Aman New York, one of the most anticipated luxury hotel openings in the United States, has started accepting reservations. The pricing is just… wow. Despite the cost, the hotel claims to be sold out for the first two months.
In this post:
Aman Hotel New York City opening soon
Several years back it was announced that uber-luxury hotel group Aman will be opening a property in New York City, in the Crown Building, on 57th and 5th.
Initially Aman New York was supposed to open in 2020, but then the pandemic happened. For a long time the hotel’s status was simply listed as “opening soon.” Since then, we’ve seen a series of opening timelines announced, but they were all missed.
The hotel claims that it’s opening as of August 2, 2022. However, the hotel is only accepting reservations on its website for stays as of October 2, 2022. I’ll discuss that discrepancy in more detail below.
It’s good to see that at least one Aman project will eventually be opening, because some of Aman’s other projects seem to be stalled. For example, look at Amanvari in Los Cabos, as in 2018 it was reported that the hotel was supposed to open in 2020, while now it’s stated that the hotel will open in 2024, even though it has been under construction for years.
What we should expect from Aman New York
Aman New York will feature 83 suites (on floors 7-12), which will be a minimum of 775 square feet (that’s huge, especially by New York City standards). Each room will feature a fireplace, which is a cool feature you don’t find in many hotels.
The property was designed by architect Jean-Michel Gathy of Denniston, and it’s said that the property will pay a “nod to the brand’s Asian roots.”
In addition to the hotel, Aman New York will feature 22 private residences (on floors 13-25), ranging from one to six bedrooms. Many will even feature outdoor terraces and some will feature private pools (one of which is pictured below). One residence will be a five story penthouse — I’m sure that’ll be super affordable. 😉 These will be the first urban Aman branded residences.
Facilities at the hotel will include an Italian restaurant (Arva), a Japanese restaurant (Nama), a wine library, a jazz club, a garden terrace, and a 25,000 square foot spa.
This will be the third Aman property in the US (after Amangiri in Utah and Amangani in Wyoming), and it will only be the second city Aman in the world, after Aman Tokyo.
Below are some pictures Aman has shared of the New York property.
Aman New York’s VERY high rates
Prior to reservations opening, I had speculated that rooms would start at around $2,000 per night. That reflects the current state of hotel pricing, that this is a fairly small hotel, and also the size of the rooms at this hotel.
Well, as it turns out, I was way off. Rates for base rooms start at $3,200 to $4,600 per night, depending on the time of year (with most of the year having base room pricing of over $4,000).
$4,000+ per night easily makes this the world’s most expensive city hotel… by a long shot. I just don’t think Aman will be able to sustain these rates. While the hotel will probably be physically nice, there are limits to how differentiated the experience can otherwise be, given the service culture and labor market in New York — this isn’t Bali.
I almost feel like Aman is taking the approach of “let’s create intrigue by pricing it ridiculously high, and skim the market, even if we don’t sell out.” The problem is that when you charge the highest rate in the world for a city hotel, people also expect a flawless experience.
Aman New York claims to be sold out for first two months
Aman New York had several opening delays. So when the hotel stated it was opening as of August 2 but only started accepting reservations for stays as of October 2, I was curious what was going on. The hotel’s reservations system claims that the hotel is totally sold out for the first two months:
“Owing to exceptionally high demand, Aman New York’s Suites are now fully booked from the hotel’s opening date, 2 August 2022, through to early October.”
I asked an Aman spokesperson to clarify this. There’s no doubt a lot of interest in the hotel, but I’m skeptical of the hotel being sold out for two months solid at this pricing. Here’s the clarification I received:
“We had a waitlist of loyal guests who were keen to book in as soon as possible, so our teams have been working on these requests, in addition to reservations being made via the booking engine. As Aman New York welcomes its first guests, selected suites will be available online, with further inventory unveiled on an ongoing basis. We have had an overwhelmingly positive response from clients and trade partners around our opening and the demand has been really encouraging.”
Hmmm…
So there are 83 rooms, and let’s say the average person stays for three nights. To be sold out for a 60 day period, that would translate to 1,660 bookings. I would have to imagine there’s a little more to this story, or that the hotel is operating at only a very small percentage of capacity.
Furthermore, I looked up availability within two hours of the hotel starting to accept bookings, when no other media outlet had covered the hotel’s opening yet. So I’d be surprised if any significant number of people made reservations via the booking engine for the first two months.
I’m curious to see how this progresses.
This looks spectacular, but…
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Aman New York looks beautiful, but to me city hotels will never be the essence of Aman. I’m curious to see to what extent Aman New York can deliver on the Aman experience.
The only other city Aman property is in Tokyo, and suffice it to say that service standards in general are different in Tokyo than New York (and Aman Tokyo also never tried to charge $4,000+ per night).
Aman used to open properties in unique locations where no other hotel brands would ever dare. That has changed, as the brand has essentially sold out, with upcoming properties in Bangkok, Los Cabos, Miami, and Niseko. The only unique properties in the pipeline are in… Saudi Arabia.
Aman used to be my single favorite luxury hotel brand, but the brand has fallen so much since Adrian Zecha, the brand’s founder, sold it.
Bottom line
Aman New York has finally started accepting reservations. The hotel is allegedly opening on August 2, but claims to be sold out for the first two months, before even publicly opening reservations. Reservations are currently being accepted for stays as of October 2. While I was expecting pricing to be high, pricing is even wilder than I could have imagined, and base rooms generally start at $4,000+ per night.
I’m curious for how long Aman New York can sustain these rates. This is all just very strange to me.
What do you make of the opening of Aman New York, and the rates being charged?
They have lowered their rates to $2,600.00 (plus tax) per night.
Aman is taking the woow away from their product.
Taking a retreat name of exclusive resorts and building city hotels kills the exclusivity.
Just finished up a week at Aman NYC. It was a superb stay.
This is also, for the time being, one of the Aman properties that does not allow non-guests inside. All amenities are for hotel guests, owners or members only.
If you have the money for this property, it's stunning and worth every dollar.
Yeah I feel like the base room should be around $2500 at max.. That price is the same or more expensive than Aman largest suite at Aman Tokyo
This is insane. For 4000 dollars, you could sublet a luxury 1 bedroom apt for a month.
I am a Motel 6 guy myself.
Hotel is "sold out" probably because not all 83 rooms are available in the first few months. Hotels like Aman - no doubt has gone though months of prep before even soft-opening - want to make sure everything is running smoothly from the get-go, avoid bad press etc, so they will sell 30% of inventory while keeping 100% of staff.
Also, selling limited inventory and calling it "sold out" is another marketing illusion. They...
Hotel is "sold out" probably because not all 83 rooms are available in the first few months. Hotels like Aman - no doubt has gone though months of prep before even soft-opening - want to make sure everything is running smoothly from the get-go, avoid bad press etc, so they will sell 30% of inventory while keeping 100% of staff.
Also, selling limited inventory and calling it "sold out" is another marketing illusion. They can now claim the hotel is so popular that it's "sold out" when in reality selling out ~30 rooms ain't that hard.
Price point wise - as @Reddargon pointed out, price is fair for psf. In Paris, during fashion week, Ritz or Crillion often sells their basic room at Euro2.5K.
But I'm surprised that Ben didn't hypothesize the theory that Aman may have sold a reduced number of rooms and called it "sold out", given that he has been traveling to so many 5+ star hotels and knows the inside-out on how these luxury properties work
NYC outlawed fireplaces some years back, so this building must have been grandfathered.
Amangiri is also $4k/night nowadays.
You seem surprised at what they charge but their price is not much more than hotel rooms that are an equivalent size in New York. The key point is about the size.
Why is this being reposted? Just curious. I was looking for an update.
Whatever. You do all kinds of ridiculous stuff, Lucky, so when are you reviewing (in person) this property?
Another explanation...
Is it possible the rooms are being used as a part of their marketing of the upper floors which are for sale? From the developers' perspective...why not offer complimentary stays for those who have shown an interest in a purchase? A lite version of time share sales but with a distinctly upscale approach. Those who are staying in the building are more likely to be swayed for a future purchase...maybe?
And, it...
Another explanation...
Is it possible the rooms are being used as a part of their marketing of the upper floors which are for sale? From the developers' perspective...why not offer complimentary stays for those who have shown an interest in a purchase? A lite version of time share sales but with a distinctly upscale approach. Those who are staying in the building are more likely to be swayed for a future purchase...maybe?
And, it also allows them to use the "sold out" story to add the perception of widespread interest for both stays and purchases. Just wondering.
Supply and demand is forever undefeated. Im sure they have a decent demand right now to charge these rates and have a list of every influencer they will shuffle in the hotel to create buzz. Makes sense to me to keep prices ridiculously high. Plus there are plenty of extremely wealthy people who can pay this and lets not forget the difference between a $500 a night hotel and a $4000 is 8x. Say your...
Supply and demand is forever undefeated. Im sure they have a decent demand right now to charge these rates and have a list of every influencer they will shuffle in the hotel to create buzz. Makes sense to me to keep prices ridiculously high. Plus there are plenty of extremely wealthy people who can pay this and lets not forget the difference between a $500 a night hotel and a $4000 is 8x. Say your net worth was 2mil, 500 a night is reasonable, if you have 50mil the "equivalent" price would be $12,500 a night. And there are plenty of people who visit nyc with 50+.
Can't wait for them to have a 'damage waiver fee'.
This seems to be across the board for Aman in the US. I saw the same pricing for Amangiri earlier today. Cheapest rate I saw was for one day in November at 3700 USD a night. The rest of the available dates were all 4000 or more… wonder how long this will last.
Very insightful:
While the hotel will probably be physically nice, there are limits to how differentiated the experience can otherwise be, given the service culture and labor market in New York — this isn’t Bali.
Nothing wrong with it, but it's extra hard to create something truly special (because every one is equal!) with the American way of service culture. For special occasions I'd rather spend money elsewhere in the world.
Does Ford have access to special offers (ie restaurant credit) for those of us who would like to stay at the Aman NYC. Hopefully you can take one for the blog and stay there to share your impressions.
curious to hear from one of the 1600+ people who have booked this. im sure at least ONE of them is reading this post and/or following Ben's blog.
Not all Hotels are meant to be affordable for bloggers, point rackers, instagram freeloaders and other people without a real fat wallet…come on Lucky I’m sure you’ll find the way-haven’t you with everything else so far ?
Hotels have finally figured out how wealthy the top 0.1% really is and I ven $4k a night is not significant for this segment. These prices are sustainable.
People that rich already have pied e terres in New York. Pretty hard to see who the market for this is.
The Conrad near Battery Park has been my go to for years. All suites, perfectly nice, 15% of the price.
The Opus Westchester, an Autograph Collection, so-called "5-star" in tragic White Plains, NY has a base rate of $391, and is regularly at $500 or $600 for the lowest category room, and even often sold out.
That the Aman in the middle of Manhattan is 7x-10x that rate almost makes sense. Nothing about the past means anything anymore, which means that a random Autograph Collection in the suburbs of NYC can charge $600 for...
The Opus Westchester, an Autograph Collection, so-called "5-star" in tragic White Plains, NY has a base rate of $391, and is regularly at $500 or $600 for the lowest category room, and even often sold out.
That the Aman in the middle of Manhattan is 7x-10x that rate almost makes sense. Nothing about the past means anything anymore, which means that a random Autograph Collection in the suburbs of NYC can charge $600 for a base room and people will eat it up, and at the same time an Aman can charge $4000 and people will also eat it up.
Give it time. People are paying big bucks to stay at hotels around the world. That can only last so long. Once there is no more juice to squeeze, price will automatically come down. That’s how supply and demand works.
I would much prefer a large suite at the Mandarin, PH, or St Regis instead for the price.
I'm not so sure this will be a problem for them, so long as they can deliver an even mildly superior guest experience. There are enough people visiting New York for whom money is no object, that they should be able to fill 83 rooms. Assuming the guest experience is actually better than some of the other options. 83 rooms is not a large property.
This is definitely for the private jet crowd. I am sure billionaires, tech entrepreneurs, and LIV golfers wont sweat $4K a night.
For the price of one night in this hotel, can get 3 nights in a 900 square foot suite at the also very nice Park Hyatt New York. Not sure what makes this worth THAT much more.
What did you expect? Holiday Inn's and Moxy's are regularly going for $600/night all throughout the country right now. At some point it's just like liquor/wine, there's a certain price point where it just doesn't make sense anymore. At the end of the day, it's just a room at a hotel with a few perks. For that price, that shit needs to come with a companion lol.
I am not sure the pricing is that off compared to other top hotels because their rooms are only suite.
A similar sized-suite at The Mandarin Oriential (76sqm2 vs. 72 sqm2) is 3600 USD incl. all taxes and 4200 USD iat the Aman for the same night in october. A suite at the Ritz Cartlon at the park is 3800 incl. taxes for 79sqm2. So it looks more like 10% to 20% more expensive. Not all of us get free upgrades.
Surprised by this, because I did a similar check earlier today and came up with a different result. Maybe it was the specific dates we chose, but I picked Saturday, October 15 and got the following (all prices including tax and fees and are flexible rates):
Ritz Carlton - $2,702 for a 860 sq ft king suite
Plaza - $2,719 for a 1000 sq ft king suite
Mandarin Oriental - $3,184 for a...
Surprised by this, because I did a similar check earlier today and came up with a different result. Maybe it was the specific dates we chose, but I picked Saturday, October 15 and got the following (all prices including tax and fees and are flexible rates):
Ritz Carlton - $2,702 for a 860 sq ft king suite
Plaza - $2,719 for a 1000 sq ft king suite
Mandarin Oriental - $3,184 for a 796 sq ft king suite
Peninsula - $3,268 for a 725 sq ft king suite
Aman - $4,485 for the cheapest room, a 775 sq ft twin bed junior suite (if you want a king bed like the others, you're paying $4,830 for a 815 sq ft king suite)
That makes the Aman over 35% more expensive than the second-most expensive option. As others are saying, it may still sell out, but I imagine even most extremely wealthy people care about value proposition (although not all). If Aman NY can develop a reputation that precedes it, it will succeed, but otherwise it's gonna have to lower its prices some.
I did search the day before - October 14th. I used booking.com (note that I am based in Switzerland so all my prices are fully loaded with all sort of taxes and fees) , I think if you search on the US version, some taxes are not included.
For MO, its a King suite with central Park view : 3463 chf = 3617 usd.
For RC, it increased since yesterday = grand Park view suite : 4 148 chf = 4329 usd
For Aman : premier suite = 4141 usd
1) I think they are trying to differentiate themselves a bit with the rates.
2) I do think their rates will come down a bit, and I would not be surprised if these are just a result of demand. People are VERY interested in this property between the hype and the huge delays. There is a massive wait-list for their membership club.
3) or rates will stay the same... As other pointed out, people will spend money on stuff simply because they know it's an expensive thing.
I mean, a lot of people like things just because they are expensive. Especially new money. New money continues to chase the high price tag and the insta-worthy experience over the actual quality. And so it probably makes business sense for these brands to make these decisions and 'sell out' as you call it.
I almost feel like anyone foolish enough to pay this much for a brand new city hotel deserves to have their money parted from them, although I wish the excess was going to charity rather than a billionaire oligarch.
What do you mean when you say that service standards are different in Tokyo vs NYC?
Surely anybody who has ever visited NY and Tokyo would agree that service standards are vastly different.
Thank you for visiting, versus f*ck you for visiting.
Japanese people always provide good service. And they reject tips.
He means service is better in Tokyo than in NYV
So how many nights have you booked @ben?
Just a tad outside ... my budget.
It is not like people with a lot of money make more sensible choices, so these rates probably will do just fine.
The argument 'expensive, so must be good' is used all the time in reviews here as well, so it apparently works when attracting customers.
Ok so this hotel goes for 10x the price of a NYC hotel and that's outrageous.
But spending 10x the price of a regular 5*hotel when Ben 'reviewed' Aman Sri Lanka was ok?
@ Ann -- There's relative cost and then there's absolute cost. Some people might consider it reasonable to spend $200 per night at a luxury hotel in Bangkok, even though you could stay at a hotel for $10 per night. Why? Because that's significantly less than you'd pay for a comparable luxury experience elsewhere.
That's a little different than spending $4,000+ per night at a New York City hotel, when the other existing top hotels...
@ Ann -- There's relative cost and then there's absolute cost. Some people might consider it reasonable to spend $200 per night at a luxury hotel in Bangkok, even though you could stay at a hotel for $10 per night. Why? Because that's significantly less than you'd pay for a comparable luxury experience elsewhere.
That's a little different than spending $4,000+ per night at a New York City hotel, when the other existing top hotels in the city charge a quarter as much.
I also in general think it's more worth splurging on resorts than city hotels, since you're likely to spend a lot more time on property at resorts.
When can we expect your review? I'm looking forward to it already.
@ Merv -- Hah, at this price point it's a hard pass from me...
I need this review! Someone start a gofundme right now
I'm not sure I understand who the target audience is for this hotel.
Russian and Italian HNWI who will most definitely stay at other established luxury and iconic properties for half the price…I actually don’t know who the target audience is for real
Maybe they think the numerous sanctioned Russian oligarchs are not sanctioned ?
There are a lot more billionaires and those with 10s/100s of millions than you think. That's the target. Especially in New York, and they have a membership club that sold out almost immediately.
I'm well aware of how many extremely wealthy people there are. I still don't get this pricing, even if you look at the suite pricing for the other top hotels in NYC (and those suites are generally bigger than the base room of the Aman) the Aman's prices are 40% higher. I imagine rates will come down though by opening.
I really do think this is temporary. There is no way to justify such a high price and sustain long term. There are many more properties in New York which are renowned for luxury and with established history of serving the multi billionaires, celebrities and dignitaries for half the price.
Besides everything is very expensive at the moment due to sudden demand so that might be a key reason, and prices tend to be dynamic based on demand and supply
That's fair. As I said in my other comment, I do think there's a good chance it's temporary/intro pricing that is elevated due to extreme demand since it's been so delayed and so hyped up.
Trust fund babies all over the world? The worldwide luxury market is quite big, the richest ones stay away from the spotlight for obvious safety reasons. Only the got-rich-through-fame are really heard about. The rest - the wealthy-through-other-means. They're the ones who stay away from Forbes lists by having entirely private unlisted companies & minimizing their individual income on paper as much as possible.
It sounds ridiculous, because it is, but there is a section...
Trust fund babies all over the world? The worldwide luxury market is quite big, the richest ones stay away from the spotlight for obvious safety reasons. Only the got-rich-through-fame are really heard about. The rest - the wealthy-through-other-means. They're the ones who stay away from Forbes lists by having entirely private unlisted companies & minimizing their individual income on paper as much as possible.
It sounds ridiculous, because it is, but there is a section of society who will not blink at these prices. That too is mostly because they aren't really earning the money for it - they just can afford it. Always have.