Farewell Alex Calderwood

Our friend and founder of the Ace Hotels passed away last week. We are sad and in disbelief.

For our hotel he felt like a sibling across the ocean, from the first time he walked into our place a couple of months after our opening. The way he built his first hotels in Seattle and Portland, the creative process, the construction struggle, the passion, the emotions, all the things that could go wrong did go wrong so that they could always turn right again just in time, as good or even better than we could have ever imagined them.

His dream and vision of building an alternative hotel brand became reality. Like no other hotel group he managed to grow without losing the core that made it special. He managed to communicate his thoughts and visions into the heads of many genuine people who distilled them and took them to create the Ace brand that so many people now cherish and are inspired by.

He is a great example that the chance for change is everywhere. Even in the most rusty and dusty industry.

We will remember him. We hope from the bottom of our hearts that his family and his friends find relief. We hope that his hotels will find a way to continue the path set by Alex and find new charismatic, personal, responsible and caring leadership. A kind of leadership that the world desperately needs more of.

Alex, we will miss you and know you are in a happy place right now! We are so grateful to have shared time!

Nadine & Tom