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To Stay or Not To Stay at the Chelsea Hotel?

A reader from Germany writes:

hello!

my father-in-law and me will visit ny in april.
he has been to ny over 30 times in the past 20 years for jazz events.
he never got the chance to stay at the chelsea.
now i would like to surprise him, but after all i heard and read about
new management i can not arrange with my point of view to book a regular
room. i do not want to help on the management with its ideas and ideology.

could you kindly answer following question:
is there any chance to rent a room or suite without spending money at BD?

would be the biggest surprise for the last ny visit of my father-in-law.

thank you,

greets from hamburg/germany,

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5 responses to “To Stay or Not To Stay at the Chelsea Hotel?”

  1. Forget It Avatar
    Forget It

    Dear Hamburg:
    Sorry to say, you should stay away from the Chelsea — at least for right now. The hotel has lost much of its former charm and character and the entire building seems like some kind of prison camp. The staff are almost universally rude and most know nothing about the building.
    With any luck, the Bard family will be rightfully reinstated and the Chelsea will return to its former glory very soon God willing.
    You should enjoy your trip to New York so stay somewhere else!

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  2. Ask For Bard Avatar
    Ask For Bard

    A cardboard box hovering over a steam grate on the Lower East Side would be more hospitable, Hamburg, than the Chelsea Hotel is at this moment. Sorry. But if you do call, be sure to ask for Bard. They just love that.

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  3. Miss H Avatar
    Miss H

    It would be nice if a way could be found to give his jazz-loving father this special thing, a stay at the Chelsea made legendary by jazz greats and Stanley Bard, without putting the money into the pockets of Krauss and Elderm destroyers of same. Surely someone has a spare room they could rent cheaply to someone who truly loves the hotel?

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  4. Pantywaiste or Waste of Panties? Avatar
    Pantywaiste or Waste of Panties?

    Maybe not the best timing to visit the Chelsea — our so-called “Manager” Andrew Tilley is chewing the place up and spitting it out on 23rd Street for the sanitation workers to lug away. So the only upside to the rude service you’ll receive at check-in is that you can pull an actual piece of the Hotel’s history from the garbage. Antique solid-wooden doors, anyone? Tilley even cut them all in half so they’ll fit right in your checked luggage.

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  5. Lyn Avatar
    Lyn

    A friend of mine just stayed at the St. Marks Hotel, nothing to brag about, but she said it was clean and cheap. She is an emergency room RN, has enough money to stay in upscale hotels, however, wanted the off the beaten path experience. She decided not to stay at the Chelsea simply because it was overpriced and a buzz kill as of late. PLEASE! BRING BACK THE BARDS!

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