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Phone: 215-523-8000

Street Address: Ten Avenue of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA 19102

Location Rating: Excellent. Heart of the city. Across from City Hall.

Lobby Appearance: Oh my, it is stunning. Over 7000 tons of white marble is here. It is a huge interior space under a large dome with substantial marble columns. What a fascinating building.

Room Appearance: The entire hotel is extremely impressive. The corridors to the guest rooms feel quite homey and so comfortable. The rooms are perfectly comfortable and I absolutely love their bathrooms. These are the best, most attractive hotel guestroom bathrooms in the city. And the rooms feel like home. It doesn't feel like a hotel

Useful Nearby Businesses: Everything is nearby since this is the heart of the city, including a huge selection of highly regarded restaurants.

Hotel Restaurants: "The Grill." Enormously impressive decor. And they've got a chef from "Striped Bass" (fancy, elite Philadelphia restaurant). There is also "The Vault," which is a small cigar bar. Another area is the "Pantheon." It serves breakfast on weekdays and brunch on weekends. They have "the Rotunda" where you can have afternoon tea and cocktails into the night. And there is the very impressive "Club Lounge" on the 30th floor, which has 5 food presentations per day. If your room does not include Club Lounge access, you can buy it for $100. More details below.

Other Amenities: It is 5 diamond quality. It is rated 4 stars only because they could not put a pool in here.

The fitness center feels like someone's home. It seemed like it could be in the basement of a nice, large home with 13 foot ceilings. It had a very comfortable, homey feeling and this fitness center ambiance is unlike any other in the city. It featured 2 stair stepper machines, 3 running machines, 2 bike machines and a universal weight lifting thing. It was spacious.

The "Richel D'Ambro" spa area is relaxing. There is a pleasant scent in the air as you arrive. Calming oriental style music plays.

They have a nice business center. It's $20 an hour to surf the web.

The hotel has a "chocolate buffet" on weekends with live jazz music.

Rooms have a fully stocked honor bar, 26 inch TV, and video games at $7.50 per game? Yow! High speed internet access is $9.95 per day or $45 per week. There are 2 terry cloth robes in every room. Housekeeping in the rooms is done twice per day.

And there is much more.

Would I Stay Here? I think so : )

Comments: This hotel is absolutely fascinating. It is unique in the city and among Ritz-Carlton hotels. This was the former Girard Trust Bank and it dates back to 1905. The lobby is massive and extravagant with white marble everywhere. The entire building oozes classiness. It is truly an adventure to come here and discover it.

Fascinating to me were the original elevator doors in the elevator bank area. You will probably never see doors like that any place else. I enjoyed descending into the Grand Ballroom. You walk down marble stairs, with marble walls and marble arches, you turn the corner and see more marble. Wow...

Upstairs the corridors have a like-home feel to them with warm lighting and colors, and attractive paintings on the walls. The rooms are perfectly comfortable. High-up rooms have fascinating city views. And the all-marble bathrooms are beautiful here. These are my favorite bathrooms in a Philadelphia hotel.

The Club Lounge on the 30th floor is very special. It was the former boardroom. The original, hand-carved French Walnut paneling and molding is still there. The views of City Hall are terrific. And a butler stands ready to be at your service there. This is only accessible if you spend enough on a room. If your room rate does not include it, the price to get in for the day is $100, which includes 5 food presentations throughout the day.

There is a penthouse that occupies the entire 31rst floor.

Standards are very high here. Details are very important to them. It is a classy operation. I found it very exciting to tour the building and this is certainly among the very best places you can stay in Philadelphia. A top recommendation.

As I was leaving, a middle-aged woman walked in while pulling a small suitcase and I heard her say "wow" when she saw the lobby. That probably happens a lot at this Ritz-Carlton.