Courtyard by Marriott New York Manhattan / Chelsea

I could walk all over Midtown during Christmas week and hardly needed the subway, so the location was the highlight. The rooms felt new, were clean, and were a comfortable size for NYC. It’s a decent, safe, convenient hotel for the price. A couple of small drawbacks: they give you bar soap instead of liquid hand soap, there’s no lotion, and the lobby is quite small. There is a comfortable seating area behind it for guests, though.

We stayed with family for a night. The rooms were clean and well kept, and there are lots of restaurants nearby. The area felt mostly safe, though a bit sketchy at night, with a police precinct right across the street. It’s easy to reach the train station and transit hub. I contacted the hotel through the Bonvoy app to request double beds, and they accommodated us, possibly even upgrading us. There wasn’t much of a view, and this was the most expensive Marriott stay we’ve had compared with places outside the city. Breakfast costs extra and was pricey, but that worked out because we got to try pop-up bagels instead.

The location worked well for us, less than a five-minute walk from MSG and other nearby spots. Our room was clean and stayed that way, and the staff were helpful and nice. We could even check in a little early. Breakfast isn’t included, but they did have complimentary hot chocolate and cookies. I’ll definitely make this my usual hotel when I’m in NY.

The people here were so kind throughout the stay, even the housekeeping staff I ran into in the halls. We had a great week, and our group decided on the drive home that this will be our hotel whenever we come to the city. Greta hotel, great people. Miguel was the MVP. I have about 30 nights of Marriott stays on my record as a Silver Elite Bonvoy member, so I’ve got fairly high standards. This place absolutely exceeded them. I went to the desk the night before to ask about staying another night in a room with two beds, but they were all booked. I wanted to keep us in the same room, though moving wasn’t a big deal since it was last minute. Miguel suggested I reserve a different room type on the app to be safe, so I switched to a king suite. Two days later, when I came to check in for the king room, Miguel was at the desk. He told me he had good news. We’d only spoken for about five minutes, and I was half in cosplay for NYCC, so I was surprised he even remembered me. Then he handed me a new key card: not only had we got a double-bed room again, we could stay in the same room for that extra night. The three of us got so excited upstairs that we were jumping around and chanting “MIGUEL! MIGUEL!” They really do what they can to help. What a great stay, and thank you for an amazing week!