Tim P.
Yelp
I've stayed here several times over the last couple of months. I'm a business traveler, only here to do a job downtown.
The location is good and they have good rates. Rooms are spacious and have a small kitchen. They are generally clean, but dated. They would benefit quite a bit from some touch up paint, recaulking, tub resurfacing (seems like every room has some rust stain in the tub)...
The air conditioning system is all linked together (a "two pipe system"), so the whole building seems to have to be on either heat or cool. Every time I've been here, it's been on heat, which makes the rooms warm and stuffy. You have to turn off the air conditioning to not further heat the room. Most rooms do not have windows that open (so the booking staff told me), so if this temperature control is important to you, you'd probably need a balcony room to ensure it has a door/window that opens to allow cool air in and circulation. Doing so, however, also means you get a LOT of loud street noise. If you get the balcony rooms with the separate bedrooms, you can open the door/window in the living room area and get circulation through the whole flat and minimize the noise in the bedroom (keeping bedroom door open of course).
Half of the days I've stayed (I've stayed about 15 days total) over the last several weeks, the front door to the building has been broken. So you have to find your way around the building through the parking garage to the side entrance. They do get it fixed, but then it would break again.
There is no breakfast at this hotel, only later breakfast/brunch on weekend days (starts at 9am Thurs-Sun) at adjoining (seemingly non-affiliated) restaurant. And if you want something simple like a soda, this hotel does not have a market for those simple staples, they direct you to the Wawa convenience store around the block. Actually, I believed there is a small "breakfast" only on the club level, but my understanding is that it consists basically of just muffins (I haven't seen it personally).
The staff is quite friendly until there is a problem, and then I often can't tell if they are really unable to help or unwilling to help, or if I'm getting the real information from them when there is a conflict.
I have had several packages delivered here without issue, except for an expensive one from Apple that the front desk never had any record of delivery, but Apple did have a record and the delivery requires a signature... Over two days of checking in on the status of this package, the front desk told me "we were really busy so someone probably took it" through a smile.
On my most recent trip, I called to schedule two rooms to be ready for an early morning check in. I said I'd pay for an additional night so we could have the early check in, but wanted to talk with someone to help me get it set up right since I've had problems with hotels canceling my reservation in the past if I didn't show up by midnight and find myself without accommodation after getting in from a red eye flight. They said the thing to do was just book for the nights I'd be staying the full time for and they would put my arrival time in the notes. When I did arrive, one of the rooms was ready, but apparently no other rooms of any kind were available in the hotel (there seemed to be quite a bit of availability when I booked 3 days before). They would not cancel my reservation without penalty because they insinuated it was my fault for expecting an early check in, and said the room should be ready by 4pm (regular check in time). I laid out on the couch in the lobby to try and get some sleep and about 20-30 minutes later the receptionist came to me with a key to a room that "just opened up"... At 7am...
To be fair, the first night I stayed on my first trip, there wasn't any body wash in my shower (the large container fastened to the wall was empty). When I alerted the front desk, they did bring a loose one up right away, which helped set the tone of trust and professionalism I was hoping would continue.
I appreciate the decent rates in town despite the baseball chaos (Phillies were in the championships on a couple of my trips so everywhere had crazy high rates). It may be an okay place for tourists, but every subsequent visit has confirmed that this is not a primary choice hotel for me for the future.