Sonesta Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square — Hotel in Philadelphia

This was our 1st time in any hotel in the Sonesta family of properties. It was booked for us by a friend who is breaking into being a travel agent. It fit our criteria: close to where she was staying, with a pool, clean, safe & cost effective. It was all that but there were some unpleasant surprises: ||||1. There is a resort fee||2. They credit you $10 per day at the Art Bar (lobby bar) but not on the day you check out. $10 doesn’t even get you a whole glass of wine. ||3. Once you check out you may not use any of the hotel amenities. I was very disappointed. I had hoped to spend Sunday afternoon lounging by the pool. I have never been to any hotel that barred you from the amenities after check out. If this is their policy I will never return. ||||The beds were comfortable with big fluffy pillows. Our king sized room had a couch, a desk & a modern bathroom with descent shower pressure. You got 3 big bath sheets & 3 hand towels. The shampoo, soap & lotion smelled crisp, fresh gender neutral. There is a mini ‘fridge and a safe but no microwave. There is a microwave on the far side of the Art Bar. I’m not sure if guests are allowed to use it but they can access it. ||||You do get free wi fi (well included in the resort fee) but you have to scroll down to find the free access part. Once connected it worked fine for the searches we did. We were not conducting business so can't speak to that level of connectivity. ||||The folks who worked at the Art Bar were overwhelmed, understaffed & frazzled most of the time. The breakfast shift had hustle but $8 for an egg & cheese on a biscuit that was barely 2 inches in diameter is highway robbery. The unfortunate woman working the bar Saturday night could not keep up with demand. She was polite but slow. I can't really say she was doing her best. I think the hotel had done this to her before so she was muddling through but unwilling to hustle because if she fully handled the crowd the hotel would probably conclude she should always have to perform the work of 2 people. The bottles of booze do not have bar pourers. She had to unscrew bottle caps each time. With a wedding at the hotel & many party guests now downstairs, she was so overwhelmed she had to tell guests she did not have time to make “complicated” cocktails like martinis or margaritas. You could only get a beer, wine or a simple mixed drink like Gin & Tonic or Rum & Coke. It's a staffing issue. ||||The in room closet is miniscule, maybe 18 inches wide. We were only there for the weekend but I doubt you could fit a full sized suitcase in there. ||||We were on the 17th floor so only heard the loudest of city sirens. This is a commercial district – lots of offices, law firms etc. so it was fairly empty on the weekends. There are restaurants nearby. We walked to the Love & Amor sculptures, the Basilica of St. Peter & Paul, City Hall and the Reading Terminal Market. The convention center was also within walking distance. ||||In another review somebody mentioned the prevalent smell of weed in the area. That was very true but there was a “furry” convention going on & let's just say in addition to the costumes which I mistook for comic-con many attendees partook of that smelly substance. I swear I got a contact high from being in the elevator with 4 of them. That part was not the hotel’s fault but it was something we experienced. ||||The hotel does have the security feature of having to swipe your card to get up to the room levels above 8. That was nice but you end up going for a ride if you don't get your key / floor in there fast enough. ||||The garage next to the hotel is fairly expensive -- $52 per day -- but hotel guests do get in & out privileges. The problem with that is you are just going to pay at the next location anyway so you might as well walk or take public transportation. ||||The rooftop pool is on the 8th floor atop the garage. They did a nice job of making it a green space with huge pots of plants. It seemed like there were a few "influencer" types making their kids pose but not letting them swim and another woman who walked around filming herself. There is a lift chair for disabled guests. There are plenty of loungers and even more towels. Do bring towel clips; the wind gusts blew my eye glasses off the nearby table. There is a small bar at the pool but they didn't have enough staff to open the pool bar and the lobby bar at the same time. Around the corner is a gym; I didn’t avail myself of that because we walked a lot 12 – 15,000 steps per day. The pool closes at 8. Once that pool door closes you can't get back in with your room key after hours.||||You can bring your dog. I saw 2 in the lobby but never heard them so they were well behaved. I think it’s $75 per night for your pup which is why we...

I spent a weekend (two nights) in this hotel and paid for the entire stay myself, no points. I booked directly through the hotel website, not a third party and no discounts were given. Six other friends booked rooms here as well. One in our party was upgraded to a suite for no particular reason, which we thought was really great as we enjoyed hanging out in her room due to the additional space (and free bottled water).

Parking:

Only onsite option is valet parking. I was able to pull directly into the garage even though there was heavy traffic at 1 pm on a Friday and lots of people checking in and out. The door to the front desk is easily accessible, however there is no ramp to roll your luggage up, so you have to lift it. There are no bellman at this hotel so you can ask for a luggage cart (the concierge offered the cart for me, but I declined). There are 2 sets of doors into the lobby from the garage and they are heavy glass doors and difficult to navigate with luggage. Why they don't have automatic doors there, I don't know, but that's something they should invest it. You can walk outside the garage and go through the revolving door which is easier to navigate.

Front Desk:

I arrived at 1pm and my room was ready even though check in is 4pm. There were two people at the front desk checking people in, however, they were both very busy with people on the phone. My wait was only about 2 minutes. At other times, there was only one person at the front desk at any time I walked through the lobby.

Room:

2120 - I would say this room was renovated in the last few years. The ceiling outside the bathroom looks like it has water damage from a leak above, the tub looks like the re-enameling they did on it is wearing off. It is a king room, plenty of room for your luggage and a tiny closet if you need to hang anything. Plenty of plugs to charge all your devices.

Bathroom:

Tub with shower curtain, a little counter place, but open shelving below. I used the shelves as well as the top of the refrigerator outside the bathroom. The sink is very small and the faucet cannot be moved which can be difficult when you are trying to wash your face. Whoever designed that should find a new line of work.

Concierge:

Our party are big fans of Fran. She was very helpful getting us booked on a tour bus and getting us picked up by a private van at the hotel by the tour bus company as well as giving us lunch suggestions. We called her later in the day for dinner assistance and she was able to get us reservations at Devil's Alley with a large table upstairs in their private area to accommodate a party of 11. The concierge on Friday afternoon was very helpful with lunch suggestions as well.

Art Bar:

This is the main place for food in this hotel. It is very confusing. We never knew when we were supposed to sit and be served or go to the counter and get food. One morning we were handed coffee at the counter the next day we were charged an additional $3.50 service fee because we were sitting down. It is also closed mid day, so it's not an option for lunch, but it's not clear how/when you can get snacks to go. I saw a lot of people ordering food delivery from outside the hotel. Service ranged from super slow to super fast. There was no rhyme or reason to it. At 8:30 on a Sunday morning with no one there but 4 of us the first bagel was toasted and to our table in 2 minutes. The next bagel was 30 minutes away. It seemed there was only one person working.

A word about lunch. There is no way to eat in this hotel at lunch. Art Bar doesn't open until 3:30 as does Room Service. It's not clear when Ruth's Chris opens. You have to go out for lunch.

The staff could not be nicer. The hotel seemed very clean. The location seemed safe at during the day alone and safe at night walking...

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...