World City Guide

Hotels

Hotel prices are subject to 14% tax (7% city tax and a bed tax of 7%). Four hotel categories are listed here – Business, Luxury, Moderate and Other Recommendations, with two hotels in each. Prices categories are described below. Check hotel websites for on-line specials. Breakfast is not included unless specified:

$ (under US$100)
$$ (US$100 to US$199)
$$$ (US$200 to US$299)
$$$$ (over US$300)

Business

Loews Philadelphia Hotel
Well located, this hotel occupies the PSFS building once home to America’s first savings bank. The vast lobby of this grand, Art Deco building sports beautiful rugs, a grand piano, Cartier clocks, the old bank vault and a long bar, with ranked champagne bottles, above which a huge curved mural in tiny stones encircles the rear wall. Sizeable rooms off wide corridors echo a 1930s colour and style theme. The corner rooms are particularly recommended. Room facilities include cordless two-line telephones, modems and fax-printers, while meeting rooms all have Internet access. Breakfast is served in the ground-floor restaurant, Sole Food.

1200 Market Street
Tel: (215) 627 1200.
Website: www.loewshotels.com
Price: $$-$$$.

Omni Hotel
For those interested in history, the Omni Hotel is ideal. This corner-site, country-style hotel is not only within a short walk of historic sights like the old Statehouse and the Liberty Bell, as well as museums, small galleries and several very good restaurants, but it is also located near the newly emerging downtown business district near the river. For business travellers, the hotel has state-of-the-art meeting rooms and business centre. The decor is opulent (soft colours and carpeting) and guest rooms are spacious. All rooms have desks with two-line cordless telephones and modems. The old-style Azalea restaurant overlooks the busy Chestnut Street. There is also a fitness centre and swimming pool.

401 Chestnut Street
Tel: (215) 925 0000.
Website: www.omnihotels.com
Price: From $$-$$$.

Luxury

Four Seasons
A little distance from the centre of Philadelphia, this hotel is located near the wide sweep of the avenue that leads to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Close to the city’s open spaces too, the hotel’s interior is loaded with shrubbery and floral displays, making a park of the truly vast carpeted lobbies and very handsome restaurants occupying the ground floor. (There is excellent candle-lit dining in the Fountain Restaurant and Swann Lounge.) The Four Seasons has a sumptuous air throughout, including the bedrooms. Elegance is always combined with facilities; the rooms have voice-mail, two-line telephones and modems. The hotel also has extensive meeting facilities (and these rooms too are functional and impressive), a health club, pool and spa.

1 Logan Square
Tel: (215) 963 1500.
Website: www.fourseasons.com
Price: $$$$.

The Ritz-Carlton
Quite simply, one of the best addresses in town. Located beside Philadelphia’s City Hall on the Avenue of the Arts, The Ritz-Carlton occupies a grandiose one-time bank – the old domed banking hall is now the reception, while the vault is a cigar and brandy bar (the marble steps on the way down are worn where once ladies descended to get their gems from strong boxes). The lobby has plenty of sitting space and a handsome bar, while just off it is a breakfast restaurant and its upscale restaurant, The Grill. Guest rooms are huge and the bathrooms luxurious. Facilities include voice-mail, multi-line telephones, computer and fax hook-ups and modem points. Further in-room business facilities are available in the ‘Club’ rooms on the four upper floors, which also have an opulent lounge with views, and free drinks and snacks in the evening. There is also a range of meeting rooms, with state-of-the-art equipment, and banqueting halls, and a conference planning team on hand.

10 Avenue of the Arts, at Broad Street
Tel: (215) 523 8000.
Website: www.ritzcarlton.com
Price: From $$$$.

Moderate

Hilton Garden Hotel
Despite its lack of an impressive façade, the award-winning Hilton Garden Hotel is a really good value hotel in the centre of town. It is modern, unassuming and absolutely ideal for the next-door Conference Center, coach and rail stations and the many shops of Market Street. The 279 guest rooms offer straightforward comfort but good business facilities, like a spacious work desk with two two-line telephones, voice-mail and free high-speed Internet access. The hotel has a complimentary indoor swimming pool, a fitness centre and 24-hour business centre. Great views can be had from the airy restaurant beside an expansive bar on the top (10th) floor.

1100 Arch Street
Tel: (215) 923 0100.
Website: www.hiltongardenphilly.com
Price: $-$$.

The Independence Park Inn
A reasonably priced small hotel of character, this landmark 1856 building with blue-grey façade and tall windows has been restructured to make a pleasant, country-inn-style Best Western hotel. The small lobby, with a curving stairway, has large sofas set alongside a fireplace. The long glass-roofed breakfast room, which serves a complimentary breakfast, is to one side. Guests are invited to the manager’s wine and cheese party every Wednesday. Very much a low-key home-from-home kind of hotel for families, couples and tourists, the Inn is handy for walking to the historic district. There are just 36 traditional high-ceilinged guest rooms. Three small meeting rooms are available, with audiovisual services.

235 Chestnut Street
Tel: (800) 624 2988 or (215) 922 4443.
Website: www.independenceparkinn.com
Price: From $$.

Other Recommendations

Penn's View Hotel
For friendliness and location (the heart of the historic district) there is no better place than this 40-room European-styled, family-operated inn. Even the small lobby of the refurbished 1828 building oozes historic charm. Comfortable rooms, some with whirlpool baths and fireplaces, are tastefully decorated with floral print wallpaper, Chippendale-style furniture and marble bathrooms. A continental breakfast buffet is complimentary in the hotel’s charming Ristorante Panorama, adjacent to the wine bar.

North Front Street
Tel: (215) 922 7600.
Website: www.pennsviewhotel.com
Price: $$.

Raddisson Plaza-Warwick Hotel Philadelphia
The Warwick (to give it its short name) is a quiet understated roost of great old character in the smart southwest quarter of the city, popular with artists and actors. The neat portals presage a charming interior, inside it is a well-established stylish building with a warm welcome. Although rooms may not be as vast as newer places, they are very well maintained and have plenty of amenities. The suites, for example, all have two-line telephones, big desk and modem point. There is also a business centre, meeting room and a heliport. The clubby ground-floor restaurant, The Prime Rib, specialises in roasts and steaks.

1701 Locust Street
Tel: (215) 735 6000.
Website: www.radisson.com/philadelphiapa
Price: From $-$$.