Stayed the week of Aug 13, 2011...

Guest: Missy (Virginia)
Date of Stay: 08/13/11 Review Submitted: 08/21/11

Great location near yellow line subway and many restaurants. When we arrived the kitchen floor was sticky...contacted Cevita and she had the cleaning service come and mop. However, the bathroom was very outdated and had mold in the shower on the grout and on the shower glass door. It appears that they tried to cover it up with caulk but it didn't work! I hope that Cevita will have the glass door removed and replaced with a shower curtain. Also, it was very bright at night due street lights and the sheer window coverings. A little more TLC to this apt and I would give it a rating of 5 stars! Cevita was great to work--

Recommended for:Tourists without a car, sightseeing.

Great Location!

Guest: JMS (St. Louis MO)
Date of Stay: 05/24/11 Review Submitted: 06/02/11

Cevita's place is as advertised! We stayed 7 days, and it was very clean and comfortable. The a/c worked very well (the average high temp during our stay was 85F with high humidity), both to cool the apt and block out street noise. We had no issues with the sports bar on the corner. Madison Square Park is a great place to hang out, and Eataly is just around the corner on 5th Ave. I would recommend ear plugs (but I recommend ear plugs for every vacation stay), and eye shades--the curtains don't block any morning light. Winston was very welcoming and helpful. We did not use the high-speed internet, because all we brought with us was an iPad and it doesn't have a place to plug in the ethernet cable. (Maybe Apple has such a cable available, I don't know.) Cable TV was great. We ate at several places in the area that we adored: the Antique Cafe 55 w 26th, La Boqueria (tapas) 53 w 19th, and Grimaldis Limelight (pizza, just like the Brooklyn location) on 6th Ave between w 20-21st. All within easy walking distance. Eataly is quite the experience as well. Would have liked to try Eleven Madison Park (on the east side of Madison Square Park), as it gets great reviews, but wasn't in the budget this trip. For those who want to cook a little, there is a Whole Foods and Trader Joe's fairly close, as well. Overall, a great place for the budget-minded traveler.

Recommended for:Tourists without a car, girls getaway.

Less than perfect

Guest: Eric (Salt Lake City, Utah)
Date of Stay: 09/23/10 Review Submitted: 10/04/10

My wife and I are from SLC and travel each year religiously to New York to visit our Mecca, Yankee Stadium. This year, we stayed in Cevita's Chelsea apartment. First let me say that Cevita is a very nice person, and was willing to speak directly with me regarding the studio. Also, the price was very reasonable for a NY apartment. There were however several issues with this listing. We arrived on a red eye flight and Cevita had graciously allowed us to enter early to sleep. The building super Winston was none to happy about it. He made us feel like we had done something wrong. He immediately asked for the remainder of the rent, then I had to find HIM to get a receipt when the trip was over. The apartment definately needs some upgrades. The bed creaked horribly, which I think is broken. The sheets were not clean and appeared to be on since the last guests and there were no other clean sheets to change the bed! There were flies in the garbage even though it was empty. The apartment is old and has character, but I believe that it needs some TLC to improve the conditions. Everything just seemed dirty. There was also NO cable TV, only a few local channels. I will say the location of the apartment is great. It is close to Madison Square Park and across from a neat church. But it's also close to a night club on the corner which we could hear, along with it's drunk patrons just below the window all night fri & sat. Being a seasoned traveler, and knowing NY, I would say this is one of the poorer locations we have stayed in. I would not recommend this to anyone trying to experience NY for the first time or if you are looking for a really nice experience. Cevita is wonderful lady and will probably make changes to the apartment so that it is more inviting to future guests.

Owner response:In response: 1. Keep in mind that check in is at 3PM and Winston was doing me a favor by getting up early to let the tenants in at 7AM, I’m sure if he seemed abrupt it was because of the hour. In addition he had to let the cleaning service in at 5AM, again because I agreed to change check in especially for this tenant. Winston is a very agreeable gentleman; I have never received a complaint about him before. That said, I did speak to him about this particular issue. 2. As I state in my confirmation email, the balance is due on arrival so it is not odd that he immediately requested payment. Additionally, Winston is not responsible for giving out receipts, if one was needed, I would have been happy to meet the tenant and give him one (but he did not contact me) 3. My regular cleaning service was not available to come in at 5AM so I used a different one, unfortunately, they did not do a good job. If the tenant had contacted me to let me know that there was a problem (as I did not have an opportunity to check the apartment before they checked in, because of the time) I would have immediately had my service come in to remedy the situation. 4. There is cable TV, I’m not sure what the problem was as the tenant did not contact me. 5. There is a Sports Bar (not a nightclub) at the end of the block, I have never had any complaints about them but I apologize if the bar had some rowdy patrons that night. I will speak to the managers. In conclusion; this tenant, who called and emailed me numerous times before his arrival, did not once contact me while he was in the apartment to let me know that there was a problem. I cannot solve any problems if I do not know that they exist.

Recommended for:

Guest: Scott and Kathy Rice (Henderson, NV)
Date of Stay: 11/21/08 Review Submitted: 11/21/08

My wife and I stayed here for 6 days and, I have to say, we absolutley loved it. It was our first trip to New York, and we were worried about finding someplace centrally located in a nice neighborhood that we could afford. Cevita's place was perfect. We really only had 2 complaints about the place, and after we mentioned them to her, she fixed them! Now for the good news: - Great price - Clean - NO security OR cleaning deposits! - Private bathroom - Elevator - Comfortable bed with 4 pillows - Fully furnished, including towels and linens - Ample closet, drawer, and shelf space - Cable, DVD player, and high-speed internet (wired) - Powerful air conditioner - Perfectly located in the heart of Manhattan - Quiet neighborhood - Only 2 - 3 blocks from 3 different subway stations (F/V, R/W, and 1) - Chinese restaurant downstairs open long hours with great food and bottled drinks - etc, etc, etc We would definitely stay here again. Thanks, Cevita, for helping make our first trip to New York a success!

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