Hilton Pennywell St. Louis at the Arch — Hotel in St. Louis

Pennywell is promoted on the web as a luxury, historic hotel, it DOES NOT live up to its claims! And certainly, NOT Hilton quality. Staff interactions were about 50/50 for courteous and friendly; but the bad overshadowed the good! I organized a family vacation for my sisters to gather in St. Louis, a central location and would fulfill a buck list item enjoying the Gateway Arch. My youngest sister suggested a nostalgic downtown hotel. From Google we agreed on the Pennywell, a Hilton motel. The location was perfect and appearances were charming, that was about the end of a good review of this business, When we arrived, the valet waited at his stand for my sister to approach him, he took her keys and then stood there and watched us unload our own baggage, never offering to assist or retrieve a luggage cart. Check in was basic, given door cards and sent up to 5th floor, only to be greeted by a warm, stuffy room, lacking linens and no ice bucket and only 2 glasses. The room had only one outlet near the desk with one USB port, we took turns charging electronics! Our first breakfast was a disappointment. The $20 price tag brought limited choices, cold, tasteless food. Many serving containers empty. I have stayed as much less expensive hotels with far superior breakfast options and at Hiltons that included it in the room cost. Our first day of adventure concluded coming back to very big disappointment: anticipating Hilton quality only to find the room was just as we had left it, wet linens, beds unmade and trash unemptied. Oh, and the room had NO telephone, so we had to go to the desk as we left for our dinner to tell the clerk of the room situation. Therefore, no way to communicate emergencies or needs! We had texted the valet to our departure time; got downstairs to him standing at his station no vehicle in sight, told it was around the corner; not in the open area in front of the hotel. He handed my sister the keys and pointed in the direction of the car. Returning from a wonderful dinner we stopped by the lounge at 10:45 pm to be told we could not be seated as they were closed, before we left that morning we asked for hours of the lounge and told it is open until midnight. Staff was argumentative until my sister asked for a manager who explained that the kitchen closed at 11 pm but bar was open until midnight. After the struggle at the bar, we headed up to our room only to find the room as we had left it, un-serviced BUT someone had placed 3 sets of clean towels on the desk. As we left for our second day of adventure my sister notified the staff that our expectation was to come back to a fully serviced room. Our early morning checkout was a nightmare. We were actually half-hour late to the airport. We could not change the credit card because they were doing an audit and we should have notified him of our early checkout. And he stated he could not give us a print out of charges at this time. Now our final interaction with valet parking, oh my, he retrieved the car, came to lobby and informed us the car was at the side of the building, we found it sitting at the red light in the traffic lane! Again, no assistance with bags or any courtesies offered. Valet services were an additional $45 per day! I suggest you try...

I had a semi-long stay in this hotel for a regional conference during a VERY busy weekend with the Cardinal's season opener, other sport tournaments, a tornado alert, and actual increment weather; and it was one of THE most customer-centered pleasures I've experienced in a long time.

TJ managed a lot of moving parts with the expertise, cadence, and elegance of a high caliber luxury resort. They are going through an rebrand and are essentially new, but the way he facilitated solutions to solve every hiccup, and the calmness and professionalism with which he carried himself, was reassuring and something that is certainly missing in today's service industry. From the first encounter at the front desk, Ariel, made me feel special when I mentioned that I would also be celebrating my anniversary that weekend. She went above and beyond and got my husband and I complimentary glasses of wine, and with TJ, they surprised us with an upgrade to the Presidential Suite on our last night there. It was a grand end to a fun experience. I think specially after the pandemic, customer service has suffered a huge hit in delivery because of the lack of staffing, but Ariel and TJ reminded me of what the standard could be.

The hotel itself is richly beautiful. It is officially a national historical landmark, which you can read about on the intersection of Olive and 4th. It was originally a bank, and it resembles Gringotts Wizarding Bank (Harry Potter fans :). In fact, they still have the vault doors dating back to the 1800's, and you can see the style reflected throughout the lobby and hallways of the building. Pay attention to the framed historical nuggets throughout.

The food and cocktails, particularly the risotto and old fashions, are tasty. They have a very reasonable menu, especially for hotel food, that is diverse and offers great mixology. Although they don't have a stocked mini bar in the rooms, they have a little snack vault by the front desk which is convenient.

The rooms have been remodeled to maintain the old charm and historical value. They are spacious compared to similar hotels in the area, and with newer amenities. Though not directly across from the it, many of them have a partial view of the Arch. The location is only two blocks away from the Arch and a really nice park that surrounds it in front of the river. It is also walking distance to a bunch of other restaurants, (I suggest you try Sugarfire Smoke House), and Busch Stadium for games.

We really enjoyed our stay in this hotel. The staff certainly demonstrated St. Louis hospitality beyond our expectations, and provided a good environment to go back to after long days. Thank you sincerely for the treatment we received. Our stay at the Pennywell will, no doubt, stay in our memories as a highlight....

I just stayed at this hotel last weekend for my son's volleyball tournament and I should have stayed at the Marriott. First off, when I checked in, they informed me that they were going to charge me an extra $150 on top of my rate. When I asked them why, he had no explanation and said that it gets refunded after I check out.

The other thing is that there are no amenities at this time, where-as the Marriott has full restaurant bar open and it was much closer to the tournament. The poor woman in front of me actually switched to this hotel because the reviews said that the restaurant and bar were top rated! There's no room service and they won't clean your room until you leave. Also, they do not tell you that there is a $30 per night fee for parking in the garage and that you get locked in overnight. That's right, I could not exit the garage at 6:30 the next morning to bring my son to his volleyball team meeting and go out and get some breakfast because there was a metal fence that locked our cars in the garage and the key card did not work! We had to walk in freezing temperatures to the Marriott where his volleyball team met up. I walked back to the Hilton and complained to the front desk. She took my card and re-charged it. I went back to the garage and it did not work again. I went back again and she gave me a brand new card. By then, the metal fence was finally raised up and I was able to exit the garage over an hour later. She said that they would not charge me for any of the garage fees and apologized for the garage company for not having a representative there to help. I parked on the street the rest of my stay. When I received my bill, there were charges on my receipt for every night that I was there even though I only parked there for one night! What is wrong with this company?

From a room standpoint, the water pressure in the bathroom was poor. Forget about a pleasant shower to refresh you in the morning. The menu guide does not work for the cable TV so if you want to look ahead to see what movies and tv shows are available, forget it. I also called down to the front desk to ask for some soap and an extra bedsheet the next morning and they said that someone would bring that up right away. Well 2 hours later, still nothing. I actually had to walk out of my room and heard someone from housekeeping just finish speaking with someone while cleaning a room down the hall. I asked if she knew about my request and she said "no". Thankfully, she obliged and provided that to me. Be forewarned, if you want to stay there, you will be charged an extra $150, if you park in their garage, you run the risk of being locked in, you have no room service, and the water pressure is poor. Be prepared to NOT enjoy...