GEM Hotel – Chelsea, an Ascend Hotel Collection Member
What We Love
- The work by local artists on display in the lobby
- The unbeatable location—everything from energetic nightlife to NY’s best bagels is around the corner
- The light-strung roof deck with its romantic city views
What To Know
- Free WiFi
- Ask for an inner room to cut down on street noise
- Rooms are petite, even for New York
- The fitness center is small but has several good machines
Amenities
- Bar
- Free WiFi
- Gym
- Handicap-accessible
- Parking On Site
Overview
The Lowdown
The combination of stellar location and reasonable rates make this Chelsea hotel one of the best deals in the city. Whether you’re an art nerd, a party-until-dawn type or a food snob, the neighborhood has a surfeit of cooler-than-cool options. Explore until you’re ready to drop, then head back to a compact and modern room, with white subway tile in the bathrooms and framed black-and-white silhouettes on the walls. The lobby is more colorfully chic, with patterned floor tiles and elongated yellow sofas that make a good place to relax with an espresso or a cocktail from the bar, which has a temptingly long daily happy hour from 4 to 8 pm. With its backlit shelves softly glowing, and blond wood stools lined up at the marble bar, this makes a great spot to pre-game before heading out on the town—or just heading back upstairs for a nap. No judgement.
In the Area
Staying in Chelsea is really spoiling yourself, since you can stuff yourself with delicious treats all day, then dance off the calories all night long. With the occasional cultural highlight in between, of course. The fabulous elevated gardens of the High Line are just an eight-minute walk away; you can snack at the vendors and cafes up here or grab one of the best bagels in New York from Murray’s Bagels, just across the street from the hotel. David Chang’s glorious fusion restaurant, Momofuku Nishi, is right on the other side of 8th Avenue; make time for dinner here. The world-class Whitney Museum of American Art is less than a mile southwest. If you want to go further afield, there’s a subway stop just a block from the hotel, and you can walk to Penn Station when you’re headed out of town.
How to Get There
Reviews
My family travels to NYC to visit my brother fairly frequently, but are always looking for some place to stay as the old standbys get more and more expensive, especially in the West Village. We stumbled upon the GEM in Chelsea and were not disappointed. Small, comfortable, and nicely furnished rooms at very reasonable prices. (Note: No more than two people to a room. We ended up getting two rooms for the three of us and it was still quite reasonable.) Friendly, efficient service. Pet free, which is getting harder & harder to find. We look forward to staying there on our next visit to the Big Apple.
This hotel is in a perfect spot, subway is close, the area is nice and quiet, restaurants everywhere, stores, landmarks close to it.
The room was a lil but as small as people described it, I traveled with one 2 suitcases and it was fine. The people at the reception wEre super friendly specially the lady in the front, she was my favorite.
Price was good. They had a coffee machine in the room, which was very convenient, my room was nice and clean, comfy beds.
We will come back. :-)
No bad feed back here, we were very happy at the hotel.
the location is good. that is really the best part of this hotel. it is SO noisy you feel like you are sleeping in the middle of 8th ave. the windows are definitely not in anyway soundproof. towels and soap need an upgrade. the staff is minimal. you can't even walk between the wall and the end of the bed without squishing sideways.
Very decent hotel in NYC at a reasonable price, which is different than many hotels in NYC, so that's why we used. Will do again in future possibly if going back to NYC for this area of the City on a business project.
I booked a room at this Hotel after a very good stay 5 years ago.
The hotel has completely changed and it's not what it used to be.
It is just SAD. I am not sure how else I could describe it, so I attached some pictures; check them out.
STAFF:
Both reception staff and bar staff treat customers more like an annoyance than a customer. At arrival we tried to be nice and break the ice but there was no response or smile; they ignored anything we said and just said "this is your key, 4th floor" and then started playing with their phones.
People at the bar and reception wear hoodies and dirty (DIRTY) t-shirts or clothes. There is hipster-scruffy, shabby-chick and there is dirty: I am talking about dirty.
I realised what I thought being a delivery man was actually the person at reception.
The staff at reception and at the bar would serve you while eating their hot-smelly meals from plastic takeaway boxes. I would assume the staff should eat their lunch somewhere else and not while behind behind the bar and serving people.
NO ATMOSPHERE and EMPTY:
Behind reception, for the whole 4 days of our stay, there were piles of boxes, cartons, toilet paper, full white bin bags and random stuff piled up. How can you welcome your guest like that?
There are glove boxes, tissue boxes and other random stuff at the bar, like if it is a kitchen of a cheap chinese takeaway shop that no one is supposed to see. The shelves where drinks and wines are supposed to be are empty; loos like someone has moved out and the bar emptied.
ROOMS: the amount of hair we found in the bathroom was outstanding.
Overall, for the price they charge, I would NOT stay again at this hotel whatsoever. I would rather pay half of it and stay in a nice hostel, as the atmosphere, rooms and service is comparable and the staff cannot be as bad.