5 suite stays at the Sheraton Philadelphia Univ City--mostly good with a little bad

100   Recommended
Room 1828 , One Bedroom King Suite
May 17, 2017 by EXPERT

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Sheraton Philadelphia University City Hotel
 Map | 1 Review | 100% Recommended

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Room 1828

One Bedroom King Suite

Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
Stats
Room
One Bedroom King Suite

I had 5 stays in March and April at the Sheraton University City hotel, all for business. All stays were for 1 or 2 nights. For every stay, the hotel upgraded me to the one bedroom suite (room 1828). I've been in this room and one like it easily a dozen times in the past few years. But this is my first formal review.

I do business with the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, both of which are located just a block or two away from the hotel. So it is extremely convenient for ayone visiting either school (or the nearby Palestra sports arena). In fact, I believe several floors of the hotel are occupied by graduate/professional students at Penn. 

The hotel lobby is currently undergoing ANOTHER renovation (I recall they renovated the lobby just 7-8 years ago.) I assume it will be completed sometime before the end of the year.

Check In

Check in was sometimes speedy and sometimes a little slower, depending on how many people might be waiting to check in. The lobby renovation leaves little space for the actual check in area, so it can get a little tight. (I think they closed off a bit too much space for the renovation, but it seems to work anyway.)

 

Room

Room 1828 is a corner one bedroom suite, with one room being the living room, the corner room being the bedroom with bathroom, and a small hallway connecting them. There is no door separating the 2 rooms, though they still feel very separate. 

You enter into a nice living room:

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The hallway between the living room and the bedroom/bathroom:

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The bathroom:

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Spacious shower...though water pressure was just OK:

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The bedroom:

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Air conditioning actually works very well, though it tends to shut off whenever you leave the room--despite my asking for that to be remedied every stay. Regardless, it does cool down very quickly--both in the bedroom and living room, each of which has a separate thermostat and unit.

 

Service

Service can be pretty good or can be a little frustrating. It varies. One most of my visits, service was pretty great and efficient. But not always.

On my first stay, the alarm clock was set to a wildly incorrect time, and I couldn't get it to correct--and the electrical plug on the nightstand didn't work--so I had maintenance come. You'd think those would be checked for a suite? The guy then must've spent 20 minutes trying to reset the clock! He eventually brought another clock and plug...but it took way longer than it should have.

On my second stay, just 2 weeks later in the same room, the bad clock was back. Or the new clock was broken, too? Really? At least the plug worked.

Service for the elevators was an issue for the first time ever in all my years of staying at this hotel. One elevator clearly was not working...and I waited almost 20 minutes for any elevator. I mentioned it at the front desk...and never had that issue again for any other stay. So presumably they took care of it!

The most serious service error was when the adjacent restaurant screwed up my breakfast order (and another client's as I learned later that day). The manager on duty was reluctant to tak the order off our bills. It was ridiculous. The hotel manager later called me to apologize and guarantee it wouldn't happen again. But it was silly that it happened at all!

Overall, I'd say the team here always tries very hard to please...but doesn't always execute. But they still always try. So I am usually happy to return. 

 

Dining

The Sang Kee Noodle House in the hotel (but currently blocked from lobby access because of the renovation, so you enter from outside...at least until the lobby reno is finished) is actually pretty good. I had lunch and dinner there a number of times amidst my many stays. 

Room service breakfast comes from the same noodle shop, as well, if you order before 9:00 am...which I always have to do. (There is another restaurant that offers more breakfast room service options after 9:00 am...but I've never had the chance to try it. I assume you can choose from both menus after 9:00 am. There actually are 2 different room service buttons on the phones, something I've never seen before!) The Noodle House breakfast room service isn't fantastic...but at least they have a breakfast room service option before 9:00 am, I suppose.

Here is an example of Noodle House decent room service breakfast order--nothing pretty, but it gets the job done and wasn't too pricey.

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Location

Location is excellent for anyone wanting to visit the Univ of Pennsylvania or Drexel University. 

Overall

Overall, this Sheraton is a solid hotel, and a pretty decent Sheraton. The new lobby will make it that much nicer. I don't usually visit Clubs, but the Club in this one seems reasonably average to me. 

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