The best thing about this listing by far is its location. It's truly close to everything, very central, and yet totally quiet at night! It's easy walking distance to different subway lines as well as Penn Station. The apartment itself is decent, standard studio size, great for 1-2 people! The kitchenette was useful but I wouldn't expect to cook anything too intense since it's very small. The washer/dryer unit was very convenient until it started having problems towards the end of my 33-night stay, but that was unlucky. The shower temperature was finicky... Once the water heats up, there's no cold water available no matter where you turn the shower handle-- the water ranges from pretty hot to scalding. I don't take cold showers so I was fine without it being fixed, but towards the end of my stay it became a little frustrating because the "coldest" setting of water became almost too hot for me to bear. As a whole, though, the space was great & tidy. Tommy, Michael's helper who lives in the building, was incredibly helpful & kind for my whole stay!
Michael was overall a very helpful host, always easily reachable by phone whenever I needed anything. I think he goes by the building several times a week so it was very easy to get a hold of him. He was attentive and generous with his time, however I didn't always have the easiest time communicating with him. He was kind enough to agree to an early check-in for me (10AM rather than 2PM), but when I arrived, the keys weren't there! I ended up having to wait almost 5 hours (Michael arrived close to 3PM) to get the keys. I had clearly said that if an early check-in was inconvenient, I could make the normal time work, yet Michael agreed to it immediately... But then when the keys weren't there, he said twice that this was why he didn't like to "deviate from the 2PM check in time" -- it was incredibly frustrating! There were a few other smaller moments throughout my stay where I had a hard time communicating with him. For example, when I ran out of paper towels I asked Michael if he had more or if I should buy them myself. He said he could bring some, which I was thankful for, but the next time I asked him for paper towels, he came by with more but told me "I only do this for you, most people just buy them"... So I started buying them myself, but later in my stay when he dropped by, he asked if I needed more paper towels. Interactions like these were both highly confusing & frustrating for me.
Overall, though, I had a pretty decent stay. The value of the place is truly in its great location in Chelsea. Thanks Michael for your time & energy!