The Wellington Hotel, New York - a Review

The Wellington Hotel
871 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019

This hotel is well located at 56th and 7th. Unfortunately, based perhaps on its age, the whole hotel seems to be one big haha room. This visit to this hotel is probably the first time when I actually went up to the room and rejected it, calling the front desk and then descending to wait for another room to become available. Initially I was escorted by a bellman up to the room, but he never even looked at me. I only had one small bag, so no reason for him to take the luggage, but it seemed to me that he couldn’t get out of the room fast enough. And I actually tipped him. (The second time I came up to my room, I wasn’t even escorted to confirm that the a/c worked or that there were towels in the bathroom.) I have a view of the building next door – maybe 20 feet away. My second room – 1545 – at least did not look out on to the air handling units, and the window was in the middle of the wall, not squished up in the corner of the room as it was in the first room – room 343. I even asked Janette at reception when I checked in if she was giving me the haha room; she claims to have never heard that expression. I wonder what terminology she uses for that joke of a room.

The elevators are extremely small – and one has to wait ages for one to come. The second morning the elevator was completely crammed with people and the elevator stopped at several more floors where people could not actually fit in the elevator, so they had to wait for the next one. You can imagine how tightly stuffed the rest of us strangers were.

Further, much to my surprise, when I returned to the hotel there was no longer a doorman at about 11 pm on a Wednesday night. There was a door man during the day, but he seemed more interested in chatting with his friends than opening the door or helping with the luggage – though he did make a lunch recommendation when asked.



In the images, take a look how close the end of the bed is to the wall. Also, peek at the size of the bathroom. Being alone I didn't need to shut the door while in there, but it is a tight fit.

This is clearly not a glamorous hotel, but it was relatively inexpensive for a research trip to NYC. I paid just over $250/night with the taxes. I did not need to be in that area of town, but nothing was cheaper elsewhere.

The view from my window. I know that NYC has these light and air wells - a matter of historical good policy as the city went skyward, but in this day and age, they are not particularly welcome in a hotel. Once upon a time they were considered healthy so that every apartment could have light and air.

I will not be returning to this hotel.