The Arlo Nomad has become one of New York’s most sought hotels after going viral last year. A beautiful view of the city from the sky under $100? It sounds like a dream!
In early December a friend stayed at the Arlo Nomad for her birthday with a city view and loved it! With her testament and endless videos on TikTok, I had to experience the hype for myself.
I decided to book my stay for Valentine’s Day weekend and experience two full nights at the Arlo. To my disappointment, all sky views rooms were fully booked but I was still excited to book a city view after hearing good things from my friend. I also added the early check-in to my stay so I could really enjoy having the room for the entire weekend.
I arrived early Saturday morning and was greeted by their welcoming staff and given keys to my 18th-floor city view (one thing to make note of if you’re planning to go is that you need to be over 21 to check-in).
The first thing that hits you about the room is the size. When going to a boutique hotel you’re already prepared for the room to be on the smaller side but it’s way smaller than I was expecting. There is just enough room to walk single file into the room and around the bed. My view of the city wasn’t as breathtaking as the views from the sky but I was still satisfied with my room overall.
The next two days were spent making Dan and myself feel at home in our room. Here are the pros and cons we experienced:
Pros:
The room already comes with a Bluetooth speaker.
The TV has the ability to mirror phones which is great if you don’t bring small consoles like a FireStick with you on trips.
The rain shower is amazing
There more than enough outlets throughout the entire room
The bed and comforters are very comfortable
There’s a large hand sanitizer built into the room
Cons
The only storage for your luggage is over the closet which isn’t functional for me because I’m too short
The mini-fridge is VERY MINI
We were only given two full-size towels upon arrival (not including a set of hand or face towels)
Vey scarce counter and vanity space
Another notable aspect of the hotel is the elevators. My favorite thing about them is that you cant operate them without your key card which helped me feel safe. My least favorite them about them is trying to use them between 11-1. This is when most people are checking out. The elevators go all the way to the top first and then make their way down to each floor making it very difficult to catch a ride down. Daniel and I ultimately rode the elevator up and then made our way down for check out after waiting 20 minutes for an elevator.
Check-out takes seconds. I was able to check us out from my phone through their app while we were still upstairs and handed our key cards on our way out.
The staff is amazing and was probably my favorite thing about my entire stay. One thing to make note of when staying at the Arlo is that the kind of people staying there is much younger than what you’re used to seeing at a hotel. This goes hand in hand with the low price point and the sensation it’s received from social media. Having hotel staff that moves swiftly to fix problems before they’re created, cater to you quickly, and make sure that the small lobby is never congested goes a long way when making your stay memorable.
Overall I would give my experience at the Arlo Nomad an 8/10. It’s clean, quiet, and very cheap for the city. I think the sky view makes the lack of space worth it more than a city or urban view. I would recommend this hotel to any solo traveler, couple, and for shorts stays. I wouldn’t want to stay longer than 3 days simply because the lack of space and storage would get to me and I didn’t feel comfortable having housekeeping come because our stuff was literally everywhere! However, I would definitely go back to experience the sky view!