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 World of Hyatt 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.

Chase has a couple of cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points that can transfer to Hyatt at a 1:1 rate:

• The Chase Sapphire Preferred card (refer-a-friend link) that offers 75,000 points for spending $5,000 in the first three months.
• There is currently a limited-time offer (refer-a-friend link) on the Chase Ink Business Preferred that gives an excellent 100,000 points for spending $8,000 in the first three months.

The Hyatt personal credit card (not an affiliate link) offers a 30,000 point bonus when spending $3,000 in three months. On top of that, you get 2X earnings during the first six months until you reach $15,000 in spend. At most, this is a 45,000 card for spending $15,000–and most certainly not the 60,000 bonus it claims disingenuously claims. But, on the bright side, if that $15,000 spend happens within the same calendar year, you’ll also get six elite night credits and a Category 1-4 free night certificate.

The small business version of the Hyatt credit card (refer-a-friend link) offers a limited-time 80,000 point bonus when spending $10,000 in three months. The main appeal here is the easier path towards earning elite status (5 elite night credit for every $10,000 in spend per calendar year), but it also gives up to $100 back on Hyatt purchases.

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.