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Phone: 215-238-6000

Street Address: One Dock Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106

Location Rating: Very Good. Close to Penn's Landing. Independence Hall is a 10 or 15 minute walk. Trendy Old City bars and restaurants are nearby. South Street is about a 10 minute walk.

Lobby Appearance: A four story atrium with lots of places to sit.

Room Appearance: Even the old rooms look new.

Useful Nearby Businesses: There are a lot of things nearby, including movie theaters, restaurants, shops and historical sites.

Hotel Restaurants: Two bar areas and one restaurant (Hadley's).

Would I Stay Here? Yes. These are quality rooms.

Comments: There are two things about this hotel that I found interesting.

1. It has 365 rooms and takes up a block of land, yet its architecture is stealthy. The building blends in to the neighborhood. Look for it carefully, or you might drive right by it.

2. I was shown excellent quality rooms that looked brand new, yet were actually 3 or 4 years old and were slated to be renovated during the following month!

The first room I saw was #4002 which is especially for disabled travellers. It was nice! A Bose radio (very high quality sound) was sitting on the nightstand (beside the bed); a fax machine was in the room; the room had "Web TV" and even a video game console. The room felt comfortable to me. And I liked the well lit bathroom with its attractive brown marble counter.

I liked this room very much. It looked new too, but then I was told it was 3 or 4 years old and it was actually going to be renovated the following month!

Next I saw the Pemberton Suite (rooms 4010, 4012, 4014). Behind one door is 3 other doors. These rooms can be combined for a family or small group. One of these rooms is a "parlor" with a sofa bed. The parlor is spacious. The sofa bed looks comfortable, and the parlor has a very good view of the Ben Franklin Bridge (major suspension bridge crossing the Delaware River). The Penn's Landing fireworks, usually launched for the Fourth Of July and New Years, can probably be watched from the parlor's windows.

The Junior Suite I saw had a separate living room area with a desk, fax machine and large TV (27 inch). I considered the room to be a nice, relaxing hang-out area.

The Presidential Suite is nice of course, but for the money, I'd probably go with the Pemberon Suite.

The hotel has some extras:

There is a pool on the top floor. Only guests with a key card can gain access to it. The water is from 3 feet to 4 and a half feet deep. Downstairs from the pool is the hotel's fitness center. It has enough equipment to get a good workout if just a few people are using it.

For the hotel's higher ranking guests, access to "Club Lounge" is available. It is a fairly spacious hang-out spot where light snacks, tea/coffee can be had in an area that is apart from the hotel's commoners.

The Sheraton Society Hill has class. Everything is of very good quality. I especially liked their brown marble counters in all the rooms.

Their business center is top dollar. And it can only accommodate one user at a time:

Pricing as of December 2004:

Internet: $2.99 activation fee, then 59 cents per minute.

Copy Machine/Fax: $1.99 activation fee, then 99 cents per minute.

High Speed Copier: $2.69 activation fee, then $2.69 per minute.

A gift shop is also on the ground floor which offers Philadelphia apparel, Philadelphia postcards and other things.

I like the Sheraton Society Hill. All the rooms I saw looked new and I was surprised to hear they will soon be renovated. It's a comfortable hotel. And the standards appear to be high here.