Embassy Suites by Hilton Philadelphia Valley Forge — Hotel in Tredyffrin Township

We stayed at this hotel for 5 nights. Here is my honest review of our stay:

When we arrived, we were immediately greeted and welcomed to the property. We had chosen a room ahead of time (Hilton Silver Member) so all we needed to do is pickup our room keys. The person who checked us in, mentioned all of the happenings at the hotel such as breakfast, the evening reception and all of the amenities. We brought everything to the room and noticed that the temperature in the room was set to 75 degrees. We put the thermostat down to 68 and began to unpack. In the room we noticed that there were several markings on the walls, the drapes and chips in the countertops. We then went to wash our face and hands and the first 2 towels we picked up were soiled. We went out for dinner and came back and the temperature was still set at 75 so we had our room changed. Abdul and Mohammed were extremely professional and apologetic during this process. They were able to find a room a few doors down so moving was less painful at 10 in the evening. When we moved into the second room, we noticed that the thermostat would not go down past 68 degrees. Once again, I went to the front desk and complained. We were then told that hotel policy is the thermostats cannot be lowered past 68 degrees. I asked to speak with a manager that evening and was told there is none available. I then asked to speak to someone in engineering and had the pleasure of speaking with Wayne. Wayne explained the policy and offered to override the thermostat for us and sure enough, we were able to get the room to 65 degrees (which is a comfortable temperature to sleep in). I brought Wayne up to our first room to show him the issues we had and he agreed, that the room was not in good shape. The second room we stayed in had a working air conditioner, so we didn't want to press our luck. This room also had many issues. Multiple stains on the walls, carpets and furniture. The bathroom floors and shower did not appear to be clean. The complimentary breakfast and evening reception were nice touches. Hats off to Beni and the bartender for always having a smile and greeting the guests. This hotel also has a swimming pool and a decent fitness center. The pool is in need of some repair. The floor of the pool is coming up and the wall paint is dented, scratched and coming apart. The vents have mold and rust coming out of them. There is no hot tub. Oddly enough, the pool closes at 9PM which is kind of early for a hotel, but it is what it is.

For location, about 10 minutes from King of Prussia mall, 10 minutes from Valley Forge, 45 minutes from Lancaster and 30 minutes from Philly. The hotel does not offer a shuttle bus and has ample free parking.

So overall, we had an OK stay. The bed was comfortable and the grounds are beautiful. Everyone we came in contact with was extremely professional and nice. I would not recommend this hotel to someone who is looking for a luxury stay. I would recommend this hotel for someone that is OK with some dings/dents/scratches (you get the gist). Reading others reviews, it appears everyone is in alignment. This hotel really needs a makeover!

If you asked me would I stay here again...my answer would be yes, but before unpacking I would thoroughly check the room! I hope management listens to their guests and revamps this hotel. It has the potential to be one of the best...

Check in was the highlight of our entire experience at this very average (at best) hotel. Unfortunately, it was all down hill from there. While the staff may believe its the Ritz or Waldorf, rooms are tired, small and show evidence of recent prior guests. By all accounts they are understaffed. Those we did interact with where not the most pleasant hospitality employees

Before even arriving, hotel staff set that tone that sports teams are not welcome and children are to be kept on leashes and quiet at all times. For the record, we did not specifically choose these accommodations, they are assigned.

Our room was average at best with a high hat light in the bathroom that had obvious signs of water damage from above. On our last day we noticed an active slow drip. I'm sure water and electricity combine well for the safety of guests. I would guess the room was given a very basic cleaning after the last guest left, but it was far from spotless or even sanitized. Forget any kind of sound proofing, a sneeze in the hallway could be heard in the room as well as traffic from Route 202.

Cocktail Reception - Disguising, no serving utensils out or plates for snacks. What a petri dish delight it was. A couple of bowls of chips and something that resemble a cheese platter. No bar tender when we arrived and when he did show up he was about as warm and hospitable as a pissed off mama grizzly bear.

No outside food or drink is allowed in certain areas. No problem, provide reliable access to food and drink for your guests. Even congregating in these areas was not tolerated.

You've decided to host sports teams for a tournament and then put up a sign that no sports equipment is allowed in the hotel. Absolutely brilliant! No matter, we brought in our bagged gear as I was not leaving expensive equipment in our vehicle, in a lot, I'm sure they would take no responsibility for if theft or damage occurred.

Security threatened minor children to break down hotel doors and one that claimed to have a weapon. Awesome! I should add that no attempt was made to speak with the parents of these minor children about what their egregious offenses might have been.

Complimentary breakfast was a joke. Understaffed, cold buffet food and empty chaffing trays. Good luck finding utensils there either. The hotel is not equipped to handle the volume of people they booked in their very own hotel.

Most of their noise issues stem from having a bar at the bottom of a multi-story atrium. Your poor design choices are not the fault of guests. Noise from bar patrons was just fine so long as they were spending money at the bar watching football.

Inability to clear sidewalks or parking lot of snow.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why management of this hotel would throw their hat into the ring to host sports teams when they obviously do not want this clientele or equipped to handle significant volume. Not once did anyone come speak to any of the parents of our group, but had no problem intimidating the minor children we travelled with. As for being a guest at this hotel, I should comment that the tournament directors assign hotels and we had no real choice. Did I mention that guests in our group paid more than the rack rate available if you booked directly with the hotel?

A response from management is not needed and I will encourage others to share their candid experience with...

We have stayed at other ES and expected a certain standard. This hotel did not meet those expectations. Within the first 5 minutes of being in our room it we realized the sink in the bathroom was clogged. Called for maintenance. Man came up with a dripping toilet plunger. If we had babies, we would have been out right there. But we persevered. He got the correct plunger and unclogged the sink and we settled in. Next we realized the AC was extremely loud. Luckily we are all pretty heavy sleepers. We went down to the night reception. What a disappointment. It was beautifully laid out, but all they offered were some chips and salsa, veggies and dip, and crackers. It was just very underwhelming, and not what we've experienced at other Embassy Suites. Back at the room, there were only 3 towels for 4 people. I jumped in the shower and told the kids not to worry about it. We were on vacation and apparently "roughing" it. My husband got his shower in the morning.

The next morning we went to the hot breakfast (this is main reason we like Embassy Suites) The breakfast again was very underwhelming. My husband and son got omelets and they were under cooked. The food in warming trays was not very good. And the French toast was burnt. Everything tasted pre-made and cheap. This has not been our experience at other Embassy Suites.

When we got back from our day, we didn't bother going to the evening reception, so idk if they offered anything different. I did however get STUCK IN THE ELEVATOR WITH A MAN CARRYING A TO GO BOX AND DRINKS. The elevator is not operating correctly. The doors would shut and then you wouldn't move or it would start and stop. All of us on the elevator were a little scared for a minute. Again, we were on vacation with our kids so I just let it slide. We did go down to the pool and it was fine. That night we settled in to watch the debate and our TV did not work. Called maintenance and they brought a new TV. That one also did not work. But at least it had sound so we could listen to the debate like it was the 20s. We also discovered with both kids taking showers that the tub was also clogged and I had to mop up water that over flowed with towels. We didn't bother maintenance with this one. That night I was woken up several times by the air conditioner when it kicked on. It was that loud.

The next morning we got up had another mediocre breakfast and came home. At this point my husband also experienced the elevator malfunction and complained to the front desk. I don't know if they did anything about it.

This hotel is in need of some major updating and real maintenance. This might be fine for people on work trips (whose company is paying for their room), but its not for families on vacation. This experience makes me question if I should continue to be loyal to Hilton hotels. There were much better places we could have stayed (that were nicer and cheaper.) After this experience we probably won't be staying at any Hiltons for a while.

During our 2 night stay I saw 2 ants in the room. We never saw anyone at the hotel restaurant. And a hamburger was $17. So we did not eat there. The extra blankets and pillow in the room smelled like weed. They were not sealed in a bag and they stunk. The refrigerator door was broken. And there were stains on the walls...