NBSPGMEMBER

I just went to SPG.com to check rates for our summer trip to Philadelphia and there is a new Sheraton located at 17th & Race Street. The hotel will be called the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel The property will be a category 3. I wanted to let everyone know about this recent addition.

Newryman

That is the old Wydham where I have stayed many times. Do yourself a favour and break the bank for dinner in Shulas one evening, you will not regret it.

ENIAC

That's good news. I never stayed there, but the location is lovely on Logan Circle, and it would be nice to have an alternative to the Westin that isn't either of the existing Sheratons. It could hardly be worse than the Sheraton University City, and I hear that the Old City property has some issues.

TimMeineke

Not to temper your enthusiasm, but I stayed here 18 months ago and it was the worst hotel experience I've had in a long time. The room they originally assigned me had a 3 foot hole in the ceiling with water and plaster coming down from it. In addition I was speaking at a conference there and the service was so bad that the conference manager spent the second day hiding from us! Hopefully it will be better under *Wood management

NBSPGMEMBER

Did anyone recently stayed at the new Sheraton Philadelphia aka Wyndham Franklin Plaza? How is the property? General Condition? Service? Rooms? Location? Thanks!

PHL INTL TERMINAL

My wife spent a few months there last January-March 2005. The hotel is dated. The rooms were average. Add the Sheraton Sleeper Bed and that improves the place. Good center city location. There's a walkway from the hotel to the GSK building which is nice if you work for GSK. I would say the Westin is a much better choice which is right down the street.

19103_aa

The Westin remains the better location. The public spaces have not been renovated since initial construction. Some of the rooms have, however. It's definitely worth asking for a renovated room. Maybe they can turn the ballroom on the top floor into an attractive dining option; it's one of the best views of the city.

andrewfm

Way back when the Wyndham Philadelphia was announced as a new Sheraton property I went online checked it out, discovered from threads here and elsewhere that the SweetSleeper beds were going to arrive in May and that it would be getting a slight overhaul as part of the transition. All good so I went ahead and booked a stay - got a reasonable rate of $129.95, club floor and my usual preferences of high floor, 2 doubles, etc. As Gold SPG so this was good as I had a chance of further upgrade from there...was looking forward to my stay...

That was until I checked my SPG profile a few weeks ago to get the details on some other of my reservations for my trip to US. Magically my PHL reservation had VANISHED - ! I was somewhat shocked to say the least and quite worried - imagine arriving into Philadelphia from Ireland and finding I had nowhere to stay.

Contacted hotel - after much holding on the phone, and repeating the details numerous times they agreed to re-book me but still with the attitude that it was a big imposition for them to honour a reservation for which I had a Sheraton confirmation email! Eventually I was re-booked but at that stage only $169.95 rates were available for standard two doubles rooms! After yet another phone call and fax of the confirmation email they agreed to honour the original rate! - again as if it was a big imposition for them!

Emailed hotel manager and SPG customer care to complain and received a stock email from some other member of hotel staff "apologising" for the incident and a lot of rubbish about striving for high standards - I would think it's a rather basic thing to honour reservations!!! No mention of giving me my originally requested club floor room which was now "unavailable" according to agents when re-booking. Club floor now available on internet at $149 (cheaper than the $169 standard room which they brought down to $129 for the match!) Emailed back and requested that the re-booked reservation be changed to club floor to honour this and got a reply from SPG customer care saying this was an internet only rate! I ORIGINALLY BOOKED BY INTERNET Emailed back with this gem of information and 3 days later have had no response.

I find the whole thing absolutely infuriating with absolutely no interest being shown by hotel in customer care (Sheraton Service Promise anyone???) and no interest in resolving the situation correctly. I generally stay in *wood properties when in US - this is doing a good job of changing my impression of the brand and may change my stays accordingly.

Anyone else with experiences of this hotel / issues? Anyone in Starwood willing to take this on and get it sorted???

re24610

I stayed there a few moths ago. Booked a reg room and got a freegrade to club floor and that included cont. breakfest and dinner. Stayed for a total of 7 weeks and got this every time.

kniksefat

I have stayed at the Shearton a few times in the last month. The palce is going under heavy renovation and the room quality varies greatly. The standard room is pretty crumby, while the larger rooms can be quite pleasant. I don't believe this hotel has many standard suites, so upgrades past a larger room are rare.

The hotel does have a decent sized gym with brand new cardio equipment and decent lifting machines.

The biggest downside to this hotel is its abysmal TV lineup. You will find that most motels include more channels than this hotel.

rhetor

I just returned from a 3-night stay and my experience was very mixed. The club floor room I got as a PM had a great view (24th floor) but the room itself was pretty small and in desperate need of renovation--crumbling paint, floorboards ripped off, door has an 1"-wide gap at the bottom, etc. The bathroom was very small as well and poor water pressure. That being said, it was not awful, the bed was comfortable, and we were high enough so that the street noise didn't bother us.
Reception folks were pleasant (Plat. amenity in addition to 500 points is a locally made bottle of root beer ) and professional but the lounge is less than impressive. The woman that staffs it in the morning is amazingly oblivious to social niceities (like saying "hello" when greeted). The woman that staffs it in the evening is much friendlier. Neither of them really do much other than sit at the front desk and surf the internet. Breakfast is fine (selection of fruit, sugary doughnuts, juices, cold cereals and oatmeal) but the "evening cocktails" leave a lot to be desired (all alcohol is very expensive--I think it was $9 for a glass of low-end wine, $6 for a beer). The hors d'oeurves were vegetables and dip and a chaffing dish with non-descript fried stuff. There is another room with a second TV that has a desk w/ computer that is available for you to use the internet. I never saw anyone else use it in the time I was there--that was nice. Note that the lounge closes after breakfast on Friday and doesn't open again until Monday morning. Another thing I want to note is that all the fruit that isn't eaten in the morning (and there is quite a bit of it) is unceremoniously scrapped into a garbage can as soon as the clock says breakfast is over--what a huge waste of perfectly good food; I would have thought that the kitchen downstairs could have made use of it or they could arrange for someone to bring it to a food bank. The sullen woman on breakfast duty just rolled her eyes when my wife asked if there wasn't some better use to which the fruit could be put.
I didn't check out the gym, but I know they have one.
All in all, this is a fairly run-down property with a pretty uneven staff (housekeepers ranged from friendly to surly) but it was relatively cheap and the location was very good (7-minute walk to convention center, 10-minutes to Rittenhouse Square area, nice 15-minute stroll to Museum of Art). Even with the renovations, I doubt this will ever be a top-notch property--the rooms are just too small--but if the price is right, I would go back. The trick is to have realistic expectations.

76toPHL

I checked into the Sheraton CC a few weeks after it had converted - they upgraded me to a corner room on the top floor overlooking the Ben Franklin Pkwy and art museum. The room was large, but I wouldn't consider it a suite.

I thought the desk staff were above average for a Sheraton and attentive to the needs I had when I was there for 6 nights.

I'd go back there if I could find a room in the $150-180 range; it's not worth much more than that.

olimaspecto

Stayed here for one night a few weeks ago, though I was a bit hesitant following the reviews.

Checkin was fine and upon request was given a choice between a suite on the 12th floor or an executive room on the club floor (higher floor than the suite). I elected the suite.

Only negative thing was that room service quoted me longer than 30 minutes for both dinner and breakfast, even though its supposed to be gauranteed or its free.

mlatuchie

I stayed at the Sheraton Center City earlier this month and had a decent time. I'm a base memeber in SGP working on getting Gold, so obviously no upgrade for me. The staff was very friendly here - as I was greeted by name as I coming down the elevator (which is surprising b/c I only stayed one night).

Last summer my friend was in the Presidential Suite for a wedding reception. Fantastic suite, amazing 360 degree views of the Parkway and City Hall. In the spring/summer when the fountain at Logan Circle is on, it's quite a sight.

Once the renovations are complete this should be a pretty great place.

76toPHL

I didn't see any visible signs of a renovation in progress last July. I believe it was renovated back in the March/April timeframe when it converted. I thought the rooms were nice and the common areas well-maintained, and I consider myself a somewhat particular hotel guest.