My wife and I went to Philadelphia for a weekend getaway in November 2008, and as it was a special occasion, decided to treat ourselves to something a little more luxurious than we usually allow ourselves. We chose the Sofitel on the strength of other reviews here and the information on their web site. Overall, our experience was good.
The hotel does not look or feel historic, but the building actually has some history to it. It is older than it looks (built in the early 1960s) and used to house the Philadelphia Stock Exchange back when most major American cities had their own stock exchanges. Accor (Sofitel’s owning company) has done a thorough job of renovating the building and now it looks and feels like the luxury hotel that it is.
We arrived late morning, and though check-in is not until 3:00 p.m., the front desk staff happily stored our luggage for us, properly tagged. When we did check in, the process was quick and painless, and though the staff was not excessively friendly, they were professional and efficient. We upgraded to a “Luxury” room that advertised “sunny exposure,” and while it did feature large windows overlooking the city, the view was not particularly nice (a couple of high-rises and a parking garage) and in retrospect was not worth the extra money. The décor was attractive both in the rooms and in the hallways and was definitely a couple of notches above a regular chain hotel. Stylish light fixtures, a pleasing combination of light and dark woods on the furniture and a hyper-modern glass cube shower. I should point out that though Sofitel advertises king-size beds, ours was more like a queen (the French definition of “king size” perhaps). It was plenty large for us, and very comfortable, but was not a true king if that’s a concern. The hallways were freezing-cold, but the room quite cozy and comfortable.
The public areas of the hotel were very crowded throughout the weekend, but they did seem to have enough staff on hand to keep everyone from waiting too long for whatever it was they wanted. A wedding was taking place at the hotel the weekend we stayed there, and some of the attendees, quite young, were staying next door to our room, so I was initially concerned about late-night noise, but the room proved to be quiet as a vault.
We did not try Sofitel’s restaurant, but we did stop in for a drink at the bar, and while its look and feel was somewhat institutional and sterile, the bartender clearly knew what he was doing and our cocktails were first-rate.
Sofitel’s greatest asset is probably its location. It’s two blocks from Rittenhouse Square and walking distance to just about everything, and if not, it’s walking distance to your choice of public transit. We walked to the Art Museum (about a mile and a quarter away), and could have easily walked to any number of restaurants had the weather not turned lousy.
My only complaint is the price. We booked through the Sofitel web site and got pretty much the standard rate, which was quite high, and while the hotel was nice and our stay pleasant, I am not sure it was worth quite what they charged. We would not hesitate to come back, but most likely only if we could get some kind of deal.
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