RJ77

How can you tell Champagne apart from Prosecco? They're all bubblies, no?

Goldorak

gilbertaue

I would like to highlight here that you are no longer a Platinum Member.

You are a PREMIER Platinum member!

RJ77

starflyergold

Maybe that's the much demanded lifetime membership? (we live in hope)

stimpy

Just got an email from Philly....

Use code WINTR

Stay between December 11th, 2018 to February 28th 2019

$129* for a Superior Room

$159* for a Luxury Room

$199* for a Luxury Suite

*Taxes and fees not included.

Offer based on availability. Blackout dates may apply.

Goldorak

IMH

Over on the "welcome amenities" thread, schriste posted a photo of some fruit and sweet nibbles and reported that a suite upgrade had been granted. ^

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/31912650-post14.html

schriste

Yes, I just completed a 1 night stay. Overall I like the hotel and for my Sunday night stay it was an exceptional value too. I imagine Sunday evening is one of their slower nights, so probably contributed to the upgrade and great rate.

My check-in had a small hiccup associated with my booked “Philadelphia Overnight” package rate, but it was handled professionally and resolved quickly and correctly. Staff greeted me in French throughout the hotel which for a guy from New Jersey was rather fun. The base level suite was reasonably spacious and had none of the condition issues reported by Goldorak up thread. I think they have replaced some of the furniture and put in new carpet. Bed comfortable as usual. On the negative side the room “at rest” was not very quiet. The air intake in the entry area was rather loud at all times, sounded like running water. My room was also on a lower floor on the back side and was subject to noise from ventilation equipment from the building next door. For future stays I would request a different room.

Received my 2 welcome drinks which were valued for up to $15 each. My wife and I enjoyed our cocktails in the bar. Waiter very pleasant and helpful. Breakfast was quite good. One reason I enjoy staying at a Sofitel in the USA is that you can get a decent croissant . Nice French press coffee. Staff in the restaurant were also good as were the bellmen.

I would return.


my room

New sofa and carpet plus entry is vinyl plank flooring (very slippery when wearing socks).


Looks like they may have updated the wallpaper since Goldorak’s photos.

Welcome amenity

New carpet in bedroom.

IMH

Many thanks for the helpful review, schriste!

We've got four nights booked for August. The length of our stay means we obviously can't expect the same upgrade, but it looks like a decent hotel that understands loyalty recognition so we're looking forward to it.

IMH

The Sofitel Philadelphia suspended operations on 27 March 2020 because of COVID-19. As of 20 July they were expecting to remain closed until 6 August.

The hotel sent an email advising that our reservation will be cancelled -- and a refund processed -- automatically. They added that they would "love to find an alternative time for you to come visit our beautiful property" if our travel plans are flexible.

Goldorak

Any recent stay (post Covid) in this hotel ? I will return there in a couple of weeks after 4.5 years of absence. I hope they have renovated the rooms. Thanks !
Otherwise, I really wonder when the US hotels (Accor & non-Accor) will stop their constant downgrade of customer experience & benefits, despite atrocious rates and various robberies (scam fee, etc) : just noticed on my booking confirmation that the regular checkin time at Sofitel PHL is now 4 pm

Goldorak

As announced, I stayed recently for 2 nights in Sofitel Philadelphia, 1st time since the pandemic. This stay was…interesting. Certainly not as bad as Sofitel NY, but still several problems and I hope the entire brand in the US is not going downhill. TBH, I have the feeling the entire US hotel industry is engaged in a very negative spiral in terms of customer service. But, at least, I have to acknowledge a satisfactory recovery here.



At check-in, welcome OK. Welcome drink and letter were given. I had booked a Superior room and was upgraded to a Luxury Suite at the far end of the corridor. That corresponds to a triple upgrade, so not bad at all.

I was very familiar with the room, as I already had the same (at different floors) during several previous stays. I noticed immediately the lack of welcome amenity














Shortly after having arrived in the room, I wanted to connect my devices to the wifi, but surprisingly I could not detect any Sofitel network. I called the front desk and they said in-room wifi was out-of-order. Asked if they had an idea when it would be fixed and they replied unlikely before tomorrow morning (it was around 5 pm when I asked). I was very annoyed by this as I had some important work to do before dinner and, the next morning, I had a Teams meeting at 7 am with Europe. The agent really could not care less and said I could work in the lobby or bar because wifi was working there. I politely said that I was paying for a stay in a room and not for a stay in the lobby and that in no case I would make a Teams meeting from an hotel lobby for confidentiality reasons and to not bother other people around (+ at 7 am, I clearly expect to be in my room).

I hung up upset, then discovered some cleanliness problem on the floor between the desk and the sofa (see picture).





So I went back downstairs, spoke to another agent at front desk about the cleanliness problem and the wifi. He asked me if I wanted to change room and said no, just clean it and for the wifi, he told me that it was not their fault but the problem was entirely with the internet provider. This was certainly a lie, as it was working in the lobby/bar/restaurant. It took more than 1hr for housekeeping to come to the room to clean.

Sofitel PHL is participating to the scam fee consortium. On the room key you have what’s included in the organized robbery. The usual jokes are included (see picture). Funny to see that wifi is granted thanks to this fee, while it’s supposed to be free for ALL members. And you still have to pay this fee even if wifi is not working.




To compensate for the lack of wifi, I had no other choice to use my cell phone to share the roaming connection . As it is a non-US phone, this will represent important data roaming charges as you can imagine. The next morning it was still not working when I left for my appointments.



My blood pressure seriously went up when I came back in the evening and saw that wifi was still not working. Come-on…in 2023, seriously ? I then wrote an email to the GM and to the generic address on the website to complain about all this and also about the lack of welcome amenity in a Sofitel, while thanking them for the Suite upgrade. I also asked for a complete waiver of the scam fee and for a substantial rebate on the daily room rate. It was promptly answered by the Director of room who was apologetic and said that:

• the urban fee would be totally waived
• they will apply a 50% discount on the room rate
• they are sending a welcome amenity to my room right away (it was a bottle of sparking wine)

Very satisfactory response of course, but it would have been much better to not face all those issues.



The next morning, wifi was still not working. At checkout, the agent was not informed of the arrangements for my bill. I had to show the email and she had to call a supervisor to apply the new conditions to my bill.



I had dinner one evening and, colleagues and I had a drink at the bar another evening and the service was very good there. Drink voucher has a face value of $20 (and not 15 as shown on the welcome letter), and can be used for any drink on the menu to cancel the bill or to reduce it by 20$.



Overall, a complicated stay. Some very good aspects (like the room upgrade), but some basics are not ensured (cleanliness, wifi), although good recovery at the end but not spontaneously. Without my upset email, I wouldn’t have obtained anything.

starflyergold

Unbelievable. No wifi for the entire stay? These days that's like having no running water. The less we say about those scam fees the better.

nicolas75

I'm afraid this is a general trend in the US hospitality industry, where hotels unscrupulously jack up their prices, add amenity fees, and aren't able to train their staff.

The result is just bad in terms of service (and even worse in terms of hard product).

Still, fortunately, there are some nice exceptions.