PA Philadelphia Courtyard Downtown

[KathyWdrf]

To recap: 2.5* Philadelphia downtown: Courtyard by Marriott on Saturday, June 21 for $40 + taxes and service fees of $11.31 = $51.31 total for one night.

Cheapest rate I saw available for this night on the marriott.com website was a special "heritage package" rate of $109 + 14% tax, about $124 total. (The package included some museum passes.)

I had a very good stay my one night. I have been to Philly numerous times on business trips, but this visit was a pleasure trip (and on my own nickel!).

The hotel is in a historic building called the City Hall Annex. It is right in the center of Philly, across the street from City Hall, and close to shopping, entertainment, and dining. The Reading Terminal Market (which I ate my way through on Saturday afternoon) is one block away.

The public spaces of the hotel are very grand, with high, decorated ceilings and nice furniture. On the ground floor is a quiet, spacious bar with lots of plush sofas to sit on. Only downside is that it closes early -- around midnight on a Saturday night!

All I needed or expected was a basic room with one bed. To my surprise, I was given a large corner room with huge windows, two queen beds, a sofabed, and two armchairs. The room furnishings and decor, though not luxurious, were new and quite decent. I did give my Marriott Rewards number at the desk, not expecting any stay credit, but hoping that the incidentals I charged (a 75-cent local phone call and a bar bill) will earn me a few points. (I do not have elite status with Marriott and did not expect any elite "perks.")

I really have no complaints about the stay. The only disappointment was that I was unable to get a late checkout (normal checkout time is noon), but, that's life.

Kathy

[blindman]

Stayed for three nights March 15-18th 2009

Agree with the above posters comments.

Nearest SEPTA terminal is possibly Suburban Street terminal but a close thing with Market St East.

From Suburban St there is an underground walkway that exits at the front of City Hall

However: tramps sleep here and we were very nervous walking through them and onwards the 500 metres to the only exit even though it was noon.

Free Internet access wired in the room. Also wireless in the room very weak signal

Pool 3ft deep and about 20 ft long (tiny and cold!) Jacuzzi to one side. Open 06:00-23:00 with the room key

Gym was a reasonable size with 6 treadmills with TV