The Chelsea used to be an artist's cooperative, it was a mix of long-term and short-term residents, and was infamous for being lax with rent payments, with many living there rent-free.

This medium article gives a good perspective of its past.

https://medium.com/@bagelboy/make-america-bohemian-again-de8...

The word comes from the French hôtel, which just means hall. Historically, many "hotels" were places that housed medium-to-long-term guests, either exclusively or alongside short-term visitors. Like the Eloise books, which took place at the Plaza Hotel, or Paris’s Hôtel des Invalides, where wounded soldiers recovered.

The article covers this pretty clearly, describing decades-long tenants and saying:

> Plans are underway to make the Chelsea Hotel an actual hotel again.

The Chelsea Hotel is usually best known for having housed many famous figures over the years:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Chelsea#Notable_resident...