The Pittsburgh Marriott City Center in Pittsburgh, PA offers a good price and friendly service but the property is in need of some love.

Booking

Official link to the Pittsburgh Marriott City Center: https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/pitdt-pittsburgh-marriott-city-center/overview/

As part of my volunteer work, I ended up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While I didn’t pay for the room charges, the reviews and opinions contained in this post remain my own.

The room rate for this stay was $199/night. Compared to the last time I was in Pittsburgh, I felt like this was the better value and in a marginally better location. If using Marriott points, the going rate tends to hover right around 35,000 points per night, making it a good use of those 35k free night certificates from Marriott.

Earning Marriott Bonvoy points

Full disclosure: in this section are refer-a-friend links where I may earn some points for referring. There is no requirement to use the below referral links to apply but note your offer may differ when going directly to the card issuer.

If you’re looking to earn Marriott points quickly, you could look into picking up a Marriott credit card. Both Chase and American Express offer Marriott credit cards.

Chase offers the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card that gives a sign up bonus of 125,000 Marriott Bonvoy points & a 50k free night award for spending $3,000 in the first three months ($95 annual fee).

Or you can turn your eyes to American Express:

• The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy (not an affiliate link) offers 85,000 Marriott points for $5,000 spend in the first six months for a $250 annual fee.
• The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant (not an affiliate link) offers 100,000 Marriott points for $6,000 spend in the first six months. It also comes with instant Platinum status but with a higher annual fee ($650).

Since Amex credit cards are generally one-in-a-lifetime, it might be worth waiting for a better deal to come by.

Arrival and First Impressions

I arrived late in the evening and found a very friendly agent who was eager to assist. He laid out all the features of the hotel and thanked me for my loyalty several times. He offered me the choice between 1,000 Marriott points as a welcome gift or a $10 food and beverage voucher. Knowing I had my meals taken care of, I asked for the points but he went ahead and gave me a $10 voucher for each night of my stay on top of the points. What a guy!

The lobby area had plenty of seating, though I hardly ever saw anyone using it. Around the corner, you’ll even find a framed picture of the founder of Marriott with his son, though JW Marriott, Jr. hasn’t been CEO of the chain since 2012 despite the labeling on the frame.

Near the entrance is a small bar with the full restaurant hidden behind it. I never ended up getting a chance to try either the bar or the restaurant, though the bar seemed relatively popular.

The Room

My room for this stay was 2036, which was down a rather lengthy hallway. The walls in the hallway were a bit on the plain side in contrast to the pattern on the carpet. I do think the walls need a little more decoration to help build a bit more personality.

Once inside the room, it became apparent the trend of busy carpet and bare walls had hit the guest rooms as well. I would have liked some extra pictures on the wall to help break up the box-like feel of the room.

The bed itself was fine, with enough firmness to it to not draw any complaints. The bed frame appeared to be connected to the nightstands and the lighting behind it, but when combined, it just gave an appearance of being too short and stubby. I don’t think I would have felt this way if the bed frame didn’t extend behind the bedside lighting.

There is a small chair and table in the corner of the room, next to the connecting door. Thankfully, I didn’t have any loud neighbors on this trip. You can also catch a glimpse of the room’s AC unit by the window here. I didn’t heavily use the AC unit during my stay, so I can’t speak to how loud it can get in the room. Of course, seeing these units makes me think the hotel is a bit cheaper–though with room rates what they are (especially with points), I can’t really complain.

Across from the bed is the desk, along with two small bottles of water for being an elite member.

Directly next to the desk is the TV. If you have hopes of streaming shows from the TV, you can log in to a small selection of sites from the TV. I wish the hotel had Chromecast, which is an easier way to watch streaming services and makes it so I don’t have to type in annoyingly-long passwords manually with the TV remote.

One positive note about the AV capabilities of the room — the hotel provided a hookup for your laptop in case you want to project it to the TV screen. Been a while since I’ve seen a hotel provide one of these proactively and was not expecting it.

The bathroom felt rather clean and modern and was a welcome change of pace from the brown hues of the rest of the guest room.

The shower was functional with good water pressure. Of course, you might have seen it in the last picture, but the worker cleaning the bathroom appeared to have accidentally left behind their spray bottle. And, yes, I removed it before I showered.

Toiletries are from the Marriott-standard “thisworks” brand.

The views outside were pretty decent. I didn’t have views of the main area of Pittsburgh but it was still quite peaceful.

Concierge Lounge

To sum up my experience in the lounge in three words: way too crowded. I’m not sure if it’s always the case here because I know the hotel was sold out for a local concert, but it seemed like everyone in the hotel had access to the lounge. The space for the lounge was on the smaller side too, making the overcrowding feel a bit worse than it actually was.

The lounge is open weekdays but not weekends, suggesting the hotel caters a bit more to business crowds than leisure.

Once inside, you’ll find no more than ten tables available for guests to use in the morning. I observed many people just coming in to grab something and then eat it elsewhere, which isn’t a bad tactic here given how cramped it was.

As for the food, I found it lacking in options. For what it’s worth, the breakfast offered to conference guests is the same as what’s in the lounge. The only hot items were scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and oatmeal.

If you’re not in the mood for that, you can find cereal, bread, Nutri Grain bars, yogurt, and fruit, though only if you’re lucky as I found the fruit hard to come by.

There is a small coffee station set up in the corner along with some sodas if you need your fix during breakfast.

Room Service

On the night I arrived, I needed a bite to eat and decided it was worth it to mandatory 20% service fee (not disclosed in the in-room advertisement but you’ll see the fee when checking out in your cart). Compared to what you ultimately get, the meal felt a bit expensive. It did take the full estimated 30 minutes to receive my order.

I thought the burger was fine with decent flavor, though the bun was a little firmer than I would have preferred.

The lava cake simply was not good — it was dense, with no chocolate sauce inside that oozes out as though it’s lava. It’s more accurate to say it’s just a chocolate cake with hot fudge on top. The cake unfortunately was dry and I wouldn’t say the problem was just because I ordered it as room service.

Other Amenities

As mentioned, the front desk was very pleasant and friendly. On top of the welcome gift of 1,000 Marriott points, I did receive $10 vouchers for each night of my stay.

The front desk also offered vouchers for breakfast in the restaurant when the lounge was closed over the weekend, though I ended up not using this benefit given my volunteering schedule.

The daily $10 food and beverage credit can be used at the bar or restaurant, or it could be used at the small store by the front desk. Roughly speaking, expect to get two items here for each $10 credit.

Lastly, the hotel does have a fitness center. I would have taken more pictures of the inside, but photography is discouraged inside. It’s fairly decent but it can get crowded if there are a lot of guests using it at the same time.

Wear and Tear

One last thing I feel the need to point out is the excessive wear and tear I saw throughout the hotel, both within the room and also in the hallway.

Right under the mini fridge is a hole in the cabinet exposing the carpet underneath.

There was a bit of unfinished patch work on ceiling in my room.

And directly outside the concierge lounge is a rather large missing panel on the wall. Suffice it to say, some work needs to be done with regard to maintenance at the hotel.

Recommendation: It Works For The Price

The hotel certainly isn’t without its faults, but between the relatively cheap price and the very friendly service, I wouldn’t be afraid to recommend this hotel to people looking to stay in Pittsburgh. Just be sure to temper your expectations a bit and I think it will work out for you.

Where do you like to stay when you’re in Pittsburgh?