The Wellington Hotel

We booked up The Wellington Hotel for Seven Nights on the Alpharooms website (cheapest we could find) for twNew York City.

Most of the reviews read favourably, indicating that the main advantage of staying here was its location on 7th Ave/55th St.

Upon entering the Hotel we were greeted with a HUGE grand looking chandelier, lighting up the reception area. The staff were pleasant and helpful when checking us in, upgrading us to a Queen Room instead of the Double we'd previously booked, without us even having to ask!

Our room was located on the 9th floor (923 if you're interested!) But upon entering the lifts to head up to our room we got an inkling as to what was in store. It's a very tired, old hotel in desperate need of a makeover. The elevators are very slow (you can be waiting an age at busy times). The room we were allocated was clean and tidy, but felt dark and pretty uninviting. Old carpets that were frayed at the edges and old furniture that was a little cheap and rickety decorated the small space. There're no tea/coffee facilities in the room, which I missed after a long day out walking the streets of Manhattan. No safety deposit box in the rooms either, and not a great deal of space/storage generally.

It was fine for a base in the city as you don't plan on spending a lot of time in your room, and we really couldn't fault the location (About 4 blocks down from Central Park and about 9 blocks up from Times Square) The beds were remade and fresh towels were delivered daily, so it was hardly squalor, but it just felt a tad old fashioned/outdated.

There's a Metro Station right outside the hotel, and a diner attached to get your breakfast, so after leaving your room there's no excuses to hang around! Or there's a Starbucks over the road if you want to grab a coffee.

I can recommend The Carnegie Deli over the road if you want to get a corned beef sandwich/slice of cheesecake (we had a view of it from our window!) and Carnegie Hall is one block up.

If you're just after a fairly cheap mid-range hotel in a central location then you can't go far wrong with this place. Just bear in mind that it's not The Plaza! Far from it!

On the plus side though, the price of the accommodation enabled us to afford another night in New York, so it's not all bad :-)