Home2 Suites by Hilton Philadelphia - Convention Center, PA — Hotel in Philadelphia

UPDATE: It's been over a week since we reached out to the GM Philip as well as corporate but they are ignoring us! You endangered people's lives but won't take accountability?

THIS HOTEL ENDANGERED THE LIVES OF THEIR GUESTS DURING THE WEEKEND OF 8/8/25 - 8/10/25.

TL;DR: 2/3 elevators were shut down by hotel staff on checkout day after a convention and after the 3rd broke down with guests inside, hotel management was negligent about rescuing them and guests had to call emergency services and help with the situation themselves.

I was a guest at this hotel this past weekend, from August 8th to August 10th, among many other people attending a convention, for which the hotel had offered a special deal for. On the evening of August 9th, we noticed one elevator was shut down but brushed it off. That changed on August 10th.

On August 10th, around checkout time (it was 10:40 am when we noticed but many others noticed it sooner), TWO of the three elevators were down. Most everyone attending the convention was checking out at this time and this caused massive delays. Hotel management was giving rehearsed responses regarding getting the elevators running again. At about 11am, my husband and eight other passengers boarded the last running elevator, which shook and broke down. I notified the manager within seconds of hearing of this from my husband. The manager argued with the technician about locating the keys to unlock the elevator over walkie talkie, and over ten minutes later, had made no attempt to call emergency services or even go upstairs to check himself.

At that point, my mother and I went to the back stairs to find the manager just standing at the bottom. Upon seeing us catching him and running up ourselves, he started ascending. Once upstairs, he did try to open the doors with his hands, but the hotel clearly lacked necessary tools such as a crowbar to open the elevator in emergencies like this.

When hotel management and the helpline form the elevator made no attempt to call emergency services, the guests in the elevator called 911 themselves. By a miracle, one of the guests from inside managed to pry the doors open just moments before firefighters came and we evacuated them.

However, after this, the manager made no attempt to check if any of the victims were okay, despite zero air conditioning in the elevator and a senior citizen who was stuck and couldn't walk being severely dehydrated. We the guests present gave her water and I spoke with the firefighters about her being wheelchair bound and they called a medic. The manager was missing in action after this and both the victims and guests who no longer had any working elevators were left in the dark. Majority of the guests didn't even know the elevators were broken until my family downstairs started telling them they needed to take the stairs.

Despite there being disabled people, the manager made no attempt to check if anyone needed assistance coming down the stairs.

On top of this, the air conditioning in the lobby wasn't functioning for our entire stay, so while everyone was stuck in the lobby during this elevator fiasco, they were all boiling in the heat too.

The front desk staff were kind enough to direct us to the general manager's contact information for compensation despite receiving no direction about what to do from the manager himself.

On top of this, we heard from multiple guests that the elevators had been shut down on checkout day for this exact same convention last year, demonstrating a repeat disregard for guest safety.

I have attached a photo of hotel guests flooding down the stairs with bags upon realizing none of the elevators were working. I have videos from inside the elevator and right after the rescue as well, but in an effort to protect the identities of the victims, I am not sharing those except where legally necessary.

Please exercise caution booking with this hotel. Everything else about it may seem convenient and glamorous, but putting your life at risk when there's negligence to this level happening is...

Not a great experience here. This started when I attempted to check in early as I have done many times in the past as someone who spends 11 months of the year traveling for work. I asked what time they might be able to check me in over the phone. To which they replied that they have a physical wait list and I have to come and sit in their lobby in order to get on it. They were very rude on the phone and said that’s how we do it. So they expect you to sit there for hours to maybe get a room instead of estimating. Which I have work to do and can’t just sit around all day. So I came an hour before my check in time and when the rooms still weren’t ready and there were multiple people ahead of us, I was worried I wouldn’t even get into the room at the standard check in time. Explaining this to the front desk felt like a lost cause. They were rude and dismissive, not even looking at me while speaking to me. When I said I had never seen this before, the front desk lady kept replying with “the fact we were sold out?” Even though I was looking at and pointing at the waitlist. At that point, I asked to talk to a manager and the room was magically ready. I still waited to speak to the manager and explain that in ten years I’ve never seen a physical waitlist and would’ve been happy to show up if they had just told me to try back in an hour. I was 10 minutes away and could’ve moved my work operation to a room easily if given a heads up. I just have a lot and don’t feel comfortable working on confidential info in a lobby. He was even dismissive and focused on the attitude instead of the waitlist, admittedly that’s all he could do. I was gonna let it go and move on. We’re in the room for no more than half an hour when the housekeeping staff entered our room without knocking or announcing themself. They just asked do you need anything? Which yes, we need you to not enter our room? So at this point I do not feel safe. I didn’t think actually talking to the manager would fix anything so I wrote in the feedback form so they were aware and I agreed to keep someone in the room at all times for our valuables. I don’t feel that’s fair as people need to eat and enjoy seeing the places they are staying. To my surprise, I received a call shortly after and they agreed to refund one night of our stay. I didn’t ask for that and that’s fine, but we still don’t feel safe and there’s a lack of apology issue. Went about our day and then I attempted to do laundry before we left, only to find out AFTER MY CLOTHES WERE WASHED that their dryers are not working and nothing can be done about that. The front desk lady was very nice this time and agreed to refund me through my stay for what I paid for the laundry, but now I’ll be traveling with wet clothes and again no real apology or solution as the engineer never came to look at the dryers and other people were washing their clothes. I understand being sold out and busy, but there was too much compounded in this stay for me to say it was a one off. I was excited as we were right in the city and I wanted to go to specific places in walking distance, but couldn’t enjoy my time after everything that happened. Very disappointing and I don’t think I’ll be returning to this hotel.

Edit:also realized there was mold on the ceiling if out shower just after posting this. I’ll be asking for a full refund from this hotel as there were other issues with security...

Modest budget hotel located across from Convention center and Reading Terminal market was very roomy, clean, inviting, and friendly hotel, that includes free breakfast. Baggage storage at the front desk was quick and convenient. Check in was very prompt and friendly, even for early check in at 1pm was no problem. Room: Staff upgraded from Studio suite to 1 bedroom suite. Room was very spacious, with mini kitchen, a dining table towards entry with a closet; Table, pull out desk, TV next to the kitchen area with double sofa bed on other side of the living area. Separate room with King bed, plenty of drawers with TV on top and a closet. Large bathroom with entry to living area and bedroom. The bed with thin layer of foam was bit hard for my liking but still had a good night sleep. Only reason for four star was both darkening blinds were off track and not functional, show door also was not moving due to off track. I ended up fixing those issues thus didn't report. Hotel: has large lounge area that also functions as breakfast area. Small but functional swimming pool, Cardio room has about 8 cardio machines with free barbell sets and a multi-function rack for strength workout. End of the Cardio room is a Laundry room for a self laundry ($2.50 each) with 2 washers and 2 dryers. Business center next to front desk and elevator area. Breakfast consist of couple waffle machines, small area that contains premade omelets (plain and veg), Jimmy Dean sausage & Egg or Ham and Egg biscuit sandwiches, area with breads/bagels, muffins, Hot oatmeal bar, fresh fruits and drink area with juices (frkfast only) and coffee area with hot water that is available 24/7. Lots of people but it was constantly being stocked. Location: I find this locate to be the best in Philly. Across from Convention center on Arch street, 12th street Reading Terminal Market. Only two blocks from the City Hall to the west. Access to L and T train/tram is only a block and half at 13th and Market street where you also have access to buses 33, 38, 44. Taking #38 West bound will take you to Amtrak station, and to the Art Museum. L line, #33, #44 will take you to the Independent Historic Park area where liberty bell is. Off Arch street, two blocks away from the China town arch. #23 bus on 12th st. ½ block from the hotel also will take you to Historic area and to the water front park. Aside from transportation, most historic and attractions are within mile of walk...