We booked for a family vacation to Philly about a month in advance on the chain's website. Our room (double Queen room on the 6th floor) at 200/night cost more than the AAA rate but we selected a room to include breakfast, which saved us both in time and money- and we were very happy we made this decision.

I planned in advance to park at the Wannamaker parking lot under Macy's instead of using the valet- at $40/day + 28%, it was worth the trouble to move my own car.

The hotel was recently renovated; it was originally the City Hall Annex and the rooms are decent sized. What sets apart this hotel in the world of Marriot is the staff. From the valet to the deskstaff, the maids and the restaurant service, we were impressed at how well and NICELY everyone treated us- at the level of a European deluxe hotel, with constant smiles and pleasantries. What a welcome change!

My kids loved that our room has a view of City Hall and the statue of William Penn; the breakfast buffet was wonderful, and while the pool is both small and shallow at only 3' deep, they were thrilled to swim each day between tourist activities.

For the room, I wished the mattresses were stiffer (simply my personal choice) , but they were very nice and plush beds and bedding. I also thought that the rooms would include personal safes which I have come to expect in my travels, but this hotel room did not include them.

I would not hesitate to stay here again. I have stayed in Philly for business over a dozen times, usually in the business district or in the convention center Marriott, which is HUGE. I like this smaller hotel, its convenience to Old Town, Center City, and its courteous staff.

I very last minute needed a hotel in Philadelphia for one night after a problem with flights. I booked this hotel the same day as I required the stay. Hotel prices were very expensive possibly because it was a Saturday night. I paid £125 for a room and that was the cheapest available (excluding airport hotels). I felt this was a bit expensive for what I got. I took a shuttle from the airport for $10. Watch out when I booked this hotel on Expedia it was called "Marriott Philadelphia Downtown" and there is another (much more expensive) Marriott around the corner. My shuttle bus dropped me off at the wrong Marriott! It was only 5 minutes walk to the right hotel so not a big problem. The front desk was friendly and I changed my internet booked double room to a king room as I was travelling on my own. The double was the only option at the time of booking. The only real problem I had with the hotel was my room key was a bit temperamental. Others had also had this problem! I had to try it several times before it worked - both in the lift and to get into my room. That said, the room was a nice size, clean and spacious. The bed was very comfortable and the shower was powerful. Also there was one computer with internet and printer available in the lobby at reasonable rates. The hotel is centrally located and about 10 minutes walk, maybe 15 with luggage, from the Greyhound bus station.

Stayed here during a quick stay to Phili and found the hotel quite good. It is located right in the middle of the city within walking distance to all the attractions. Very good location to get the trains to and from the city.

We were visiting Philly for my nephew's graduation from Penn. After scouring tripadvisor.com and various hotel websites, I finally found a great price for this hotel ($149/night government rate +$20 tax/night + $40parking/night). Beware when booking this far in advance, however, as I booked less than a month before the trip while my sister booked the same hotel last October and paid nearly double!

When we arrived on Sunday afternoon, we were greeted by the valets/doormen and checked in inside with no problems. After reading about the ridiculous valet parking prices, I decided to try to find suitable parking nearby. Unfortunately, all the other lots were either full or had lower rates only if you remained parked all day (if you were coming and going as we were, you were out of luck).

The room was your standard hotel room. It was clean (I'm a neat freak), had new furniture, a reasonably comfortable king bed, and adequate work space. There was some wasted space near the door and a weird setup whereby the bathroom door opened against the closet door. The walls were quite thin as you could easily hear the guests in the room adjacent to ours.

Our room was on the left side of the hotel and we had an obscured but still visible view of City Hall.

The rest of the hotel seemed to be well-appointed with a nice lobby, conference rooms, and adequate on-site restaurant and exercise rooms. The reading room was a nice touch as were the flowers in the lobby and the strawberry-water.

The valet parking was a bit slow but, if you called them in advance, it was not too big of a deal. The location next to City Hall and across from Macy's (in an old John Wannamaker's department store that had fabulous architecture and a pipe organ) was really cool. You can walk to several attractions from the hotel though the historic district is too far. However, the location also makes it difficult to maneuver to the hotel entrance.

Overall, we had a positive experience with the hotel and I would recommend it to others if paying less than $200 per night.