We stayed at the Chelsea hotel last month for 4 days. I had always wanted to stay here as I am fascinated by the history and the art in this hotel. The art is amazing and I would recommend calling in to see it. The downside is that the hotel is severly run down. I found it such a shame that a hotel with this history has not maintained basic standards you would expect from a hotel such as a hairdryer, good air con and a room that is decorated properly. The walls had been paited over dozens of times and you could have easily kicked the door down.
I was dissapointed as I had e-mailed the hotel previously after reading some bad reviews and had expressed my concerns. The e-mail I received was quite sharp basically telling me that the hotel is not for everyone and if I didn't like it I should stay at a W hotel but they did say that my request had been noted.
When we arrived and was shown our room I called reception and asked to be moved. The guy on reception was very apologitic and he admitted that the hotel is not for everyone. I would point out that I am not a snob and I have stayed in worse places but I felt let down. The room we moved to was bigger and slightly better.
To be fair the rooms are clean and bigger than you would see in most New York hotels. The residents that live here really make the hotel. You could sit in the lobby all day and watch the many different characters pass by. We even saw Matthew Modine in the lift!!
If this hotel had a facelift to the rooms whilst still maintaing the history and character of the hotel I would come back . Other than that I would give it a miss to stay but definetly call in to walk the corridors.
hotel reviews