Holiday Inn Manhattan 6th Ave - Chelsea by IHG — Hotel in New York

My partner and I stayed for 4 nights and this was our first time visiting NYC. We want to come back in the winter and we will 100% stay at this hotel again!!! It’s budget friendly while still being clean, comfortable, and nice.

The rooms are alot smaller than we’re used to, but this is also common in NYC. We weren’t surprised by this as we had done our research before travelling. The room was spacious enough for us, but there is a lack of counter space and drawers so we mostly lived out of our suitcases. We each brought two carry on styled bags, and anything more than this would feel cramped. The washroom is small and can be a tight squeeze. The housekeeping was great, and our room was cleaned everyday in addition to being very clean in general. We had our towels replaced everyday without asking, the garbages in our room were always changed and our washroom supplies were always refilled. During our stay, it was typically 30+ degrees with max humidity, but our room AC was great. You can change the temperature to what you like and choose to have constant fanning. We were never too hot during our stay! The only reason why I give 4 stars is because our room didn’t have a fridge, so our food / refreshments were always warm, the bathroom is small, and there is some wear and tear on the room (such as our bathroom door not closing all the way) despite the hotel recently undergoing renovations. However, the room had a large and great working TV with good channels. My sports fanatic partner was more than satisfied! The hallways are smaller than what we’re used to and there were only a few rooms on our floor, but there’s also less foot traffic, which we enjoyed! We never heared any noise from the rooms next to us. The bed was also super comfy as well!

The area where the hotel is located feels very safe. We never once felt in danger from folks on the street nor when walking back late at night. We often came back at 10pm, and once at 1am. We even walked down a few blocks to get some pizza at 2am and had no issues. We always felt safe here which was a huge plus for us. Location wise, it’s great! It’s close to the subway system which we used to go to midtown, uptown, downtown, and a Mets game at Citi field. It’s a 20 minute walk to Times Square, and we often walked this route as it was super simple (mostly going straight) Despite NYC being loud, we NEVER heard a sound in our room and we always had a quiet sleep. The hotel is located near a pharmacy, 7/11, cheap pizza slices, food trucks, fast food, coffee, and some pubs. We had more than enough selection for a quick bite. There’s also many stores nearby for souvenir’s, phone chargers, and small things like that. We also found the area to be tourist friendly! More than once, if locals spotted us looking confused, they pointed us in the right direction to the subway entrances / locations we were looking for. We learned on this trip that New Yorkers get a bad rep, as all of our interactions have been pleasant and we found locals to be so friendly and curious, but they just like to keep to themselves.

I’ve read some reviews about the elevators being slow before we arrived. At times when foot traffic was busy there was a wait, but this never exceeded 10 minutes for us being on the top floor. Even then, I never waited long to get on an elevator, it was mostly waiting to go through the floors and stops since we were at the top.

The hotel breakfast is not very good as its bagels, bananas, apples, granola bars, yogurt, small muffins, coffee, and cookies. The fridge for juice looked dirty and things were just thrown in there and piled up. However, it’s a complimentary breakfast and the hotel restaurant is closed for renovations right now. We prefer eating out anyway so it didn’t affect us.

Lastly, the staff and hotel GM Jonathan were all amazing. They were so helpful, and ensured we had the room / view we requested for our stay. They were always so pleasant with us when asking questions. We booked through the IHG app 5 months ago and there were no issues with our booking or...

My family and I recently stayed at the Holiday Inn on West 26th Street in Chelsea, and overall, we had a very positive experience. This hotel offers solid value for travelers looking for a central location, helpful staff, and comfortable accommodations.

Check-In and Service We were greeted with excellent service upon arrival. Asif at the front desk was outstanding—he acknowledged my IHG Rewards status and honored my request for a city-view room, even upgrading us. We were thrilled to later discover that our view also gave us a perfect angle to watch the July 4th fireworks over Staten Island—an unexpected highlight that saved us from battling crowds in Lower Manhattan.

Room and Amenities The room felt a bit compact, and I was initially disappointed that it lacked a microwave and mini fridge, which are becoming standard in many hotels. That said, the hotel provides microwaves, vending machines, and ice on the 4th and 15th floors. I especially liked the nugget-style ice on the 4th floor. Adding compact fridges to guest rooms would be a great improvement, especially for those staying more than a couple nights. We managed without one, though we did rely on vending machines for cold drinks, which added to our costs a bit.

Another thing to keep in mind is the elevator situation. The hotel has 25 floors and only two small elevators. With 9–10 rooms per floor, wait times can be long when the hotel is full, so a little patience is required.

Room Layout and Temperature Control In rooms with two beds—like ours—one bed is placed right next to the wall-mounted AC unit. This affected the unit’s ability to regulate temperature. The room was often either too cold or too warm depending on when the unit turned on. I recommend the hotel install remote thermostat sensors to improve climate control, particularly during warmer months.

Maintenance and Engineering We had a maintenance issue early in our stay with a very slow-draining bathroom sink. Nick from the engineering team came up promptly, unclogged it, and it worked perfectly the rest of the week. His quick response was appreciated.

Dining and Breakfast The hotel offers a breakfast buffet for $20 per person, which may be convenient for some guests. However, with so many nearby and more affordable options, we chose to eat elsewhere daily. It’s easy to find great food in the area for much less.

Nearby Food Options There are several budget-friendly restaurants within a 5-minute walk:

Emperor Dumplings – excellent Chinese food at great prices

Sunac Fancy Food & Grocery – full deli, breakfast, and hot bar ($12.99/lb during weekdays)

Chains like Dunkin’, McDonald's, Starbucks, and Chipotle

Hill Country BBQ – tasty and authentic, but more of a splurge

These spots made quick meals easy and affordable throughout our stay.

Location and Neighborhood The hotel’s location is quite central—within walking distance to Penn Station, the High Line, and subway access. We never felt unsafe, though we did see some homeless individuals nearby (common in many parts of NYC). We avoided eye contact and kept walking, and at night we tried to walk in areas with other pedestrians.

The hotel is about an 8- to 10-minute walk to the nearest subway or bus stop. Since we were in town for seven days, we bought unlimited MetroCards, which saved us money and made getting around Manhattan much easier.

Final Thoughts Despite a few small drawbacks, our stay was comfortable and enjoyable. The fantastic service from Asif and the quick help from Nick stood out and helped make our visit stress-free. The views from upper city-facing rooms are great, the location is convenient, and the area has lots of affordable dining choices. With minor upgrades—like adding mini fridges and improving the AC setup—this hotel could go from good to great. We would gladly stay here again on a future trip to...

To have a staff that seems that miserable to be there must be awful. Of all the staff members we came across from our stay (22nd-28) only 2 provided service worthy of naming. Destiny at check in, (thank you for explain hotel amenities and looking like you were there to give service to the hotels clients. Amarilis in housekeeping.. great service, great attitude and excellent job work cleaning our room. As a representative of the hotel, as an employee getting paid to service IHG/Holiday Inn clientele, there’s an expectation that comes with keeping you onboard and to keep paying you. That expectation is that you provide good/great service, be dependable, trustworthy, have empathy for others and be available. You are the face of this company and you are the ones who will influence the experiences we have and the reputation this establishment will create. So to leave me with a very bad taste in my mouth and to want to leave a review this long and details takes a lot. I rarely write bad reviews unless it’s absolutely a terrible experience. This was horrible. To the young lady who worked the front desk the last two days, you are horrible at what you do. I’d name her but neither day was she wearing a name badge (light skin with medium straight hair). We called her 3 times to ask If we could have housekeeping yesterday to bring towels and to pick up our trash at 9 am. She said we should have told them when we saw them but she will try and see what she can do. 1 pm 4 bags of trash still in the hallway and no towels we call back. She tells us that we already called once and what we should do is to go look for housekeeping ourselves through each floor cause she was busy. What? Are you kidding me? No one came and tried to clean our room and we didn’t the do not disturb sign up. 4 pm, trash still there and still no towels or sign of housekeeping and now there is dirty linen on our floor right by our room and there past 11pm. We saw house keeping several times on as elevator doors would open and they were on phones about 5 of them together chatting. Meanwhile no one on our floor and no towels and dirty linens on mine. Again, props to Amarilis! You can tell she was gone and the days she was there I’d see her hustling and always doing something. Then to call downstairs for anything was always attitude and in person service from front desk terrible. Today I went down to ask if we can get a late checkout and your representative didn’t look up or acknowledge me as she answered my question. We travel a lot and this was probably the most out of touch staff at a hotel we have ever experienced. They would congregate in the back seating area and on their phones and be talking and gossiping. Terrible experience. Considering this hotel lacks some better amenities and have very small rooms at least make people not feel like their business appreciated. Make the experience a good one to offset the few disadvantages and smile. Say please and thank you. Look like you appreciate having your job. We will never come here again and I will be contacting corporate. What a waste of our time and money. What a waste of your money to have people like this on your payroll. I have photos with timestamps on both the trash and the linen taken throughout the day for proof that it was...