Sonesta Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square

“Good hotel for attending the Mummer's Parade”

I stayed at the Sonesta around New Year with my mother, daughter, and dog. It's great that this is a dog-friendly hotel, however they do charge $75 for pets and never delivered the "welcome package" that's supposed to be included with that charge. I didn't really need anything for my dog so I never… more

I stayed at the Sonesta around New Year with my mother, daughter, and dog. It's great that this is a dog-friendly hotel, however they do charge $75 for pets and never delivered the "welcome package" that's supposed to be included with that charge. I didn't really need anything for my dog so I never mentioned it, but if they charge for something they really should provide it without being asked. We had originally reserved a regular double room but decided a day before our stay to upgrade to a two-room suite, i.e. a bedroom and living room. It included two bathrooms and two fridges but only one coffee machine. It was extremely spacious. The bed was comfortable but the fold-out sofa bed in the living room not so much. Also, when we opened it up we saw that there was tons of really gross dirt and things like paper coasters under the sofa. The bedding was incomplete (no blanket, for example) and didn't look particularly clean or fresh. Yuck! We called housekeeping and they came quickly and cleaned the floor and made up the bed but again, this is something that shouldn't have been necessary to request. We heard some noise from the street and from the next room during our stay but it wasn't too bad, and I am very sensitive. There was however an annoying blinking light on the smoke alarm that woke me several times each night as it was right in my field of vision. The bathroom was fine but the shower doesn't have particularly good water pressure and lacks a hand-held sprayer. The hotel provided plenty of nice towels. However, our room was never cleaned during our two-night stay. The cleaner came by in the early afternoon before we were ready to go out. I told him we would be leaving in about 45 minutes, but he never came back. I had to request fresh towels from the front desk. My mother took issue with the cleanliness of the carpets both in our room and in the hallway. I kind of expect dirty carpets in a hotel, so I didn't get too upset about them. The hotel tacks on "resort fees", which seem to be gaining popularity and which seem to me like a sneaky way of increasing the rate that you think you are actually paying. Our room rate included a $10 per night credit for the hotel bar, which you can use to buy some fairly crappy breakfast items. I would have preferred to pay $10 less a night and buy my own breakfast somewhere else. Also, when I checked the bill after we got home, I noticed that the hotel had added the $10 that I spent on breakfast items that I didn't really want in the first place to our bill. I contacted them and they promised to refund it to our credit card: I'll have to check and make sure that happens. Ten dollars isn't a huge amount of money but the whole thing was a little annoying. We wanted to watch the Mummer's Parade on New Year's Day. We had to leave after the parade, but the hotel allowed us to occupy the room until 5 p.m. for a $75 charge, which I found very reasonable. As far as I can recall, all of the staff members with whom we had contact were extremely friendly and accommodating.

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“Good location. Clean”

Nice hotel which is clean, convenient and comfortable. May I suggest to management in this political climate, just after the election too, please put on a more neutral tv channel than Fox. Every single tv in the bar had it on. Not everyone likes that channel. Sports, weather anything please.

“Decent value and great location.”

Shopped price in the Rittenhouse area and this property seemed like a good value. The parking was convenient with valet only and just steps away from the front desk. We were able to get our car out of traffic and the valet was efficient and courteous. At $ 56 per nite it was a steep price to pay… more

Shopped price in the Rittenhouse area and this property seemed like a good value. The parking was convenient with valet only and just steps away from the front desk. We were able to get our car out of traffic and the valet was efficient and courteous. At $ 56 per nite it was a steep price to pay and ended up being 20% of our total bill for 2 nites...ouch! Check in was a bit rushed by the desk clerk as he was speaking a million miles an hour seemingly just to crank us thru. Check in should be the first impression of a stay. The personal touch and slow welcoming demeanor after traveling all day was not evident by "turbo man" at the desk. The lobby is really not much of a lobby at all. No place to sit and chill like many other places we've stayed but it was clean and well lit so it is what it is. They have an "Art bar" and a Ruth Chris in the lobby space. The bar seemed a bit steril lacking ambiance and the steak house really didn't fit the value driven client base the hotel caters to. Our 9th floor room was a bit dated but OK. The place was reasonably clean, the beds were comfortable although we were in need of more blankets as there was no comforter... other reviews had mentioned this too. The carpet was decent but the room had the slightest hint of mildew in the air. All in all the room was fine and in line with what we paid for. Knowing all this, we'd stay there again. This place is fine for the money.

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“It’ll do”

Easy 2 Hour drive from the DMV Area stayed up here for the weekend for a friend’s birthday. Wasn’t trying to spend too much money but wanted a decent hotel and Sonesta fit the bill. Front desk was hospitable in checking us in. We got king size room Room 2502 is on the 25th floor end unit nice vi… more

Easy 2 Hour drive from the DMV Area stayed up here for the weekend for a friend’s birthday. Wasn’t trying to spend too much money but wanted a decent hotel and Sonesta fit the bill. Front desk was hospitable in checking us in. We got king size room Room 2502 is on the 25th floor end unit nice view of the city to the left. The room seemed pretty clean. I’ll always bring my own wipes and Lysol spray to wipe and spray everything down The handle on the toilet was broken and the toilet rocked i tried to call down to the front desk, but none of the numbers on the extensions were working. I had to end up calling from my cell phone they did send someone up to fix the toilet handle took them about an hour. But not loose toilet. It was pretty cool in the room when we got there thermostat was on 72 turned it up to 75 still was blowing cool air had to turn it up all the way to 80 to blow warm air Throughout the night. It would be cool then get warm. The other people that were with us said they had the same problem in their room with the toilet and the heat. When I checked out, I explained this to the attendant at the front desk. She wasn’t able to comp me a day because I paid through my American Express, but she did take a day off the parking (which is $52 a night parking is valet and they do allow you in and out. Just give yourself time for them to get your car and bring it up. Usually, take them anywhere between 5 to 7 minutes to bring car up) on the weekend and give us some beverages from their market.

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“Location great, especially for the Philadelphia Marathon”

We were staying at the hotel as I was running the Philadelphia Marathon, and for that, the location is great. Short distance to the start/finish of the marathon, as well as the expo where the bib numbers is to be collected. I've had other hotels in the past make a big deal of providing snacks for t… more

We were staying at the hotel as I was running the Philadelphia Marathon, and for that, the location is great. Short distance to the start/finish of the marathon, as well as the expo where the bib numbers is to be collected. I've had other hotels in the past make a big deal of providing snacks for the runners on the day of the run. Well, that was done for the halfmarathon runners on saturday, but for the full marathon on sunday, not a single banana or water to be found in the lobby. I know I know, it is a small thing, but seems odd to do it for one race but not the other. Both the check in and the check out we experienced members of staff seeming to not care at all that we were there. The most uplifting members of staff that we encountered during our stay was funny enough the staff who were putting up the christmas decorations. The room itself, is worn, especially the bathroom. The TV is super slow in changing channels. There is a huge draft from the windows so you need to have the ac on at all times. Again location is the winner for this hotel, close to cafe's, shops and such, don't expect huge luxury because you wont find it here.

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