Pros

  • Room rates are relatively inexpensive by NYC standards
  • Near art galleries and many affordable restaurants and bars
  • Lobby bar for coffee, wine, and beer
  • One block from subway
  • Free Wi-Fi in every room
  • 24-hour fitness center
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Cons

  • Small rooms, even by New York standards
  • No restaurant or room service
  • No full-time concierge
  • No business center
See More Cons

Bottom Line

This budget 81-room hotel offers a convenient downtown New York location and proximity to Chelsea's art galleries and eclectic restaurants. Guests love the rates and accept the trade-offs: minimal services and smaller-than-average standard rooms.

See More Bottom Line

Amenities

  • Cribs
  • Fitness Center
  • Internet

Oyster Hotel Review

The GEM Hotel Chelsea

Scene

This clean, budget property, conveniently located in Chelsea, serves everyone from college grads to seniors. 

Smack in the middle of Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, this hotel attracts budget-seekers of all stripes: recent college grads, artists looking to survey the neighborhood's hundreds of galleries, groups of girlfriends in town for a shopping spree, mature solo tourists, thirtysomething couples on a weekend getaway. All are looking for (and getting) the same thing: a clean, relatively inexpensive room in a convenient location, plus a few modestly luxurious touches like flat-screen TVs, rainfall showerheads, iHome clock radios with iPod docks, and fresh orchids in the hallways. At these prices, some sacrifices are to be expected: The rooms are small, even for New York, and there's no dedicated concierge, room service, or on-site restaurant. But as a place to lay your head for a few nights, it can often be a solid deal.

See More Scene

Location

On a pretty, residential block of 22nd Street, with Chelsea's famous art galleries and choice restaurants just a short walk away

Right in the heart of Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, Gem enjoys the best of both worlds -- it's on a quiet, residential stretch of 22nd Street inhabited by lovely old brownstones, but just around the corner from bustling 8th Avenue with its eclectic selection of mid-priced restaurants and bars (many with sidewalk seating in the summer).

Running from 14th Street to 34th Street on Manhattan's westside, the largely residential neighborhood of Chelsea is the center of both Manhattan's gay community and, with some 350 art galleries, New York's contemporary art scene. (Just two blocks west of the hotel, the art galleries start.) Chelsea is also a convenient midway point between downtown and midtown -- the West Village is just two subway stops down, and the Empire State Building just one subway stop up.

  • Three subway lines (the A, C, E) are just one block away.
See More Location

Rooms

Rooms start at 135-square-foot -- but at this price, with free Wi-Fi and coffeemakers, the Gem's ideal for a cheap weekend in the city.

The standard rooms are, at 135 square feet, distinctly small even for a New York hotel room. There's virtually no room to store luggage, as the eight-inch wide side table and small white laminate wardrobe can't hold much. This is a great place to rest your head after a day exploring the city and that's about it -- most guests know this and treat it as such, leaving early in the morning and not returning till night.

  • Business-class room reach 195-square-foot and have a full-size desk
  • One-cup coffeemakers have Wolfgang Puck coffee
  • Waffle-knit robes
  • 32-inch flat-screen TV
  • Free Wi-Fi
  • Rainfall showerhead
  • Hairdryer
  • Gilchrist & Soames bath products
  • Comfy bed -- poly-cotton blend sheets are helped by a pillow-top Serta Sleeper with additional pillow top covering, a down duvet, and down pillows.
See More Rooms

Features

Lobby bar, free Wi-Fi, and a modest fitness center

  • A marble-topped lobby bar serves coffee, wine, and beer
  • Free Wi-Fi in the lobby and the rooms
  • 24-hour gym
See More Features

Family

With small rooms and no rollaways, cribs, or sofa sleepers, the Gem isn't really a sensible place to bring kids.

Not family-friendly in any meaningful way. It would be virtually impossible to squeeze more than two people into a room here, even if the other bodies are small. The hotel doesn't offer cribs or rollaways -- they wouldn't fit in the rooms. And the location, while convenient to many parts of the city, doesn't offer much for kids (unless they're really into art).

See More Family

Things You Should Know About The GEM Hotel Chelsea

Also Known As

  • The Gem Hotel Chelsea
  • The Gem Hotel
  • The GEM Hotel - Chelsea

Room Types

  • Business Room
  • Penthouse Suite
  • Queen Room
  • Standard Room

Address

300 W 22nd St, 22nd Street & 8th Avenue, New York City, New York 10011-2602, United States

Phone

(212) 675-1911

Oyster Hotel Review

The GEM Hotel Chelsea

Scene

This clean, budget property, conveniently located in Chelsea, serves everyone from college grads to seniors. 

Smack in the middle of Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, this hotel attracts budget-seekers of all stripes: recent college grads, artists looking to survey the neighborhood's hundreds of galleries, groups of girlfriends in town for a shopping spree, mature solo tourists, thirtysomething couples on a weekend getaway. All are looking for (and getting) the same thing: a clean, relatively inexpensive room in a convenient location, plus a few modestly luxurious touches like flat-screen TVs, rainfall showerheads, iHome clock radios with iPod docks, and fresh orchids in the hallways. At these prices, some sacrifices are to be expected: The rooms are small, even for New York, and there's no dedicated concierge, room service, or on-site restaurant. But as a place to lay your head for a few nights, it can often be a solid deal.

See More Scene

Location

On a pretty, residential block of 22nd Street, with Chelsea's famous art galleries and choice restaurants just a short walk away

Right in the heart of Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, Gem enjoys the best of both worlds -- it's on a quiet, residential stretch of 22nd Street inhabited by lovely old brownstones, but just around the corner from bustling 8th Avenue with its eclectic selection of mid-priced restaurants and bars (many with sidewalk seating in the summer).

Running from 14th Street to 34th Street on Manhattan's westside, the largely residential neighborhood of Chelsea is the center of both Manhattan's gay community and, with some 350 art galleries, New York's contemporary art scene. (Just two blocks west of the hotel, the art galleries start.) Chelsea is also a convenient midway point between downtown and midtown -- the West Village is just two subway stops down, and the Empire State Building just one subway stop up.

  • Three subway lines (the A, C, E) are just one block away.
See More Location

Rooms

Rooms start at 135-square-foot -- but at this price, with free Wi-Fi and coffeemakers, the Gem's ideal for a cheap weekend in the city.

The standard rooms are, at 135 square feet, distinctly small even for a New York hotel room. There's virtually no room to store luggage, as the eight-inch wide side table and small white laminate wardrobe can't hold much. This is a great place to rest your head after a day exploring the city and that's about it -- most guests know this and treat it as such, leaving early in the morning and not returning till night.

  • Business-class room reach 195-square-foot and have a full-size desk
  • One-cup coffeemakers have Wolfgang Puck coffee
  • Waffle-knit robes
  • 32-inch flat-screen TV
  • Free Wi-Fi
  • Rainfall showerhead
  • Hairdryer
  • Gilchrist & Soames bath products
  • Comfy bed -- poly-cotton blend sheets are helped by a pillow-top Serta Sleeper with additional pillow top covering, a down duvet, and down pillows.
See More Rooms

Features

Lobby bar, free Wi-Fi, and a modest fitness center

  • A marble-topped lobby bar serves coffee, wine, and beer
  • Free Wi-Fi in the lobby and the rooms
  • 24-hour gym
See More Features

Family

With small rooms and no rollaways, cribs, or sofa sleepers, the Gem isn't really a sensible place to bring kids.

Not family-friendly in any meaningful way. It would be virtually impossible to squeeze more than two people into a room here, even if the other bodies are small. The hotel doesn't offer cribs or rollaways -- they wouldn't fit in the rooms. And the location, while convenient to many parts of the city, doesn't offer much for kids (unless they're really into art).

See More Family

Best Rates

Amenities

  • Air Conditioner

  • Airport Transportation

  • Babysitting Services

  • Business Center

  • Cable

  • Concierge

  • Cribs

  • Dry Cleaning

  • Fitness Center

  • Internet

  • Kids Allowed

  • Laundry

  • Meeting / Conference Rooms

  • Poolside Drink Service

  • Rental Car Service Desk Onsite

Disclaimer: This content was accurate at the time the hotel was reviewed. Please check our partner sites when booking to verify that details are still correct.