Some hotels impress you. Faena? Faena messes with your whole nervous system – in the best way.
There are luxury hotels that wow you the second you walk in. And then there are the rare ones that actually make you feel something. Faena New York is firmly, unmistakably the second kind.
The moment I stepped through the doors, every ounce of travel-day weariness just… left. There’s a floor-to-ceiling mural you can’t not stare at, a staircase that spirals like it’s showing off, and within about ten seconds I knew this wasn’t going to be a normal hotel stay.
The welcome matched the energy.
Grand, yes, but warm, the kind of warm where the concierge treats you like you’re the only person checking in that day, not guest number 400, and somehow anticipates everything you need before you ask. I felt less like a hotel guest and more like someone they’d actually been waiting for.
For a second, I just stood there, taking it all in.
The art alone forces you to slow down. Tigers, zebras, snails, weird surreal human torsos popping up where you least expect them — I kept stopping mid-walk just to stare and try to figure out the story behind each piece. (Spoiler: I never fully did. That’s kind of the point.)
And here’s the thing, on paper, none of this should work together. Tigers next to torsos next to snails? Sounds like a fever dream. But it does work. Beautifully, weirdly, completely.
None of this happened by accident. Argentine hotelier Alan Faena doesn’t really do “just a hotel.”
His whole thing is mixing art, architecture, food, music, performance and wellness into one big emotional experience, with culture as the connective glue, not just something pretty on the wall.
Colour is doing a lot of work too. Faena’s signature red shows up constantly but never feels like too much – more like a perfectly placed exclamation point. Leopard print sits next to floral chairs, bold carpets clash with rich fabrics, and there are shelves stacked with intriguing little artefacts that genuinely make you want to stop and inspect every single one. Somehow it all just… works. Shouldn’t. Does.
There’s theatre to the whole place, but it never feels try-hard, which honestly might be the hardest thing to pull off in hospitality. Luxury here isn’t stiff, it’s genuinely joyful.
Case in point: at one stage I looked at this insanely vibrant carpet and thought, honestly, I could just lie down on that and take a nap. Not the reaction most interior designers are going for. But maybe that’s exactly the vibe Alan Faena was after all along.
The Room That Makes You Exhale
Opening the door to my room, another surprise.
The first thing I noticed wasn’t a piece of furniture or a fancy amenity. It was how the room made me feel. Calm. Safe. Happy. There’s an almost healing quality to the space, soft furnishings, artwork, lighting that’s clearly been agonised over, textures you want to touch. It doesn’t shout its luxury. It just quietly wraps around you.
And the details were phenomenal, from the shower pressure to the heated Toto toilet I never knew I needed until I sat down. Every part of the stay had clearly been thoughtfully considered.
At Faena, wellness begins long before you reach the spa.
The Spa That Redefines “Treatment”
Heading down into Tierra Santa Healing House revealed yet another layer of the Faena world.
Under Spa Director Eric Smith, Tierra Santa isn’t just somewhere you go for a facial. It’s built for restoration. Talking to Smith, I got the sense that the whole philosophy is refreshingly holistic – beauty, body and emotional wellbeing aren’t treated as separate boxes here, they’re one thing.
My treatment made that obvious pretty quickly.
The room itself was simple but warm. I settled onto the bed and was instantly at ease. Then the ritual began: a tray positioned over my abdomen, unusual rubber-covered wooden tools tapping rhythmically across my stomach, red-light therapy bathing me in warmth, crystals placed around my face and body. Massage across my arms and scalp sent me further into another world, followed by exfoliation and a sheet mask drenched in serum.
What made it memorable wasn’t any single step. It was all of it, working together, touch, light, sound, energy, layered instead of competing. Far more immersive than your standard facial.
By the time I emerged, I felt like I was walking on clouds. Lighter. Basically, the exact same feeling I had the second I walked through the hotel’s front doors. Faena clearly understands something about modern wellness that a lot of spas miss – sometimes what you actually need is just permission to switch off.
When Faena Turns Up the Volume
If Tierra Santa is the restorative heart of Faena, the nightlife is its wonderfully unhinged, flamboyant soul.
As the sun went down, the whole hotel transformed. Walking into the Cabaret felt like I’d wandered onto the set of a glamorous 1940s film. Sweeping evening gowns next to chic, contemporary looks, including a group of fabulous young Black women whose energy was honestly infectious. And somehow, everyone belonged. There’s no single “Faena type,” and that’s exactly the charm, glamorous, but relaxed. Luxurious fun, not stiff formality.
Then the performer came on. Electrifying is the only word. She didn’t just sing at us, she pulled the entire room into her world, until people were clapping, laughing, dancing, basically becoming part of the show themselves.
She didn’t simply perform for the room. She made the room part of the performance.
And moving quietly through it all was Alan Faena himself. No fanfare, no announcement. Just the man behind this entire universe, casually checking that everything was unfolding exactly how it should. His presence alone said enough.
We left on an absolute high. Genuinely one of the best nights out I’ve had in ages and not something I expected to find without ever leaving my hotel.
Dinner, Faena Style
By this point I should’ve known Faena doesn’t really do “ordinary.”
Dinner at La Boca, from celebrated Argentine chef Francis Mallmann, continues the story. The dining room is visually stunning with dramatic murals, seriously considered details, but my eye kept landing on something deceptively simple – perfect red roses on every table. Against all that richness, they looked exquisite.
Mallmann is known worldwide for cooking with fire, drawing on South American tradition, and one dish said it all: a grilled artichoke, lightly crumbed, tender, carrying that unmistakable smoky flavour of an open flame. It wasn’t complicated. It didn’t need to be. The smoke, the tenderness, that little crunch of crumb, the technique didn’t overpower the ingredient, it revealed it.
A beautiful Argentine wine alongside, and dessert kept the same energy, creamy vanilla ice cream with juicy strawberries. Simple, and after that smoky artichoke, exactly right.
Hospitality as an Art Form
Through the whole stay, one thing kept standing out: the people.
Under General Manager François Olivieri, the service feels genuinely warm, never rehearsed. François himself is basically the hotel in human form. A stylish Frenchman, sparkling personality, infectious enthusiasm, a career built entirely around understanding luxury. Maybe it’s no coincidence that the people around him carry that same energy. From the moment I arrived, everyone genuinely seemed to want me there.
What got me most was François’ obvious pride in what they’d built. Having worked alongside Alan Faena from day one, he admitted that even he struggled to picture how it would all come together when he first saw the renderings. Tiger print, wild colour, surrealist art, traditional craftsmanship, contemporary design — how does that not become chaos?
And yet, somehow, it doesn’t.
His face genuinely lights up talking about it. Even knowing every corner of the hotel, there’s still a sense of wonder in his voice — like he’s a little bit captivated by it too.
True luxury isn’t just what surrounds you. It’s how a place makes you feel.
The Faena Effect
By the time I left, I kept coming back to that first feeling — walking in tired, carrying all the usual noise of everyday life, and something shifting almost instantly.
Maybe it was the mural. Maybe the warmth of the welcome, or the sheer riot of colour and art. Maybe it was the room wrapping itself around me, the ritual at Tierra Santa, the smoky simplicity of Mallmann’s cooking, or a night spent laughing and dancing at the Cabaret.
Honestly? It was all of it.
Alan Faena hasn’t built a hotel where art hangs on the walls, wellness lives downstairs, and entertainment starts after dinner. He’s let every element bleed into the next until you genuinely can’t tell where one experience ends and the next begins. Art becomes atmosphere. Wellness becomes hospitality. Dinner becomes theatre. And somehow, you become part of the performance too.
I arrived expecting to review a luxury hotel. I left realising Faena isn’t really about luxury in the traditional sense at all. It’s about emotion, a place beautiful enough to stop you in your tracks, warm enough to feel like home, surprising enough to keep you curious, joyful enough to make you forget, even briefly, whatever you walked in carrying.
Which brings me back to that first moment.
I walked through those doors tired.
I walked out lighter.
That’s the Faena Effect.
Hotel Website: Faena New York