W Philadelphia — Hotel in Philadelphia

My mother and I returned to W Philadelphia for a mother-daughter getaway and belated celebration of her 70th birthday, having previously stayed shortly after the hotel opened. While several staff members provided exceptional service, one deeply disappointing interaction at check-in negatively impacted our experience.||Check-In:||Before arrival, Tony was incredibly helpful and thorough over the phone, ensuring our requests—extra pillows and blankets—were handled. When we arrived at the hotel and went to check-in, we were met by a staff member who was shockingly rude, dismissive, and outright ageist toward my mother. We went to our room, and while I was unpacking, my mother returned to the lobby for a simple cup of hot tea, as instructed, since the hotel had a setup for arriving guests but had run out of tea bags. She was told they would be restocked shortly and to check back in about 20 minutes. There were no tea bags or hot water, and when she politely approached the same staff member, she treated my mother as though she had no idea she would be asking for her assistance, refused eye contact, and told her she didn’t "know how things were done at W Hotels." The interaction ended with a shrug before the staff member walked away abruptly and into the back office. When she returned, she was dispirited and discouraged,  which was overwhelmingly upsetting for me as well.||Mr. Mashiur Rahman’s Outstanding Hospitality:||That evening, I spoke with Mr. Mashiur Rahman, a Manager, whose genuine care and professionalism immediately turned things around. He listened intently, offered a private space to discuss our concerns, and provided his direct line to contact him for anything we needed. The next morning, he arranged an upgrade to the WOW Suite on the 48th floor and personally visited to wish my mother a happy birthday, bringing with him a beautiful cake, balloons, and a heartfelt birthday card which was filled with kind notes and birthday wishes from members of the management staff.|||The WOW Suite:||Our WOW Suite was truly stunning.||- Floor-to-ceiling windows with breathtaking 180-degree views and a spacious balcony.||- A luxurious soaking tub - it really is as wonderful as it looks!||- Smart control panels which offered various light settings and opened/closed the curtains in every room.||- Bluetooth connectivity for audio throughout the suite.||- High-end toiletries||- Truly unique touches in the décor, which made every inch of the space feel special (such as the magnificent chandelier!)||- An enormous plush couch—perfect for relaxing with a champagne toast.||- Service was impeccably swift—extra pillows and blankets arrived in under five minutes.||The beds in both suites we stayed in were very comfortable. |||Dolce (Onsite Restaurant):||We had breakfast at Dolce - the onsite restaurant - both mornings. The staff were excellent, specifically Jessica, who offered warm, attentive and thoughtful service. I don't personally have an appetite in the morning, but I saw several items on the menu that sounded very tasty, were forward-thinking, from a culinary standpoint, and my mother enjoyed her food on both occasions. The atmosphere and décor was also lovely. |||Check-Out:||At check-out, Ajani was incredibly kind and professional, assisting with our luggage and leaving us with a genuinely positive final impression. While we waited for our car to arrive, he offered us something to drink and suggested we make ourselves comfortable in the lobby lounge, while he minded our luggage and watched for our car - thank you, Ajani!||Final Thoughts:||While the check-in experience was profoundly unacceptable, I’m deeply grateful to Mr. Rahman, Ajani, Tony, and Jessica (as well as a few other members of the management staff whose simple actions made a big difference - example: two individuals called up to our room just to check-in and make sure we had everything we needed), for their outstanding hospitality. Their efforts transformed our stay, ensuring my mother felt truly celebrated.||Would I return again? If all staff upheld the standard set by Mr. Rahman and his team, absolutely. But no guest - regardless of their age... I feel absurd even having to say that - should ever experience the disrespect my...

I had hoped I wouldn’t need to write this review, but given the fact management has been totally unresponsive since my check out one week ago, I feel it is my duty to warn any potential guests of this property about the kind of experience you can expect when staying here.

I spent two nights here in the “Wow” suite, which is situated on the 47th floor and has a west-facing balcony overlooking the city skyline. The rate for this suite is $3800/night, plus taxes and fees and does not include breakfast. While the photos online make this room appear quite posh, the reality is anything but. First off, when I arrived to the room (unescorted and with no help with baggage… not a good start), the condition and cleanliness was not satisfactory. The hotel had hosted a party in the room a day or two prior and did not clean up properly afterwards, which led to several problems throughout the stay. The balcony especially was littered with confetti, cigarette butts, and spilled drink residue. I called housekeeping immediately who came after an hour or so and did a cursory cleaning, however the deck still had dried sticky drink residue on it, and the outdoor furniture was stained and had several cigarette burn holes in it. Not a luxurious feeling by any stretch of the imagination. The problems continued inside as well, the sectional couch was not put back together correctly, and dust and detritus had accumulated within the tufts, clearly the couch was well used and not clean. The living room also has weird chainmail curtains that are supposed to run on motors, but clearly they are too heavy for the motorized system and as a result the barely open halfway or close completely, which blocks any semblance of a view you may have, while also not providing any darkness at night. Another significant design flaw is the open bathroom, which has no door or privacy beyond another chain mail curtain (that doesn’t close completely), so the toilet and shower which have a clear glass enclosure face the living area… zero privacy whatsoever… this is a major problem I have seen other reviews mention, so easy to fix but no one has cared to do so.

All of these issues aside, the lack of cleanliness attracted bugs to the room, and over my two night stay, I was assaulted by flying roaches not once, not twice, but three times! Totally inexcusable! Every time one flew at me, I immediately called down to the front desk, the first time I complained, they said someone was on their way, but no one ever came, so I killed the bug myself. The second time, 11pm at night, I had a bug crawling on my shoulder while preparing for bed that then flew away and crawled behind the bathroom mirror, I called again, a maintenance man came up, pointed to the bug, and said “you can kill it.” Is this a joke? So I had to kill a second bug, and then the man left without even offering to clean it up… insanity. The third large bug appeared the following morning as I was packing, flew onto my face, then tried to hide in my suitcase. I called down again, they flippantly said “maybe you just left the balcony door open,” no one came to help, so I killed it. I have attached photos of all the bugs.

Suggesting that somehow this bug problem was my fault is just beyond, roaches don’t fly up 47 stories, most birds don’t even fly that high, and on a 96 degree day, do you really think I’m leaving the balcony door open all day so bugs can somehow fly inside? I think not.

At checkout, I naturally was very incensed, and the robotic woman working behind the desk didn’t even acknowledge me, the situation, or offer any apology, she just rolled her eyes, charged my card, and dismissed me.

I could go on about other issues at this hotel like the poor food quality and the overcrowded pool (8 pool chairs for a 49 story hotel!), but it’s not worth it. If you want to be conned into a “luxury” experience only to be abused and ignored, then this is the hotel for you, otherwise, avoid this roach motel...

I’m posting this review now however I am waiting for a response from headquarters once they investigate the incident on how they plan to rectify this situation. I booked a stay from 08/27/2022 to 08/28/2022 at the W Philadelphia to celebrate my birthday, which was the 27th. The check in process was smooth and the front desk staff member that checked me in was friendly, welcoming and thanked me for being a valued member. The room was clean, spacious and had great views of the city. The initial feeling of this seems like a very nice place to spend my birthday weekend was very much short lived. I had a relaxing massage nearby to start my evening off and after coming back decided to spend some time at the pool before dinner. We turned the car into valet around 6:25pm. The pool area was a lot to take in since it is definitely not for relaxing purposes which is what I was looking to do before dinner. It was people partying in the pool who were not guest of the hotel behaving in a matter that is not family friendly yet there were kids trying to also enjoy the pool. The hotel rents out the few pool cabanas they have to outside guest yet the pool area is fairly small to be shared by paying hotel guest and party goers of the pool. I did not stay in the pool area long but saw enough to know that although the hotel is nice, I probably would not be staying here again if my main focus was to have a relaxing experience. If your looking to party it’s perfect. We contacted valet to retrieve the car 8:40 and was told the car would be ready in 15mins which was fine as we were only going 12 blocks for dinner. We came down to the valet and waited until about 9:10 and questioned the staff on where the vehicle was due to it being over 15 minutes. Three separate groups came up with their tickets to request their cars while we were waiting and all 3 were able to retrieve their cars within 10-15 minutes while we continued to wait. My fiancé asked the valet staff what was going on with the car and was told he does not work down there so he don’t know. During the time we were waiting the valet staff was standing around not doing anything yet we were told they were short staffed which was the reason for the delay. The person handling the valet tickets was having personal conversations on his phone during this incident and it wasn’t until we insisted, he contact the other staff to find out where the car is that he actually ended his call. He contacted another valet staff member to ask where the car was and kept saying “the green jawn you don’t see the green jawn”. The vehicle had a valet tag with a number which was on the slip we were provided, the car and the key ring so I did not understand why he was not providing the ticket number to locate the car or the make in model. The front valet staff then told us he doesn’t know where the car is nor the key so we just have to wait. At this point it is 9:25 and we are close to missing our reservation which no idea what the issue is with getting our car out of valet. I went inside to get assistance from the front desk staff at that point because the valet staff were all just standing outside talking and playing yet no one was concerned at the fact that it has now been 30 plus minutes and we still do not have our car. The valet staff then gets on his phone and began to talk negatively about my fiancé because he felt like he had an attitude, was bothering him and he don’t know what he tripping for all because he continued to questioned if the car is missing and the key is missing then who has the car. The valet manager Jacob Winders stood around doing nothing and didn’t attempt to step in and handle the situation himself. The car finally showed up to valet around 9:40pm, which wouldn’t have given us enough time to make it to our reservation so I missed my surprise birthday dinner. I didn’t feel safe staying at this hotel or valeting the car so we checked out. Valet...