Four Points By Sheraton Manhattan Chelsea Rating: 3.0 Pearls

Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City

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Though situated on an industrial, garage-loaded street, Four Points Chelsea is also located between 6th and 7th Avenues, which offer a wide variety of shops and restaurants. Plus, Four Points is just one block east from the famous Upright Citizen's Brigade Theatre (for improv comedy), one block north from the famous Chelsea Hotel, and a few blocks east from rows among rows of the contemporary art galleries which distinguish the neighborhood.

Many elements of the West Village culture -- the gay clubs, art galleries, and trendy restaurants -- have migrated north to the bordering neighborhood of Chelsea over the past decade. Chelsea is now the center of both Manhattan's gay community and, with some 350 art galleries, New York's contemporary art scene.

• Two blocks to the 1 subway line; three blocks to the F, V, C, and E lines; four blocks to the R and W lines; six blocks to the 6 line -- easy access anywhere in the city
• 25-minute subway ride to Central Park
• 15-minute subway ride to Times Square
• 10-minute subway ride to the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center
• 20-minute subway ride to the ferry terminal to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
• 20-minute subway ride to the American Museum of Natural History
• 35-minute subway ride to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the "Met") and a 15-minute subway ride to the Museum of Modern Art (the "MoMA")

A Traditional Room

• Comfortable bedding
• Desk or workspace in all rooms
• Coffeemaker with Seattle’s Best Coffee
• 37-inch flat-screen TV
• Electronic safe, large enough for a laptop
• Traditional and deluxe rooms start at about 200 square feet -- that's small, but still average for a New York hotel room in this price range.
• Exclusive rooms start at 215 square feet and offer the same basic amenities as Traditional and deluxe rooms -- not much of an upgrade.
• Chelsea Suites start at 220 square feet -- very small, by suite standards -- but they have full-length glass doors that open out onto a semiprivate balcony with a separate seating area with leather furniture and an additional 42-inch flat-screen TV.
• Unfortunately, neither the Exclusive Rooms nor the Chelsea Suites offer a "thick terry robe" or a CD player, as advertised on the hotel’s website.

New York has three nearby airports: JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark (in New Jersey). Getting to town from JFK or LaGuardia is usually more convenient than getting there from Newark, but travel times are heavily dependent on the time of day and traffic conditions. From JFK, a taxi to anywhere in Manhattan costs a flat rate of $45 and takes around an hour in average conditions. From LaGuardia, a metered cab ride to midtown Manhattan costs about $40 and can take 30 minutes if traffic is light, three times that if it's bad. Rides from Newark cost at least $40 (plus tolls) and can take more than 90 minutes. It's customary to tip your driver 15 to 25 percent.

Those looking to save some cash can use the privately run shuttle buses that are available at all three airports for about $14 per person. For more information on the shuttles, go to Super Shuttle or New York Airport Service. Public transit is also available for as little as $7 per person, but travel can take up to two hours and involve a lot of lugging bags up and down stairways.

For mass-transit directions right to the hotel, check out HopStop.com.