Sofitel Philadelphia at Rittenhouse Square

This was a special occasion for us (50th anniversary) so we went higher end (for us) and were quite pleased, with just a couple of things not so good.
1. The mandatory “Urban Experience” fee costs more than it’s worth, and I can’t even apply it toward the breakfast option. Just a dreaded hidden fee. Ditch it.
2. The first 4 days of our stay there was no problem getting a table for breakfast, but on the final day it was taken up with tables people had reserved sitting empty. We learned this standing in a long line of others who also didn’t know about this, and they were holding for 12 other reservations. So we had to suggest, hey, how about you get us some to-go boxes and bowls and utensils? A convention had checked in for that morning, yet nobody ever advised us that we should make reservations for our breakfast table in any of the previous four days or when we checked in.

Rittenhouse Square is an excellent central location for touring Philadelphia and a nice place to walk around and find restaurants.

Stayed for two nights for work. Due to booking thru Chase I was provided a room upgrade (to a suite) along with free breakfast and $100 credit. Valet is about $75 a night, including tax. Overall the service was great - all staff I encountered were professional and helpful. Location is good as it’s close to diverse restaurants and take out places. I plan on coming back to enjoy outside of work.

Very efficient and super nice staff

Spectacular experience. Big rooms, good food and well located. Beautifully decorated. Easy Uber ride to art museums and from the airport. Will go back

Nettes Personal, Essen hervorragend, insgesamt ein sehr gutes Hotel.

We visit Philadelphia frequently because our son lives and works here. There are many hotels that we like in Philly, but Sofitel is one of our favorites. The staff is always great. We love the breakfast buffet - and they outdid themselves this Mother's Day by making an impromptu reservations for us. Although we did not visit the bar this time (this is at least our fourth time at the hotel), it is a great place to hang out and relax. The room is nice sized (we get a king room) and the bathroom is luxurious with both a shower and tub. I like that there is a chair with an ottoman plus a table with 2 chairs in the room. The location is awesome - close to Broad St., Rittenhouse Sq. Academy of Music, etc. Mini bar in the room, but no fridge for personal items (they probably would get you one if you asked). Safe in the room actually worked. Espresso instead of coffee, but that is fine by me. Kettle for tea is available along with bottled water. Parking is not for the faint of heart (like a lot of Philly), but they do extremely well with a challenging situation. We usually arrive by Amtrak so this isn't an issue, but this trip we drove. Parking is cheaper than a lot of places ($59 vs. $75) and you need to text in advance (20-30 minutes) to retrieve you car - they have made this into an art form. Bed is comfortable and the room is spacious. Lovely, lovely place to stay!

Overall a great experience. The staff was very courteous and friendly. Great breakfast and great restaurant/bar in the hotel. My room was very clean and quiet in the evening even with the bustling streets outside. The only hiccup was an issue with the water seal for the shower. It resulted to leaking water onto the floor of which I had to keep an eye on when showering. The water also tended to pool towards the shower door which was a bit odd considering it seemed to be graded towards the drain. Regardless, this was a wonderful stay in a very walkable area and I would stay here again.

Had heard lovely things about this Sofitel from several people, and the property itself is indeed lovely. I was greeted graciously and upgraded to a beautiful room.

The problem began at night when I tried lowering the thermostat below 71. Nothing worked. I woke around 1 a.m. to a warm room and spent nearly an hour trying to reach someone — anyone — by calling the front desk, concierge, and hotel operator repeatedly. No one answered. I even tried calling from my cell phone in case the room phone was malfunctioning. Still nothing.

The next morning, the front desk apologized and confirmed there had been no incident overnight. But this raises a more serious concern: this was only a thermostat issue. What if there had been an actual emergency?

I asked to speak with the manager, was told he was in a meeting, and left my number for a callback. I never heard back.

That’s the disappointing part. The hotel itself is beautiful, but failing to answer guest calls for nearly an hour — followed by no managerial follow-up — is a pretty fundamental service breakdown for a property at this level.

Overall I had an decent stay at the Sofitel Philadelphia. This hotel is a good deal when the rates are reasonable.

The rooms are well comfortable and large and the beds were excellent. Where this hotel fell flat for me was the service and the overall property condition. Service was generally apathetic and inconsistent, especially when trying to add a night to my reservation. I was given a hassle about remaining in my same room which involved needing to get a manager to fix after I had been assured both on the phone and by the agent when I checked in that this would be no problem. It was resolved but with unnecessary headache and would've acted differently if I was told the truth. Regarding the condition of the property, while I appreciate the recently refreshed lobby area, the rest of the property is woefully dated and lacking in cleanliness. My bathroom, while generous in size, was covered in hair from the previous guest and overall condition of the furniture across the room was dated and worn. The hallways are also worn and the elevators are terrible, and on the date of checkout only one was working. The refresh downstairs needs to be carried throughout the property to the guest areas.

Would I stay again? Depends on price, while it was a great deal during my two nights, it was double that on Saturday which prompted me to change hotels for my final night in town because this is definitely not a $500+ a night property. I would consider another stay at the right price point.

The location and the rooms were very nice. The staff were very helpful.

I stayed at Sofitel for a family wedding. The property was in a great location - walking distance to many restaurants and things to do. I highly recommend the Sofitel.

This hotel has really beautiful common areas and lobby, great service, but some issues on the margins, and required a lot of buffer time.

Service: Every person who worked here was extremely pleasant and aiming to help, and room service was quick and efficient. Check-in experience was straightforward. One con: cannot request early check in until you arrive. A standout: The bellman went and got us a separate mini fridge once he saw we had a very young child. Very appreciated.

Location: couldn’t be in a better, more central location near amazing food, stores, and things to do.

Tech/logistics: A few snafus with logistics. Only one elevator was working for most of our visit, during a very busy weekend, so we had to build a lot of time in, and if we had my son’s stroller sometimes we’d have to skip an elevator that was mostly full. Valet often took a really long time to retrieve the car past the time told (eg text says 20 mins, takes 45). I understand a lot out of their control with demand and traffic.

Room: We had a Suite with separate double pullout couch room. If kids are sleeping on the pullout it’s fine, but it was unbelievably uncomfortable (makes sense but laughably thin mattress so adults may wake up very sore). The main room had an extremely comfy bed with a really nice duvet and fitted sheet. Super buttery cool and soft. No top sheet, which is polarizing and typically bothers me. A bit of dust and bathroom grime around corners and along walls and furniture. The blackout curtains don’t perfectly close/align so slivers of light come in at dawn. Totally fine if it were just me but wasn’t ideal for keeping my light sensitive toddler asleep past 5:50am. No full length mirror that we found—not a huge deal just stood out as a little odd.

Lobby and bar/restaurant are gorgeous and very creatively furnished.

I was initially very excited to stay here for 3 nights for my birthday, and we were very let down by the experience. For the cost, you expect a sense of luxury from Sofitel, but this hotel was closer to a 2/3 star hotel, and we felt like we were better off going to a Holiday Inn by the end of it. Unsure if I will ever be visiting another Sofitel.

Bed:
The first night I slept about 3 hours, due to the incredible discomfort of the bed. Sofitel prides itself on their beds, but the ones at this hotel are absolutely terrible and springy. As you can see in the pictures I uploaded, the bed is a cheap mattress with an even cheaper mattress cover on top of it, that does nothing to add comfort to the bed. We were shocked at the quality of the mattress, and I've had better at hotels half the price. My birthday was ruined from not sleeping the first night, and the anxiety of having to deal with getting it fixed throughout the day. The staff was helpful in getting extra padding, but I couldn't help but feel like they were annoyed by the process of me checking in multiple times that day, as it wasn't quite clear the process of how the bed would be fixed. What happened with the Sofitel BED, the custom bed that's supposedly a flagship of Sofitel and part of the reason we booked this hotel?

Room:
Fairly dusty and dated when we came in.

Amenities:
The robes were incredibly scratchy and not soft at all, and felt air dried. Small details like this pile up on top of the other issues we had staying there. There is NO mini-fridge outside of the fridge of overpriced mini-bar items, which was frustrating as some nights we had leftovers we had to throw away.

Food:
We ordered smoothies the last day in room service and they were miniscule, about the size of our coffee cups. Cost was exorbitant for 2 smoothies and one pot of coffee, and not worth it. Extra unknown food tax each day not disclosed. Experience fee feels like a total ripoff.

Staff:
We had multiple instances of the folks there who seemed annoyed and borderline rude, but then there were also some lovely staff both downstairs and in housekeeping.

There was also a fire alarm problem, which was not the fault of anyone but left me worried as I was on the 12th floor and wasn't sure if there was an emergency, which was unpleasant. Handled well by the hotel.

Positives:
It's in a great area and right by Rittenhouse Square which was a lovely place to spend time and picnic. Close walk to a lot of museums.