Holiday Inn Manhattan 6th Ave - Chelsea by IHG

From my experience, this is a very standard "second-tier" Midtown hotel. The room is small, yes, but it's exactly the same as what you'll get at any other old (1920s-1950s built) Midtown hotel in this class. Many other said they had issues getting their security deposits refunded. I didn't. But also, the stay was booked on points. Not saying it isn't an issue for others, just that I can't confirm it happened to me. Another common complaint is slow elevators. This also wasn't an issue for me, but with the important caveat that my stay was a Sunday night in late winter when occupancy was low (I'm assuming, based on how cheap hotel rates were throughout Midtown compared to adjacent nights). I can definitely see how there would be a long wait for elevators at times, especially in the morning. Unfortunately, that too is very common for this age and class of hotel in Midtown. If the hotel is busy, you're likely to experience elevator congestion at any similar hotel. Good things to consider: the rear rooms on the upper floors have a great view of the Empire State Building, if that's your thing. 26th Street is substantially quieter/less hectic than anywhere north of 34th St, but still very centrally located with multiple subway stops very close by, and a short walk from Penn Station.

My wife and I stayed for a week. We booked a king room on the 7th floor. There's no fridges or microwaves in the rooms. You need to call for a fridge to be delivered and installed and use a communal microwave. I would suggest paying the higher fees for city views. After two days, Than and Steven were amazing and upgraded us to the 19th floor with a view when all we really wanted was some natural light. Unless you have a room on the front of the building, any low level room will be a cave. Getting a room on the 18th floor or higher ending in 08 or 09, (example, 1808, 1908, 1809, 1909 etc.) will be double queens with stunning views of the empire state building and other uptown sights. Every time I had an issue, Steven was awesome and acted quickly. From an extra pillow, to later check out times, the room upgrade to giving me a razor to shave, the guy was on point every time. Location is great, service is top tier, the only downside was the low level rooms. I was glad to get out of our old room but felt bad for anyone who has to stay in the caves the whole duration. Pay for the upgrade. A lot of people complain about elevators in these reviews, we've been to NYC many times. The people giving negative reviews on elevator speeds need to get their faces out of their phones and stop acting like every second counts. Make connections with the other patrons. It's an IHG hotel in NYC, you get what you pay for. If you're entitled about things like elevator speed and having every demand met, go uptown.

Overall the Hotel experience was great. Rooms were cleaned every day, check in and out was easy and they were able to hold our bags for us a few hours after check out. Our only problem was receiving our security deposit back. We have still not received our security back after countless calls to the hotel and having left over three weeks ago. Our room was spotless when we left and nothing had been broken or taken. We have talked to the hotel and they have acknowledged that our room had no damages to it. If this is not resolved soon I will be taking further action to the corporate office and legal action if it gets to that point.

Soumia was awesome -- very kind and thoughtful check-in and check-out, especially with our infant. The rooms were good, but bathroom door made it hard to go in and out. There were people smoking on our non-smoking floor which we reported.

Rooms size is okay if small, bathroom was the same. Fourth floor with no view but that's not the hotels fault, thats city living. A/c was quiet and worked well. No kettle? Coffee maker but no sugar or milk? No fridge that I could see which was a bit disappointing. Staff friendly enough but obviously quite overworked. Gym was a bit rubbish so I didn't use it. GOOD location with LOADS of easy food options available so that makes up for all the other downsides. There's a decent supermarket a two minute walk away and very close cafes. Overall, despite a couple of missed opportunities, it's a good, convenient and well located hotel close to what you will need. My personal recommendation is the Metro Cafe for their hot bar and burgers.