I know we’d been spoiled by getting to stay one night at the Park Hyatt New York, but our move to the Holiday Inn Manhattan 6th Ave-Chelsea for six nights was a big letdown.
We’d booked it as Shae’s mom and stepdad were joining us for the week, so we needed somewhere with two beds. Our friend Megan was also joining us for a couple of days, so we needed a room for her too, as very few hotels in Manhattan allow five people in a room. Those that do allow more than four people were prohibitively expensive.
We wanted to stay somewhere in Manhattan so that we wouldn’t have to ride in from Brooklyn, Long Island, New Jersey, etc. each day. The Holiday Inn Manhattan 6th Ave-Chelsea was the most affordable of all our hotel options, but there seems to be a reason for that.
Here’s a review of our six nights at the Holiday Inn Manhattan 6th Ave-Chelsea in New York.
Check-In
The problems began from the moment we arrived. There was a large group being checked in with only one person working at the front desk, so we took our place in line behind them.
At a couple of points, the front desk agent poked his head into the office behind to discuss something with a colleague. Despite someone being back there, no one came out to help him check in the now longer line of people.
After more than 10 minutes of waiting, the front desk agent was still working with the same group of people. Shae asked the bellhop if there was anyone who could come out to help, so he headed into that back office. When he came back out, he said he’d asked for someone to come out. However, he also shared that both he and the front desk agent had asked them to help several times and yet they still weren’t coming out.
Someone eventually came out after we’d been waiting for 15 minutes. When they opened the door, we saw there had been two people sitting back there who could’ve helped before then, but hadn’t. I’m not sure of the other person’s position, but the lady who helped us had a badge on saying she’s the hotel’s Front Desk Supervisor. We were therefore extremely surprised she’d made no effort to help up to that point, especially seeing as her colleagues had requested her help numerous times.
She shared that the hotel had been without water for four hours that afternoon, so our rooms wouldn’t be ready for another hour. As an apology, she said she’d provide free breakfast coupons for the following morning when we checked in later on.
We left our bags with the bellhop and went for a drink next door. We arrived back about 90 minutes later and our rooms were ready. Somewhat unsurprisingly, there weren’t any free breakfast coupons as promised. We just wanted to get to our room at that point though and so didn’t say anything.
Bedroom 1
As mentioned earlier, we’d booked two rooms – a room with 2 double beds for six nights for me, Shae, Shae’s mom and stepdad and a king bed room for Megan for two nights.
Our 2 double bed room (509) was tiny. I knew it would be small given that it’s Manhattan, but it was even smaller than expected.
On the positive side, the double beds were very comfortable. Shae and I are used to queen and king beds, but these double beds didn’t feel too cramped considering.
Almost directly in front of the beds were a narrow closet and dresser, with a TV on top of the dresser. The top shelf inside the closet hadn’t been cleaned for some time as there was a thick layer of dust.
In addition to the dust, the closet contained an iron, ironing board and hairdryer. Despite the closet having a rail inside, the hotel hadn’t bothered to provide any hangers.
To the left of the dresser was a desk and office chair. On top of the desk was a Keurig coffee maker and a few coffee pods.
Like I said, the room is really cramped. If four of you will be staying in one of these rooms, it won’t work if you have a lot of luggage as there’s not really anywhere to store it. We only had a small hand luggage-sized bag and laptop bag each and even that was too much.
The room’s thermostat also wasn’t great. When turning the temperature up, the heat wouldn’t always come on. When turning the temperature down and setting it to cool, it didn’t always cool. Then, when it did heat or cool, it remained on for far too long and the room ended up boiling hot or icy cold. That meant changing the thermostat again which swung the pendulum in the opposite direction.
Bathroom 1
When entering the bathroom, the small sink was on the left, with the toilet just beyond that.
The bathroom also had a walk-in shower which was an OK size considering how small the bedroom area was.
Even though it’s a room designed for four people, housekeeping had only left three bath towels, two wash cloths and three hand towels.
They’d also only left one bar of soap which was slightly unusual as most hotels provide two – one for the sink and one for the bath/shower.
Housekeeping was also inconsistent during our stay. It seemed they’d toss a coin or roll dice to decide what to leave us and how many of each item. Some days they’d leave no wash cloths, other days they’d leave 3-4. Some days they’d leave a couple of bath towels, other days they’d leave 4. Even the number of bars of soap and toiletry bottles differed by the day. Other times they didn’t bother leaving any toilet paper, so we had to go down to the front desk for more. After our first night, they took the shower mat and didn’t bother replacing it on any other day.
On our final night, we had the added pleasure of a leak coming from the room above us. The leak was directly above the toilet, so it meant we couldn’t use that for a while.
We called down to the front desk as soon as we noticed and, to their credit, they sent up a maintenance worker within a couple of minutes. He visited the room above and it turns out that they’d been showering with the door wide open and so their bathroom floor was covered in water.
The leak thankfully stopped shortly afterwards, but started again an hour or two later. We therefore called down to the front desk again and they sent maintenance back up to the room above us. Based on the paint on the ceiling, it looked like this wasn’t the first time this had happened, so apparently dumbass people who don’t know how to use a shower get put in room 609 at the Holiday Inn Manhattan 6th Ave-Chelsea!
Bedroom 2
Seeing as Megan was only visiting for a couple of days, she took the other room (505) and Shae joined her those nights. It contained a king bed and felt a little more spacious than our 2 double bed room.
Opposite the bed was a desk with coffee maker and a dresser with the room’s TV on top.
To the right of that was a closet and a short bench.
It seems like it’s luck of the draw as to what you’ll have in your closet at this hotel. Megan’s closet had an ironing board but no iron. She also had three hangers whereas we didn’t have any in ours, although she was missing a hairdryer which we had.
The closet had also seen better days as its door didn’t close.
Bathroom 2
Megan’s bathroom was also slightly different to ours as it contained a bathtub with shower rather than a walk-in shower.
Amenities
Given that space is at a premium in New York City, the Holiday Inn Manhattan 6th Ave-Chelsea has a limited number of amenities which is understandable.
There was a fitness room with a few pieces of equipment, weights and yoga items.
The fitness room can be found on the basement level, as can the business center which contained a couple of computers and a printer.
If you’re planning on doing any activities or shopping in Manhattan, take a trip down to the hotel’s business center. That’s because there’s a rack with little cards that offer discounts at various stores, restaurants and activities, like Macy’s and Dylan’s Candy Bar.
The hotel also has a restaurant and bar on the first floor. Shae and I didn’t use either of them, but her mom and stepdad ate breakfast in the restaurant one morning. They said the food was good and I think they said they paid about $10 each which, by New York hotel standards, is pretty decent.
Although they’re not what I’d class as an “amenity”, the elevators deserve a mention as they were awful. There are only two elevators and we’d sometimes have to wait five minutes or more for one to arrive. They’re also very small, so only 6-8 people could fit inside with no suitcases. There were times when an elevator would arrive but it was full of people, so we’d have to wait even longer for another.
The floors of the elevator also need to be repaired or replaced as the laminate is really uneven underfoot.
Pet-Friendliness
The Holiday Inn Manhattan 6th Ave-Chelsea is a pet-friendly hotel, although we didn’t bring Truffles with us this time. We ended up being glad about that as the room was tight enough with four people. It would’ve been even worse with her in there wanting to play ball but having no room to run.
The pet fee is $25 per night which isn’t too bad and they accept cats and dogs under 50 lbs. There’s no grass around the hotel, but it’s only a couple of blocks from Madison Square Park. We didn’t visit it, but the park apparently has a dog run, so that’s nice to have close by.
Service
As you’ve probably worked out from the review so far, service at the hotel wasn’t great. From the long wait when checking in to not receiving free breakfast coupons to inconsistent housekeeping, it was some of the worst service we’ve had so far on our 50 state road trip.
Having said that, the bellhop (Juan) was very friendly and helpful. The front desk also sent up maintenance very quickly when there was the roof leak in our bathroom.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi was free, although you had to sign in with either your name and room number or with an access code that was provided at check-in.
The internet speed was often slow. It was also frustrating as it disconnected every day, seemingly every 24 hours. That was annoying, but it seemed to take a while before we could reconnect at times. In addition to that, we had to reconnect our phones every time we returned to the hotel.
Location
Despite the issues with the hotel and service, its location was great. It’s in the Flatiron District and is only a short walk to several subway stations on 23 St and 28 St. There were numerous restaurants within walking distance, as well as a fairly good-sized grocery store.
Parking
We took the Greyhound bus up and flew back, so we didn’t have our car with us. The hotel offers discounted parking at a nearby parking lot for $33 per 24 hours for regular sized vehicles and $43 per 24 hours for SUVs and other oversized vehicles. This doesn’t include in and out privileges though.
For comparison, that same parking garage seems to charge $51 per 24 hours normally, so $33 through the hotel is a 35% discount.
Cost
We paid an average of $177.16 per night (including tax) for the 2 double bed room and an average of $154.40 per night for the 1 king bed room. Those were AAA rates which were marginally cheaper than our other options. Those prices were OK for Manhattan during our stay, but the quality of the hotel didn’t really warrant that cost.
On the plus side, I booked the rooms when a couple of shopping portals were offering 10% cashback. That’s paid on the pre-tax rate, but means we should get ~$115 back.
If we’d used points, we would’ve paid 50,000 points per night. I have a couple of different IHG credit cards, one which offers the 4th night free on award stays and one that gives a 10% rebate when redeeming points. Even taking that into account, using points for a stay at the Holiday Inn Manhattan 6th Ave-Chelsea would be terrible value, so please don’t do it.
Shae and I have Platinum status which means we get a 50% bonus on base points earned. We therefore earned 4,445 points for the king bed room for two nights which includes a 500 bonus point welcome amenity. The 2 double bed room for 6 nights earned us 13,620 points, although for some reason that room didn’t get us a 500 bonus point amenity.
Our stays also helped us complete a few tasks from IHG’s latest promotion. That triggered bonuses worth 63,400 points which helped mitigate some of our disappointment with the hotel.
Final Thoughts
Our stay at the Holiday Inn Manhattan 6th Ave-Chelsea was one of our most disappointing hotel stays in many years. The service wasn’t great (especially at check-in), the room was tiny (even by New York standards), the bathroom ceiling leaked, housekeeping was extremely inconsistent and the elevators took forever and were tiny.
It also seems to be pot luck as to what amenities you’ll have in your room. Maybe you’ll have a hairdryer, maybe not. You might want an iron, but there might not be one even if there’s an ironing board. Want to hang up your clothes? Good luck if there aren’t any hangers in your closet. Toilet paper? You might have to put in a special request at the front desk.
As Shae astutely observed, the Holiday Inn Manhattan 6th Ave-Chelsea offers hostel accommodation for hotel prices. So despite loving its location, we definitely wouldn’t stay at this hotel again when visiting New York City.
Our Rating
Room = 3 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 3 / 5
Food = 3.9 / 5 (based on Shae’s mom and stepdad’s experience)
Location = 4.4 / 5
Service = 2.3 / 5
Overall Value = 3.2 / 5
Total = 3.3 / 5
Address
Holiday Inn, 125 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001
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