First look: the Aman New York, Manhattan’s most extravagant hotel

There’s a lot that’s unprecedented about Aman New York.

For one thing, the 83-suite hotel, which officially opened on August 2 – though it was still halfway under construction that week – has commanded years of hype.

The new incarnation of the 100-year-old Crown Building at 57th and Fifth is the most hotly anticipated hotel opening the city has experienced in the past decade.

Aman is a brand whose expansive resorts command more than US$2,000 per night in any destination. So great is the faith in Aman’s ability to raise New York’s already high standards of luxury that locals ponied up  US$100,000 initiation fees to become founding members of its world-first Aman Club during a pre-opening period.

The sign-up cost has since doubled and doesn't include the US$15,000 annual dues.

The Garden Terrace bar overlooks the splendour of Manhattan.

Then there are the nightly rates. If it seemed the new Ritz-Carlton NoMad, with its maximalist design and José Andrés restaurants, were pushing a limit by charging US$1,400 per night for an entry-level room, Aman is blowing past.

The hotel’s humblest rooms aren’t even sold on their own. At Aman New York, the 340-square-foot studios can be booked only as an adjoining option for US$20,000 per night corner suites, to make them bigger.

Instead, premier suites, which make up the bulk of the inventory and measure 75 square metres, are among the only reservations available through the end of the year.

You'll find Aman New York on East 57th Street.

Although the hotel says officially that prices for those rooms start at US$3,200 per night, they’re currently going for US$4,200 per night for most weeknights and up to US$5,500 per night on weekends through the end of 2022.

That’s not because of their size. A similarly proportioned suite at the recently-renovated Carlyle commands less than half the price on the same dates. This is a product of Aman’s cachet and devoted following.

The brand appeals to those who value its take on discreet luxury. It tends to fill architecturally important buildings such as summer palaces in Beijing and monumental Venetian palazzos and make them feel like ultra-private residences for the few guests who can call them temporary homes.

Rooms at Aman New York are deliberately priced to be exclusive.

“There’s a big difference between us and everybody else,” says Aman’s chairman and chief executive officer, Vlad Doronin.

“Not only will our clients be willing to pay luxury money for what we’ve built, but they’re also going to feel very happy with the value they’ve received by the time they check out.”

Doronin could say that about himself. He concedes that he’s “spared no expense” and blown his budget – estimated at around US$300 million on the hotel alone, though Doronin says acquiring the building and adding residences has brought the tab closer to US$1.45 billion.

A vertical resort

The amenities at Aman New York are indeed exhaustive enough to constitute a proper wellness resort.

Rooms fill only six floors of the building; the spa and wellness center occupy three – and include space for cryotherapy chambers and an indoor pool. A fully functional medical practice takes up the spa’s entire top floor.

Aman New York bucks the city's reputation for spaciousness.

More sumptuous are two bath houses that are like private spas within the spa. There, in apartment-like spaces complete with bedrooms and dining areas, small groups or couples can share a half- or full-day experience that revolves around a Moroccan hammam or eastern European banya, priced at US$8,500 per couple for the full day.

Either scrub is followed by dips in hot and cold outdoor plunge pools – set on a private garden terrace with a retractable roof – plus custom lunch menus and add-on massages. If any equivalent for this exists in New York, it’s in someone’s US$40 million Upper East Side townhouse.

The spa will eventually be opened to non-guests, with two-hour signature treatments starting at US$785.

So will Aman New York’s two restaurants, found off a 14th floor, double-height lobby. Arva and Nama will serve Italian and Japanese fare, respectively. For now, though, they’ll all be in a soft-opening mode limited to club members and those spending the night.

Arva is one of two of restaurants at Aman New York.

There’s also a sprawling, 650-square-metre terrace bar off the lobby that’s wrapped like an elaborate jewellery box in latticed metal sheeting and bamboo slats, concealing retractable glass panels to enclose the space on cold or rainy days.

Adorned with fire pits, Japanese trees, and reflective water features, it’s bound to become an impossibly hot ticket for after-work drinks. Impossibly hot, that is, because Aman is bound to let only so many people in who aren’t paying the full overnight rates.

The point, after all, is not to bring in locals, as most city hotels in the world try to do, but to keep enough people out that the vibe remains exclusive and private.

The Garden Terrace features fire pits and reflective water features.

One space is already open to the public: a subterranean jazz club with programming curated by trumpeter Brian Newman, the bandleader for Lady Gaga’s Las Vegas show, among other accolades. This is an intimate but glitzy space, with a sound system so rarified that the only other public New York venue that claims to have it is Jazz at Lincoln Center.

A few areas will be limited to club members, meaning that even if you pay $20,000 for that corner suite, you still won’t be allowed in. These include a small cigar lounge tucked behind a secret door in the lobby and a private wine library that will stock obscure labels.

It’s all about the details

Each suite has been retrofitted to have a functional fireplace, a large soaking tub, heated bathroom floor, and either a steam or rain shower – adding to the urban oasis vibes. Everything feels expensive down to the hangers in the leather-backed closets, which match the wood trim elsewhere in the rooms.

Pivoting partition walls resembling shoji screens create privacy around the bed, or yield a more open floor plan between the living and sleeping spaces.

Overall, the design leans heavily on the company’s Asian roots, with Japanese murals of pine trees and monochromatic furnishings that bring to mind nature’s elements.

Rooms have been exhaustively soundproofed against Manhattan's renowned city noise.

“We didn’t cut any corners,” Doronin says. “We had more challenges than I’ve ever experienced in a project, and I’ve built some 80 buildings,” he continues, referring to both the construction halts during pandemic lockdowns and the subsequent supply chain crisis. But we didn’t make any compromises here.”

What it’s worth

Doronin says that while New York is a destination that will help Aman enhance its market share – the brand’s audience is currently only 37% American.

The hotel has primarily sold out its 2022 inventory to so-called “Amanjunkies,” a caste of loyal followers who collect stays at Aman hotels the way 1980s schoolboys collected baseball cards.

In fact, Doronin says 85% of his guests become repeat visitors. Few hotel brands can compete with that number, even when they offer point-earning multipliers and free nights, which would be unthinkable in Doronin’s world.

The Aman brand is known for attracting a cult following of 'Amanjunkies'.

By pairing Aman New York’s suites with condos – 22 units in total ranging from around US$5.9 million to US$75 million – and adding a membership club model, Doronin has expanded Aman’s universe. Now it’s not just vacations; it’s a lifestyle.

“This opening is a major milestone for our brand,” he says.

That explains why Doronin invested heavily in making Aman New York such a gem – and why he trusts that consumers will pony up accordingly.

“My financial advisers kept asking what I was thinking, creating something like a double-height lobby. That space could have been worth an extra $60 million in apartments. But I didn’t listen to them,” he says, beaming. “This product is too important for the brand.”