Midtown Meditation

The long-awaited Aman New York hopes to become an oasis of calm in the city that never sleeps. Maya Kachroo-Levine checks in-and tunes out the bustle.

- Maya Kachroo-Levine

"HEAR THAT?" asked Simon Kopec.

"No," I said.

"Exactly," he replied.

I'm not one for gimmicks, but Kopec, the marketing director at the Aman New York (aman.com; doubles from $3,400), had a point. He was inviting me to listen for the rush-hour traffic, which had apparently started to pick up on the streets of Manhattan 10 stories below. But at $15,000 per night, the Corner Suite we were touring was impervious to the auditory intrusions of midtown. This is something management is quite proud of; hence the sound test.

Cultivating a sense of serenity is something the brand is known for-aman means "peace" in Sanskrit-but until fairly recently, almost all of its 34 properties had achieved this by being located as far as possible from a place like midtown, in destinations such as Greece's Peloponnese peninsula or the Philippines' Palawan archipelago (where the resort is only accessible by private plane). Aman has just one other property that's styled like a true urban hotel: a Tokyo outpost opened in 2014.

"I discovered there was not enough focus on tranquility in urban settings," explains CEO and chairman Vlad Doronin, who took over from hotelier Adrian Zecha after acquiring the brand in 2014. "Particularly in New York." As he further expands the portfolio, Doronin is looking for similar gaps in other markets (three more city hotels are planned over the next four years, in Bangkok, Miami Beach, and Beverly Hills).

After entering the Crown Building at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue and taking the elevator to the 14th-floor reception, the thrum of N.Y.C. completely fell away. This tower has not always been so quiet: it began life as a three-story office complex on a stretch once dominated by Vanderbilt- and Astor-funded mansions that's now known as Billionaire's Row.