An older hotel in Philadelphia that is starting to show considerable wear and tear, but with friendly staff and a decent breakfast.

Booking

The hotel can be booked either with cash or with Hyatt points. For this trip, I was traveling to attend a conference related to the healthcare profession (completely unrelated to travel) and the hotel was fully reimbursed. With that in mind, the review below represents my own opinions.

The World of Hyatt program considers this hotel to be a Category 4 hotel, costing between 12,000 and 18,000 Hyatt points for a standard room. Since it’s a Category 4 hotel, you could also consider using a Category 1-4 free night certificate here. This hotel doesn’t have a resort or destination fee, but if it did, you would not have to pay the fee when using points to book your room. For the nights I booked, the room was going for roughly $250/night, making points a decent option here.

Earning Hyatt points

If you’re looking to earn lots of Hyatt points quickly, you’ll want to stick with cards offered by Chase.

Hyatt Credit Cards

Unlike other major hotel chains that offer a multitude of credit cards aimed at cardholders looking for premium travel and those looking for no annual fees, Hyatt only offers two credit cards: a personal credit card and a business credit card.

The current offer for the personal card will allow you to earn 30,000 points with $3,000 spend in the first three months, and an additional point for every dollar spent up to $15,000 in the first six months. Hyatt has had better offers in the past, so it may be worth holding out for a better offer if you don’t have an immediate need for the points at the moment.

The current offer for the business card is a bit stronger, earning 60,000 points with $5,000 spend in the first three months. The card also currently offers double elite-qualifying nights through the end of 2022 if you wish to earn elite status with Hyatt.

Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR)

Chase UR points transfer 1:1 to World of Hyatt points, so 1,000 points could be transferred into 1,000 Hyatt points. Chase UR is a flexible currency, so you have the option of transferring to other partners, such as Air France, British Airways, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, or Marriott. This offer is for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card for 60k Chase UR points when you spend $4,000 in three months and represents a solid starter card in the world of travel rewards. If you have a small business, you could also consider one of Chase’s Ink business cards. Right now you could get up to 100k points at sign up, depending on the card you choose. These are elevated offers at the moment and are a fantastic way to rack up Chase UR points right away.

I do find myself frequently topping off my Hyatt points balance using Chase UR, so it is probably the better way to earn Hyatt points. The Hyatt card itself is better suited to those looking to earn Hyatt elite status.

Buy Points on Sale

It is possible to buy Hyatt points outright, but only consider it during a sale. The current sale through the end of September 2022 discounts the price by 30%, costing you $924 for 55,000 points (a cost of 1.68 cents/point). That’s the equivalent of paying about $252 USD for a room when it costs 15k points. I would say it’s probably not the best value to buy points strictly to stay at this hotel, but it potentially could make sense if you’re staying at an expensive time. Be sure to always check award availability before buying points.

Arrival and Initial Impressions

As I mentioned, I traveled to Philadelphia to attend a conference. The conference was at a nearby hotel and I chose to not stay at that hotel, instead preferring to stay loyal to Hyatt.

I have to admit I had a little bit of history myself with this hotel. The hotel is currently part of Hyatt’s Unbound Collection, which is their fancy way of saying it’s more of an independent hotel and doesn’t have consistent theming with other hotel in the brand. I was here somewhere around 10 years ago, back when it was considered a regular Hyatt and the hotel used to be a Park Hyatt before that. I had a great stay here many years ago and look back it somewhat fondly, as it was one of the first Hyatt hotels I went to after attaining Diamond status under the old Hyatt Gold Passport program.

While the hotel still has some of the charm of that original stay, sadly I must admit the hotel looks like it hasn’t been maintained properly since I was last here. Some may say it has more of a rustic look, but there is a way to properly maintain the hotel and still make things look like they are from an older era.

Allow me to try to make a point using the elevator as an example. The elevator had torn-up carpeting, some panels appeared loose, and tape covered elevator buttons that no longer existed. The elevator moved extremely slowly, and made me wonder if it would break down at some point. And, in fact, it did break down one night while a wedding was in progress. This was the only elevator made accessible to guests and naturally there were a lot of people wanting to use the elevator, myself included. After waiting for ten minutes on an elevator that never came, staff directed us to use a hidden freight elevator that only fit a couple of guests at a time (difficult when there were dozens of guests in line wanting to go upstairs) and somehow was even slower than the normal elevator.

That all being said, staff was still friendly and tried their best to navigate difficult situations.

The Room

Despite booking a standard room, the hotel upgraded me to a basic suite on account of my Hyatt Globalist status. I was assigned room 1235 on the twelfth floor, which is also known as The Conservatory. I have to admit, I am a bit confused by the space here. The floor appears to be an indoor meeting area, of sorts, but aside from a fountain, there isn’t much to see here. There is natural lighting but the space really needs some plants or artwork to make better use of the space. I did not see anyone hang out here and it’s unclear what’s the intent of the space.

My room was clean but it wasn’t a true suite with a separate bedroom. It was perfectly serviceable for me without any children. The room had a lengthy bar, which would have been good for entertaining any guests (I had none). But as it stood, the room felt a bit empty and needed a few more decorations to make it feel less cavernous.

The room I was assigned was an interior-facing room and thus faced The Conservatory. Someone outside could just walk up to the room and look in, so I kept the shades drawn at all times.

And speaking of the shades, I’ll admit I would have some extreme stress if I brought little kids along on this trip. The cords that open and close the shades were not attached to the walls (broken) and easily could have strangled a kid if they were to get tangled in the cords.

The restroom was noteworthy, but not necessarily for good reasons. First, the door opens right into the toilet. And I truly do mean right into the toilet. It’s impossible to fully open the door because the toilet is in the way. I’m not sure I’ve seen that before in a hotel room.

The bathroom also a timer… for the light switch. Do I need to suggest not using this feature when you are in the shower or the lights will completely go off? I’m genuinely not sure why this is the only light switch in the room to have a timer.

Dining

I did not get a chance to dine at the main restaurant (XIX on the nineteenth floor). However, thanks to my Globalist status, I did get complimentary breakfast, up to $75 for myself to use. And much like the other times I have the option between eating the provided conference breakfast and by myself in my room, I will tend to prefer the latter. Unlike other hotels I’ve been to, breakfast is only provided via room service and not in the restaurant.

The first morning, I ordered an omelet, a pastry, orange juice, hot tea, and a couple of bottles of water, and everything was taken off the bill. Another morning, I ordered the (slightly salty) short rib skillet hash and a couple of pastries to snack on during the conference, and again everything was taken off the bill. By far, Hyatt has the best elite breakfast benefit of the other major chains. In a hotel that otherwise seemed to be lacking, the breakfast was the thing it has going for it.

Recommendation: No, not until improvements are made

I tried to give the hotel the benefit of the doubt given my great stay here about a decade ago, but the facilities feel neglected and outdated and I can’t reasonably recommend the hotel to others. I do hope they take the time to invest in the property as it can shine once again and would be interested in giving it another shot. Perhaps ultimately it makes sense the hotel was once considered a Park Hyatt, then a regular Hyatt, and now an Unbound Collection hotel–it’s a reflection of how the hotel doesn’t seem to fit with brand standards and now exists in a brand where there are no standards to keep up with. If you find yourself in Philadelphia, I’d be more interested in trying the much newer Hyatt Centric nearby.