Artel Hotel

I needed a room for one night for myself, my daughter, and her friend. I was thrilled to find an inexpensive (relatively, of course) with a queen and a bunk bed, so no one had to share beds. I did not carefully read reviews, so I was not entirely prepared for what we found at the hotel. Our overwhelming feeling was that this hotel put a huge amount of effort in the design and décor. Graffiti art on the walls, black lights in the common area bathroom, bean bag chairs, a strange yellow elephant upside down on the ceiling. The hallways and bathrooms have an industrial vibe. The teen girls thought this was all awesome. However… you should think of this hotel as more of a no-service youth hostel than an actual hotel. Upon arrival (after the official check in time) we had to wait over an hour to get into our room. The lobby was jammed with other people also waiting for their rooms. The front desk person (who was pleasant but not particularly helpful) kept telling us that the rooms were almost ready, they were just being inspected. When we finally got into our room we found: • a dirty coffee cup • one bed fully made up • one bed with sheets but no blankets • one bed with no sheets or blankets • Some of the sheets (once we managed to get them) felt a bit like burlap. • one towel • no soap (empty pump dispenser by the sink, and empty body wash in the shower – so if you didn’t check first you would get into the shower and have nothing…) • Sink has cold water only – it is clearly designed this way, and was fine on a hot day like we had, but might be unpleasant in the winter. • Outlet in the bathroom didn’t work, nor did the one at the upper bunkbed. • Two big beanbag chairs that took up pretty much all the floor space in this tiny room (we stacked them in the corner so we could actually walk between the beds) I went down to the desk to ask for the missing items, and they said they’d bring them up. We went out for the evening, returned, and found that we now had a good stack of towels, but nothing else had been delivered. It was after midnight, we were exhausted, and I had to got back to the desk (where the same staff were there since at least 3:00 PM). They handed me a stack of blankets and some bars of soap, then said someone would get me sheets. I waited around 10 minutes, and someone came up … with more blankets. I said I needed sheets, so he went back and got sheets. I then carried this large stack of bedding up to the 5th floor and we made the beds ourselves. Based on other reviews I’ve now read, this is clearly the experience you should expect at the Artel in Brooklyn. So, is it worth it? The hotel is close to the subway, our room was clean (except for the used coffee cup), we felt safe, and the price was much, much lower than other hotels… so I would say yes. I would book at the Artel again, and come in completely aware of what to expect. It was a bit of an adventure, but overall it was fine. If you think of your hotel as som

The front desk attendants Amanda and Divine were the best attendants i have ever met. They opened up with open arms and they tread Ted me like family. They made my trip better by just providing excellent service and making things easy on my part. Next time I come to visit NYC I’m definitely staying at the Artel hotel!