Courtyard by Marriott New York Manhattan/Chelsea — Hotel in New York

I booked this hotel based on its location to Penn Station (easy access to Newark airport) and some of the glowing reviews. I was extremely disappointed. Really, really disappointed. With 1 more night this year (it's May) I will quality for platinum status in Marriott Bonvoy - and I've been at least gold status for the last 20 years in each of Marriott and Starwood- and therefore know a thing or two about hotels, and the Marriott group of hotels. Without a doubt, this was the most disappointing property I've ever stayed in within this chain. During the stay we had 4 different rooms. We'd booked a suite, and saw 2 of those. These were both grim. The "suite" part of the room was gloomy with old dated furniture, filthy looking carpet, seating for 2 or 3 people (a filthy looking 1.5 person sofa, a filthy looking cushion seat with no arms, and a desk chair) - useless for a room supposedly for up to 4 people to relax and watch TV. That room itself was SO unpleasant, that you just didn't even want to be in there. There was no hanging hooks for towels - this had to be via draping them over open wardrobe doors in the bedroom (2 doors = 2 towels, the other towels go where?), the bathroom had a double sink (all well and good, but the space between the sink and the wall was about 18 inches meaning you had to shimmy your way up to the end sink and then were blocked in; bend over to brush your teeth and your butt hits the wall - I'd never seen such poor design in a hotel room let alone a "suite"), plus a genius design of putting a glass door that was positioned right in front of the toilet so that everyone could see you using the toilet. Add to that, the elevators, which didn't seem to run mechanically smoothly, made loud noises all night. Our first "suite" wrapped around 3 lift shafts. Rather insultingly, at reception the first morning, I was told people "like that suite". I've heard some rubbish in my life, but that takes the cake. We were moved to another "suite", with the same grim carpet, same useless old furniture, but this one had a proper sink, a glass door that didn't face the toilet, and towel hooks.... but alas.. those dreaded elevators. The manager was wonderful, and took the problem to hand, and we were assigned 2 interconnecting rooms away from the elevators. Although this awful carpet was still present, this was a much better experience, and I have to thank her for doing her best to fix the problem for us, and salvage our stay. Profuse thanks to her. Unfortunately though, someone else would be assigned those grim "suite" rooms and be told they are wonderful. If you are booking this hotel, then all I can do is recommend that you get a room as far from the elevators as possible, do not bother with a suite as the living rooms are so unpleasant that you just will sit on your bed to be away from it (which rather defeats the purpose of having a suite). My best advice though, is to steer clear of this property until it has a total refurbishment. Such as shame as the location is very handy to many places you want to visit, multiple subway lines and Penn Station for...

I recently brought my granddaughter and two of my sons to NYC for a family reunion. Because of an issue with another reservation, we had to switch to the Courtyard Manhattan/Chelsea just a couple of weeks before our trip. I wasn't expecting much, as most of the Courtyards I had stayed at previously were nothing special. From the minute we arrived we had one pleasant surprise after another. First of all, there is a beautiful jeweled wall behind the front desk area that is very visually appealing, and that theme is continued throughout the hotel. The hotel staff could not have been more friendly and helpful. The bell staff was very nice. The manager found us a room early, knowing how tired we were from traveling on a red-eye from California all night. My son's girlfriend got a brush stuck in her hair and couldn't get it out, and when we went to the front desk to ask for a scissors, the young woman took her into a private area and worked on loosening the brush as much as possible so that she didn't have to cut off that whole chunk of hair. Definitely above and beyond! The Starbucks in the lobby is open early and has the nicest staff -- friendly, fast and courteous. My granddaughter said they made her Caramel Frappuccino better than any she's ever had :-)) Our room was clean, roomy enough for the 4 of us, and the beds were very comfortable with high-grade linens. I did not feel that this was a step down from a regular Marriott at all. The location was perfect -- right across from a police station (for anyone with issues about staying in NYC), and close to lots of restaurants, subways, and sightseeing. The walls were soundproof, because we were right next to the elevator and never heard it. There is a beautiful Catholic church less than a block down, so we were able to attend Mass on Sunday. We had some last minute attendees coming to the reunion, and since I made the name badges I had to print some more. The hotel actually has a self-serve business center where I was able to print them for free. I will definitely stay at this location on my next trip...

This is one of the worst hotel experiences I have had on four different continents, a dozen cities, and especially the worst I've ever had in NYC. You are simply are not getting any value for your money here. I do not typically stay in heavily touristed areas when in NY, but we had friends from Minneapolis in town who chose this hotel, and we thought the Marriott name carried some esteem. We were wrong.

Aside from the front desk clerks, housekeeping staff, and the man who looked after our luggage, the staff was the rudest I have ever encountered. This is especially true of the male staff, and one man in uniform in particular who was working on your right elevator bay. This man was riding the elevator up and down and instead of placing a sign on the front that it was under maintenance, he would wait until guests CRAMMED themselves into the space before mumbling inaudibly, "could you please use another elevator?" He would repeat this phrase in a monotone, bare minimum voice level until enough people heard him and left. Absolutely unacceptable.

To make matters worse, the elevators were unoperational to the point that a serious overhaul of the system is needed. For the traffic that comes through this area of town, there is no way that elevator, with its broken bay and an outdated and SLOW system, will be able to accommodate for much longer. After our first two attempts at using it, we took the stairs for the remainder of our trip, quite literally exiting through an old hallway an into the garbage and recycling alley of the hotel just to avoid having to use that terrible elevator. If we'd been placed any higher than the first five floors, this would have been a major inconvenience, especially when we had to bring our luggage back downstairs to check out.

No dining options, no actual hotel bar (the neighboring Dewey's is decent but there's no interior access point) and bare-minimum service make me believe this Marriott will not be around...