Hotel Chelsea

Hotel Chelsea

Check in opens at three in the afternoon, and by then the lobby's television and reception desk are already busy with guests heading out toward 23rd Street, close enough to the Women's Liberation Center that a subway map feels optional. Ten floors hold 155 rooms, and the spread between them is real: a 220 square foot Chelsea Petite Small Double Room built for one suitcase and an early flight, a Chelsea Petite Small Queen Room close behind it, and a nearly 800 square foot Chelsea King Suite with its own mirror, safe and toiletries. The Standard King Room comes wheelchair accessible, and the restaurant itself has step free access built in rather than bolted on later. This suits people who want a spa, sauna and gym under the same roof as their bed, a concierge who can book a table and a tour without three phone calls, and staff who switch languages without being asked twice; it will not suit anyone hunting a stripped back boutique, since the list, babysitting, a conference hall, dry cleaning, laundry, tour assistance, reads closer to a small resort than a corner hideaway. Bring the dog if there is one: pets are allowed, on a stretch of Manhattan where plenty of comparable hotels nearby still say no. Extra beds run 35 dollars a night if the party grows, and a 75 dollar daily deposit covers the room at check in. Check out is noon, which still leaves a full morning to walk the same streets the hotel already pointed you toward. Hotel Chelsea has 155 rooms across ten floors near 23rd Street, a spa, sauna and gym, and a wheelchair accessible King Room. Dogs are welcome, unlike at many neighbors. Choose the Chelsea Petite Small Double Room to travel light or the Chelsea King Suite to spread out.