NYC hotels for acrophobics
 

I'm travelling with someone who has a phobia of elevators. Looking for recommendations for hotels in New York with either a very short elevator ride or the possibility of taking the stairs to our room. We are planning to travel between Christmas and New Year's 2011.

Look in the Tribeca, Village and SoHo areas so you're not picking from hotels that would be office towers in nearly any other city.

There are some small hotels or hotels that aren't too tall, but most of the hotels in Tribeca and SoHo are new builds, which means the stair access may be limited. However, since most of these are limited-service hotels, they do have rooms that start on the 2nd floor (they lack ballrooms and meeting rooms that are often present in larger hotels, pushing rooms up to higher floors).

Be aware that in Midtown in particular some hotels don't start at ground level but even require an elevator ride up to the lobby. The Mandarin Oriental, for instance, starts on a rather high floor of the Time-Warner Center. But particularly in new-build hotels, the stairs are meant for emergency use and aren't always accessible to guests going up.

The Larchmont in the Village, is a small almost brownstone building (but it has shared baths). But I think you can climb the stairs. Other older buildings may also have stairs. I think you can climb stairs at the Gershwin. The Chelsea Pines Inn might also be a possibility, as would the Chelsea Inn. So far, I'm trying to think of modest or small-sized hotels. The Chelsea Savoy might have accessible stairs but it's 7 or 8 floors. The Hotel Roosevelt is an older building, but I think the rooms don't start until the 3rd or 4th floor; this is also fairly common since most hotels have issues with street noise in NYC. The Hotel Casablanca is a relatively low-rise hotel in the theater district, but I think rooms start on floor 3. The Hotel Metro might be an option, though you might miss out on the great rooftop view of the Empire State Building.

Be sure you request a room on a lower floor, though that may not be available to you since rooms are often assigned on availability, and ask if you can actually use the stairs.

Several people have stayed at the Chelsea Pines Inn lately and have enjoyed it.

Another option is the Incentra Guest House -
http://www.incentravillage.com/

The inn's rooms are accessed by stairs, not elevator. Years ago they had overflow studios in a more modern building next door. I'm not sure if that's the case now, but call to make sure. Tell them you don't want to be in the annex with elevator.

Trip report including the Chelsea Pine Inn -
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...fm#dest-header

The Algonquin hotel now run (or owned) by Marriott is an old historic hotel. They have a staircase that opens onto the lobby just behind reception as I recall. Very lovely hotel with nice service but rooms and esp. bathrooms are a bit small. In midtown west, a short walk to Times Square.

The Casablanca is in the Times Square area and also is an older building with a staircase. The same co. owns the Elysee hotel which also has a staircase in an older historic building. You'd want to phone any of these and request a lower floor room.

Yes, the Chelsea Pines is a good idea since they have no staircase. If you're willing to use a non-traditional b & b or inn type place, there are also a lot of b & b's in brownstones with no elevator, but these places tend to be set up for couples with only a queen or king bed. If you need 2 beds, they're not ideal.

<Yes, the Chelsea Pines is a good idea since they have no staircase.>

Well, that would be wonder! Do you mean they have no elevator? Stairs are always a fire code requirement.

With all of those hotels ask if the stairs are open to the floow with the guest rooms. Often staircases only go 1 or 2 floors - to those with meeting rooms and other floors have to be acesed by elevator except in case of emergency.

You can stay in our basement.

I suffer from the same afflication and glass elevators bother me no end.