I stayed at the HGI on 49th and 8th Avenue a few days before I stayed at this hotel on 28th between 6th and 7th Avenues. The Times Square area HGI is among the nicest in the group, so the comparison might be a bit unfair. That said, the Chelsea HGI is the weaker choice between the two, and feels like a budget hotel in ways the Times Square outpost avoids. (And to fellow reviewers of this hotel—I am really surprised at the positive nature of previous reviews. . .it was those reviews that prompted my stay on 28th St.)
For starters, the hotel’s location isn’t really Chelsea, but rather a few blocks north in a neighborhood far more convenient than it is fashionable. A few different lines of the subway are in either direction of the hotel, so getting around is very easy, and Macy’s is a six block walk. The immediate streets around the hotel are mostly wholesale jewelry, clothing, and floral stores with considerable activity along the sidewalk.
There is an attractive water feature in the lobby, which is rather small otherwise. Staff, like the one at the Times Square HGI, is cheerful and helpful. The hotel’s restaurant largely exists to serve breakfast—there is a buffet and made to order offerings. After the Pigalle breakfast in Times Square, this breakfast was a disappointment—a fairly standard hotel buffet. And it concludes at 10a during the week. Perhaps the GM here needs to do a field trip to the other hotel twenty blocks away for tips.
The building lets this hotel down, in a number of ways. The rooms are notably smaller than the HGI at Times Square, and really feel two star, down to the lack of a real closet. And the hotel’s elevators are downright annoying—there are only two of them for a building of over 20 floors. At peak periods, the elevators are far and few between—and packed. Worse, there appears not to be a service elevator—putting more pressure on the elevators. My first room was right near the ice machines--and those are quite loud.
This is not a bad hotel, just a disappointing one. The HGI in Times Square is a real find—this one merely gets the job done. And there are similar pricing issues here--the prevailing rate was over $300 a night during my stay. At those prices, this hotel is just not, NOT a good value.