Hampton Inn Philadelphia Center City-Convention Center — Hotel in Philadelphia

Bit of a tricky review, this one, because we had a genuine mix of pros & cons at this Hampton property. I’ll start with the good parts: Service - overall staff was very good and had to deal with some things that were out of their control the weekend we stayed here (like elevators, more on that in the bad parts) and they managed it as gracefully as they could. Antonio (I believe) was super helpful and worked with us on our only request during our stay which was very much appreciated. Location - quite central in the city, just a block over from the Broad Street Line train and only a couple blocks from Jefferson station with more regional trains. The Reading Terminal Market is also nearby with tons of food & beverages, and lots of good restaurants, coffee shops (Elixr was my personal fav), and bars are walkable. Rooms - plenty of space, comfortable beds, our view on the 9th floor was decent, and the AC worked well.

Now, for the parts that were a bit frustrating and disappointing from our stay (we were there 4 nights from Thursday thru Sunday): There are 3 elevators in this hotel and for 3 of the 4 days we were here only ONE of those elevators was working. For a hotel with 11 floors that’s a fairly unacceptable issue. This obviously made for long wait times, consistently stuffed elevator rides (& stopping on literally every floor on every ride), and just overall a massive inconvenience. I’ll emphasize again that the front desk staff did their best to manage a brutal situation and they’re probably the only thing that kept this from being a 3-star review. Check-in: I was arriving into Philadelphia in the morning & called the hotel while waiting on my train at the airport to see if it might be possible to check into a room early. The person I spoke with told me that our specific room may not be ready but there should be others of our same room type that weren’t occupied the prior night & it should be no problem to get us into one of those on arrival. Instead, when I arrived around 11 I was first asked if I was there for a day rate room. When I explained that we had a reservation for 4 nights I was told that housekeeping had just started cleaning and no rooms were available right now. Considering I was going to a WeWork location to take a meeting at 11:45 which was in the opposite direction of the hotel, it was quite annoying to have gone totally out of my way (about 20 minutes of walking total there & back) and not be able to check-in so that my friend coming an hour later would have the room available to work in. I don’t fault the front desk staff as much for this because this whole “day rate” thing feels like much more of a Hilton problem overall. Day rate rooms shouldn’t be prioritized over Hilton Honors guests with reservations and there needs to be more consistent communication & direction if rooms aren’t actually going to be available for an early check-in.

Overall I would be willing to stay here again but only if the rate remains comfortably lower than other Hilton properties in Philly; if rates aren’t much more at the Doubletree I’d probably give that a shot next time instead, or ideally the Canopy or The Logan if their rates...

The staff was nice, courteous and helpful from valet to front desk staff. I appreciate the convenience of the microwave and mini fridge in the room. The breakfast wasn't bad, I especially enjoyed the chicken apple sausage that was available on my last day. It would have been nice to have non-pork meat alternatives each day.

Cons: No option for onsite self parking. You'll have to pay $47 plus tax each day for Valet parking (allow at least 10-15 mins for them to retrieve your vehicle). I've never paid that much for parking at a hotel. They heavily discouraged street parking and I took their word for it being that I'm not from the area and they said they other lots charge more. I found out later that was false. They should have just maintained that they’re valet was just convenient.

Late morning, after my first night there, I heard "SECURITY!" along with an aggressive attempt to open my door. I was startled, to say the least as I was unclothed in the bathroom near my room door. When I inquired what he wanted, I heard a muffled response and I could only make out, "Door check". I immediately called the front desk. The young lady who answered apologized and explained that this was standard daily practice. I was perplexed as I have never experienced anything like this at any Hilton or other brand hotel for that matte. I asked, "Even with the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door?". She told me, "No the sign should always be respected". She also said that the person doing the rounds was new and she would explain to him the correct process. The young lady asked again if I was okay and if I felt safe. I assured her that after she explained what had happened, I was okay.

After the second night, I experienced the same abrupt disturbance of someone seemingly attempting to enter my room. This time it was around noon and I was taking a nap. The person (a man with deep voice) banged on the door and said, "Housekeeping" while what sounded like an attempt to force the door open. The 'Do Not Disturb' sign was still on the doorknob again and both times the swing bar door lock latch was engaged.

At this point, I was definitely disturbed. Before I checked out, I spoken with hotel staff on my way to breakfast and explained my experience as I continued to ask about their policy. This young lady expressed how sorry she was and jotted down my room number before assuring me that the manager would be reaching out to me that day. Several days later and I have yet to hear from anyone.

Lastly, I'm trying to make sense of some of their odd charges still on my credit card.

I've already explained the issue of being disturbed my first 2 mornings with "Door Checks".

Also, I never reported (because I didn't want to make a big deal because I get that most places are understaffed) the long black hair (which was not mine) that I discovered my first day there.

There were very loud small children above me. I didn't enjoy it but that's not the hotel's fault. I just dealt with it.

I reported that the digital key did not work as was told that it could be an app issue. I just left it alone. I would have appreciated the convenience but it wasn't...

Where should I start?

First, the front desk and staff were pretty friendly and tried to be helpful. Having said that, that's where the positive remarks for the Hampton Inn Convention Center end.

The bed was okay, pillows were awful, the old AC unit was on 63 degrees all the time to simply cool the room off and I was just hoping it would last through each night we were there. Three shallow wire shelves in the TV console represented ALL of the storage area in the room. There was no luggage rack/place to store luggage.

It was difficult to flush the silly toilet because of the mismatched toilet lid that hungover the receptacle and sat on top of the flushing handle. The toilet seat was obviously mismatched as well (not a big deal, though). The shower head worked but the main plastic piece was broken and completely loose. The hotel initially provided enough toiletries for one person.

The main reasons we accepted this hotel on our hotwire hot rate deal, where you're guaranteed certain hotels at the time of payment, was for the gym and breakfast. There was no breakfast available the first day we were here, and the second day we went down to eat at 9:40am and they said that they were not making anymore breakfast (eggs, hot items, etc.). Breakfast supposedly ended at 10am everyday. Needless to say, for the next 3 days we ate breakfast elsewhere. The hotel had no comment and did do anything to make our hotel breakfast experience any better.

The gym was nice enough for our needs. However, there was never water in the gym. The water cooler is plugged in to the wall and, supposedly, a water line but no water comes out. There was no way of refilling a water bottle or insulated bottle. We would have to go to the front desk before working out to get water, and then go back to the front desk and plead for more water after the work out...really silly, unnecessary, and inconvenient. When we addressed the front desk about the lack of water they told us we could "drink out of the bathroom sink". I travel to Latin America a lot and am used to buying 5 liter jugs of water before going to my hotel...that shouldn't be requisite in Philadelphia.

From an aesthetic point of view, the lobby is about as nice as it's going to get. Overall, a very dated, tired, and utilitarian hotel. Oh, and we had to buy an HDMI cable from a Target to watch Netflix (we lucked out with no in-room smart TV for our particular room).

The hotel was centrally located, but right borders the convention center. I feel for the homeless situation in big cities, but there are a lot of homeless people in and around the hotel. As a couple we were yelled at a couple of times and complimented a couple of times by random homeless. It is what it is and doesn't bother us too much, but keep in mind that the hotel is not located in a nice area.

Overall, if this hotel ever pops up on a Hotwire hot rates as an option, I will not use Hotwire again. For nearly $200 a night, this was the worst hotel experience I've had. Unless a last resort, spend the extra $20-$40 bucks a night and go to hotel south of the convention center if you're wanting to stay in city center. You...