex . Alex was all about the process of being surrounded by great people who would give a point of view to his projects . He always brought in great people around him , so he left a great team . There ’ s a lot of deep connection to Alex ’ s thought process that is in our DNA and our values .
The other thing that was great about Alex is that he was always evolving and changing , always looking at what was new and what was going to be great . I think that ’ s something that ’ s embedded in our team . Alex wouldn ’ t have wanted us to do what Alex did last year . He ’ d want us to use the same process to find out what we should be doing next year . He was a great man because in many ways he was a teacher , a curator , a coach , a director — he was about making people the best they could be . H : What are your thoughts about the increasing prevalence of lifestyle brands , particularly those being launched by some of the industry ’ s major players ?
BW : People today are demanding more than the generic , cookie-cutter stuff . Starting years ago , we ’ ve seen design improvements go from boutique design hotels into more mainstream hotels , and today you see all the big players bringing out their lifestyle brands . All of that makes sense to me with where the customer is going and people ’ s expectations . It used to be safe and secure and consistent were the values that were best . You didn ’ t necessarily have that much knowledge of where you were going . Today , with the Internet , we can know everything — from what other people who stayed there think to pictures to 360-degree walk-throughs . The information process allows people to do more interesting things . That process also has raised everyone ’ s expectations .
When it comes to everybody launching new brands , we have a different concept of what a brand is . A brand is so much an emotional thing to us ; I ’ m not sure all these can be emotional brands . But it ’ s probably very positive for the customer in the long run because the products are becoming less generic .
48 HOTELS January / February 2015 www . hotelsmag . com