Written by RuinMyTrip Editorial from published research and official sources, not from a personal trip. It is not a traveler review and is never counted in the community rating. How we research.
hotel · New York City
Two Hundred Square Feet, and More History Than Any Room in New York
Review of Hotel Chelsea
Been to New York City? This page needs you more than it needs us.
A first-hand review outranks desk research every time, and yours will sit above this one.
Share your experienceRooms at the Hotel Chelsea start small: the Petite Chelsea is a queen bed at 200 sq ft, about 19 sq m. Accessible rooms are larger, with a king bed at approximately 450 sq ft, and are booked by emailing the hotel rather than online. Nightly rates are not published as a fixed figure. The building on West 23rd Street housed Dylan Thomas, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, Janis Joplin and Sid Vicious, and spent a decade closed for a restoration that was widely expected to sand all of that away. It did not: the staircase, the ironwork and a good deal of the art survived. There is a lobby bar, El Quijote next door, and a Japanese restaurant in the building, which between them mean you need not leave in the evening.
What was great
A building with a genuine claim on twentieth-century culture, restored rather than gutted. The staircase and the lobby art. El Quijote, which reopened with the hotel and is worth a table on its own.
What nearly ruined the trip
Standard rooms are genuinely small at 200 sq ft. The history draws people who want to look rather than stay, so the lobby is busy. No published rates, and accessible rooms cannot be booked online at all.
Value for money
★★★☆☆ FairSafety
★★★★★ Felt safeWho is going to New York City?
Going soon? Add your dates. Anyone who posts overlapping dates later sees you, and you hear about it.
Looking for a travel buddy? Ask travelers a question What should tourists avoid? Post what went wrong on your trip See who is going
Questions from the RuinMyTrip team. Answer one and start the New York City conversation:
- One thing you wish you had known before going to New York City?
- What is overrated in New York City, and what is worth it instead?
- What went wrong on your New York City trip?
Nobody sees your dates until you post them, and nobody can message you until you say yes.
More from New York City
Comments
Start the conversation.