A couple of weeks ago I stayed for 5 nights at the beautiful Hyatt at the Bellevue in downtown Philadelphia, just 3 blocks south of the iconic Philadelphia City Hall building. Having planned this stay with plenty of time, I was able to keep cancelling and rebooking the Hotel each time it went down in price, from $249 per night down to $161, a very good value for the quality and the location. The hotel is a category 4, which means you can book it for 15,000 Gold Passport points per night, and is eligible to use the Chase Hyatt Visa annual free night certificate, which is good for Category 1 through 4 hotels.

Getting to the hotel is relatively easy (depending on traffic), as Uber Black has a flat rate from the airport to downtown for $45. UberX is only allowed to drop off at the airport, so on the way back I rode with UberX and even with lots of downtown traffic it cost around $17.

Check in

Check in was simple and fast since I arrived at the hotel after 11:00 p.m. Anticipating the late arrival, I had called earlier in the day and requested that the hotel blocked a quiet room, since I had read mixed reviews and complaints about the noise level. Not only did the hotel blocked the room for me, but as a Diamond member I also received an upgrade to their Stratford Suite, on the 14th floor.

The front desk attendant quickly walked me through the Diamond benefits, asked me about wake up calls, and I was on my way to catch some needed sleep for an early rise the next morning.

Room:

While getting an upgrade to a suite is always welcome (I was traveling alone, so the room size wasn’t really an issue), the Stratford Suite is really a glorified large room with a bar. I did appreciate having a fridge with complimentary soft drinks and water.

If you’re staying at the hotel, I highly recommend forgetting the street view, and ask for a room that faces the inside courtyard, just like my room did. The hotel does provide earplugs, but downtown is pretty noisy at all times of day, and you’ll be glad you got a room away from the street noise. The trade-off is privacy, since my room faced right into the courtyard, which was empty most of the time I was there, but being a light sleeper, to me a quiet room is always priority #1. Thankfully I didn’t experience any noise either from the courtyard or the hallways, but from the earplugs that the hotel offer, I assume the windows facing out to the street are not soundproof (as they probably should). On more than one occasion while walking outside emergency vehicles passed by every now and then. If you’re in a room that faces the street, it can’t be a good place to be.

The room had a small balcony with a door off to the left side, although facing the courtyard, I never used it.

The bathroom had plenty of space, with a separate area for a sink, a closet with a bathrobe and a separate shower and toilet area.

Service:

Housekeeping service was just ok. While the room was promptly made every day, I didn’t like the fact that I had a granola bar late on arrival on Sunday evening, and the crumbs over the sink stayed there all week.

The water bottles near the bed were replaced every day, but the three soft drinks that I had over my stay were never replenished, so I’d give the service a 3 out of 5.

Breakfast:

The breakfast at the hotel’s XIX Cafe (stands for 19th floor on Roman numerals), which also serves as a lunch and dinner restaurant, the menu and options were of very good quality (albeit the $6 double espresso price, which shocked me but didn’t affect me in any way since as a Diamond member I received full complimentary breakfast each day). The only hiccups I found was in my first morning, when I was told by the hostess that they were only serving buffet breakfast that day because there had been “a confusion” that morning. I was surely more confused than she was by that explanation, but I digress…

The buffet spread was very good and the pastries were fresh. The buffet price was $16 for continental breakfast, or $22 for continental breakfast plus the typical hot items of scrambled eggs, potatoes and bacon. I had the buffet a couple of other mornings just to save time.

On the second and last mornings I had the full a-la-carte breakfast, choosing both times the eggs Benedict plate, which was fantastic. The eggs were cooked perfectly. I also had the yogurt and fresh fruit and granola parfait, and my usual double shot of espresso.

Amenities:

The hotel has a state of the art gym, connected through a sky walk to the main building. The front desk clerk who checked me in referred to it as the 2nd largest hotel gym in the U.S., but after visiting, it was obvious that the gym doesn’t just belong to the hotel, and regular members use it, while the hotel guests are entitled to their use as well. Regardless, the gym was huge, and it included a basketball court and race track.

The hotel also had your typical business center, which I did need to use during my stay. The copier and scanner were pretty useful, and while the computers’ scanning software wasn’t working and the staff couldn’t figure out how to fix it, as long as you have a USB drive, which I did, you can plug it into the scanner and high-speed scan your documents to it.

There is also a computer station at the hotel lobby, which can be used to print boarding passes, etc.

The hotel has complimentary standard speed wifi, and Diamond and Platinum members can use the premium wifi free of charge. I was very pleased with the signal strength and speed, which was very reliable.

As a Diamond member I also had complimentary water bottles and soft drinks. As I mentioned earlier, the waters were replenished daily. The soft drinks were not.

Overall impression:

The hotel is in a great location, although downtown traffic noise could be an issue depending on where your room is located. The food was really good, and the hotel staff was very friendly, welcoming, and always asked how my day was going and asked if I needed any assistance. Whenever I’m in downtown Philly again, this is definitely a hotel I would love going back to.

The is a post from FreeTravelGuys.