The Ritz-Carlton, Philadelphia — Hotel in Philadelphia

At check-in, I asked about a paid upgrade to a room or suite with access to the club lounge. I was told it would be an extra $400 a night, except the lounge was closed for half my stay. That made no sense. Why would you sell club lounge rooms on nights with no open and operational club lounge? Also, $400 seems steep. I may have considered it if the upgrade price was $150-ish.||||I was upgraded to a suite on the 28th floor. There are 30 floors. The club lounge is on the 30th floor.||||No in-room amenity or even a thank you card. At check-in, I also didn’t get a welcome letter. ||||The suite had a mini-bar, but it was unstocked and warm to the touch. So, the refrigeration wasn’t working.||||The suite was dirty with hair on the nightstand and in the nightstand drawer, hair on the toiletries in the bathroom, and extensive mold or mildew in the shower. Obviously, that’s unacceptable, not least for a suite. This should be one of their best rooms.||||Décor was fine. On the more classic end, which is fine. But it didn't feel like luxury. The overall room/suite was more like a pre-pandemic Sheraton, Westin or JW Marriott. More on this observation later.||||I was moved to a second room, a non-suite. I was told no further suites were available, except on a much lower floor.||||The bellmen quickly moved me to the new room. But upon entering, none of the lights worked. So, he took me down to the front desk.||||At this point, I asked for the duty manager. He was apologetic, but I emphasized my disappointment because these rooms should have been inspected. How does someone inspecting the rooms not notice nonfunctioning lights, let alone the cleanliness issues in the suite?||||I was given a third room -- a regular king room on the 24th floor with a decent view of City Hall.||||This room was mostly clean. I say mostly because some hair was on the floor around the toilet. I also saw hair in the bathtub. In the walk-in shower, the grouting could be updated.||||Turndown service consisted of a housekeeper placing two chocolates and two plastic bottles of purified water on a nightstand. The bed itself wasn’t turned down. The curtains weren’t closed.||||Housekeepers put a QR code in the room for tips. I know this is common at many hotels today but it comes off as tacky at a Ritz-Carlton.||||I asked for a newspaper at the front desk and was told one would be delivered to my room in the morning. I never received a newspaper. However, I found three newspapers at the front desk: the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and a local Philadelphia newspaper.||||I assume the hotel offers room service. There was a card to hang on the door for breakfast, but no menu or information on room service at other times during the day.||||In general, I thought the hotel was showing its age. Some of the wall coverings were scuffed and scratched. The old in-room thermostat was covered over with beige and white plastic. The last renovation was in 2016. Rooms only have 1 USB outlet. How does a hotel room in the year 2025 only have a single USB outlet? One of the lamp shades was twisted around. My third room had a stocked mini-bar, unlike the suite, but, like the suite, the mini-bar refrigeration was broken. So, everything was at room temperature. That just reinforced the lack of attention to detail. I also didn’t see any prices for any items in the mini-bar.||||Noise insulation was poor. While I couldn’t hear street noise, I could hear the room beside me. Every time they used their phone on speakerphone, I could hear them dial the number and even the conversation. It was like I was in their room. So, if you’re staying here, you probably don’t want to have any sensitive telephone conversations in the room.||||The lobby bar and restaurant is better than average. Both at night with drinks and dinner, and in the morning at breakfast. Prices were what you expect at a downtown hotel. Service was good, although the waitress in the morning at breakfast was calling male customers “hunny,” “sweetheart,” and “love.” It was well-intended, but you don’t expect that at a Ritz-Carlton. The wine list is excellent. I really liked the fact they had two Mexican wines from Monte Xanic in the Valle de Guadalupe.||||In the morning, there's free self-serve coffee in the lobby. It probably doesn't make sense to pay $6 for a cup of coffee in the restaurant when it's free in the lobby.||||Also, the lobby restaurant is strangely closed on Monday outside breakfast. So, I'm not sure what hotel guests are supposed to do for dinner if they stay on a Monday. It's unclear if the lobby bar is also closed on Monday afternoons and evenings.||||For $322 per night before taxes and fees, the Ritz-Carlton is about $75-$125 more per night than many of the other Marriott options. I think it’s an okay value. But, in all honesty, the hotel's overall standard is more equivalent to a 4-star Sheraton or Westin (at least pre-pandemic) than a real 5-star luxury hotel. If you're used to real 5-star luxury hotels, the Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia...

Hotel itself beautiful, appears upscale; service barely mediocre.

Note: I’ve stayed in Center City at Marriott, Residence Inn, Aloft, & Renaissance, where service was fine; Notary & Ritz (which should be top-notch) are awful.

I’d messaged thru the app a day before ab early checkin. Response was they’d try to have it ready by noon. I said we were arriving 12:30-1:00. We arrived at about 1:20 and were told that early arrivals go into a queue, first-come-first-serve. So…why not just say that? Anything else is disingenuois.

We stored luggage, walked around town, returned, sat down in “restaurant”. It was 1/2hr until a waitress came by. She said she’d been the only waitress for a while. That’s not her fault—staffing is responsibility of management—but also not our fault. It should not take half an hour for first contact anywhere, let alone the Ritz.

At this point, I messaged thru the app, telling them they should’ve been honest. They replied saying that room was ready (no apology).

I’d just ordered a chicken Caesar and now room’s ready & the teens want in so they could change like they’d planned earlier.

I left my husband at the table to have a beer & wait for my food.

Went up, door wouldn’t open. Green light came on but handle wouldn’t budge. An employee who happened to be down the hall tried repeatedly, couldn’t open. He told me to go back down & get re-keyed.

I left my daughter & her friend with my stuff, went back down. Front desk asked for room number, said she’d been told to send me to Concierge.

“For my keys??” “Yes.” (My guess is she wasn’t listening, assumed I wanted luggage)

Off to Concierge. No one there. Waited. None even visible in the vicinity.

Back to front desk, got keys. A bellhop & trainee take me to my room (Sebastian & I forget trainee’s name). Both were nice. If the rest of the hotel were as nice & competent, they’d be a better hotel.

When we arrived at room door, my daughter said engineering had come by, needed to go get a different tool. By now, I’m wondering if they’re going to fix it properly or I’m going to get locked out again; or locked inside, which would be worse & a fire hazard.

Engineer returned & was changing a battery—WHY are they letting DOOR batteries run out??, but meanwhile bellhop had arranged for new room.

So: once I got my keys (2hrs after arrival), it was another 1/2hr before I got into a room.

(My daughter’s friend, who wasn’t used to upscale hotels, commented that none of this has happened at (the lower-end) Hiltons where she’d stayed…how embarrassing to take a teen to the Ritz & have her conclusion be that lower-end hotels are better.)

I returned to husband. Chicken on my salad was cold, but I ate, paid, left. (The women across from us were also waiting for their rooms & normal checkin had passed. See a pattern?)

When I complained in the morning to the front desk about the food being cold after the 1/2hr nightmare, they should’ve offered to comp it, but no—he just said sorry; that’s how bad the service is: cold food is acceptable enough not to try to make it right, even after the door fiasco that caused it, which they didn’t make right, either.

Room nice, bathroom fantastic.

Later that eve, my daughter realized she’d forgotten toothbrush. She called down…then 1/2hr later called back asking status…Apparently, nothing at this Ritz takes less than a half an hour.

This experience was in stark contrast to the most recent Marriott I stayed in, the St. Regis in DC, where we arrived, they took us in to have a seat at a desk, handed me champagne, and check-in was quick. To go from that hotel to this Ritz was quite a letdown. I’m not even asking for much—a room with a working door, semi-decent restaurant service—that’s NOT a prima donna ask, guys.

For Center City Marriotts I recommend Aloft or Residence Inn if you want consistent service in a decent hotel; Ritz/Notary if you want a beautiful hotel with bad service.

Update: they comped valet parking & issued partial credit. I’m satisfied w the outcome but would’ve preferred...

On Friday March 7th at the Aqimero Bar Lounge inside the Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia I received what I would consider the worst service I have ever received at any Marriott property. My husband and I were there for a wedding that was taking place in the city over the weekend. A lot of guests from the wedding were staying at the Ritz so the bar/lounge was pretty busy (and it was also a Friday evening around 930-10PM). The moment we walked in we were 'scolded' by a server by the name of Lisa to sit. She stated we were not allowed to stand in the lounge area and we had to be seated. Please keep in mind there were probably about 10 other people all around us that were standing with no issues. We were seated at a table and she served us. She brought us drinks. After one round of drinks (there were 4 of us) we asked for our tab. All four drinks were placed on one tab and our friend had paid. When she came to collect the receipt we had asked if we could get a token for the champagne machine in the lobby. She brought us a token and our tab for it. My husband gave his card for the $25 token and when she brought the receipt back to sign it was a duplicate of the receipt for the round of four drinks that we had already paid for (approximately $78). He waited for her to come by to let her know that the receipt was actually a duplicate of the tab that we had already gotten. When she went by instead of stopping she just said 'Yeah I know what happened'. Not even letting us say anything. Please keep in mind my husband previously worked in the hospitality industry so he is extremely understanding that things happen and always treats serves with respect. After a few minutes she came back with an updated receipt and gave it to my husband. She did not explain ANYTHING she just gave him the updated receipt reflecting the $25 charge for the token. He then asked what had been done with the previous charge of $78+ because at that point we had already seen that there was a hold on our account for that fee. When she answered him she was beyond rude and did not actually explain what had happened. He very nicely said 'I understand that you reran the credit card but i just want to ensure that the first charge was voided so that i am not charged twice.' With attitude she reassured him that she credited the first one then reran it for the second charge. The way she spoke to us was uncalled for. We were never once rude to her. The moment we walked into the lounge she was being rude/giving us attitude. She was beyond disrespectful the way she spoke to my husband. I asked the bussers (2 younger gentleman) if I could speak with her manager because of how we were treated and they responded with 'yes we saw it all'. When the manager came out I explained everything that happened to her. The ONLY thing the manager had to say to me was 'Thanks for bringing this to my attention' When you stay at a Ritz-Carlton you expect some of the highest levels of service. You don't expect to be spoken down to, given attitude by servers when you're simply asking them to do their job, and if you raise concerns you certainly do not expect to feel as though it was a waste of your time to raise the concern. Not one time did anybody say 'i'm sorry' instead we were treated poorly and made to feel as though it was our fault she had made a mistake. I'm beyond disappointed in the service we received that evening. We were at the lounge the night before and a gentleman by the name of Ricky was working. He was amazing. Attentive, personable, and a pleasure to speak to. That is the type of experience you want when going to a Ritz. Even though we had a great experience Thursday after what we experienced on Friday I would not recommend going to that bar/lounge to friends due to the service...