The Rittenhouse Hotel

Overall, an excellent hotel. The staff, the facility, and the room were all at their best.

The Rittenhouse served and a phenomenal base for a 40th birthday girls weekend. The rooms exceeded our expectations and are very spacious and beautiful. All of the staff were helpful and welcoming. Will definitely be coming back in the future.

I finally got to experience the Rittenhouse Hotel recently, on an American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts reservation. I would rank it as the second-nicest hotel in Philadelphia, with first place going to the Four Seasons. The Rittenhouse Hotel is much less expensive than the Four Seasons, so it definitely has that going for it. I was upgraded to a spacious king size bedroom on the hotel's top floor, the "R" floor. My room was located behind the elevators, but there was absolutely no elevator noise audible in the room whatsoever. The room seemed recently refurbished. It had a very comfortable bed, a great, powerful air conditioning system, and the bathroom had two sinks and a bid stall shower with one of the largest showerheads I have ever seen in person. An excellent hotel bathroom overall. The only disappointing aspect of the hotel was dinner at the Lacroix restaurant. It has a rather limited menu, and I personally find the French food at Parc restaurant (located across Rittenhouse Square) far better. There also was a tiny mouse on the loose in the dining area during my visit, which I promptly reported to the staff. They kindly comped my dinner tab. I have elected not to deduct points in my ranking of the hotel due to this issue, which I imagine could happen at any eating establishment anywhere honestly, although I certainly wish it had not happened while I was there. I returned to Lacroix for breakfast the next morning, since that is an included Amex FHR benefit. Breakfast was far better than dinner had been. Although I rank the Rittenhouse Hotel as the second best hotel in Philadelphia, and perhaps even higher once you take the cost of a room at the Four Seasons hotel into account, I will probably choose to stay instead at the Bellevue Hotel over the Rittenhouse in the future since it is nearly as nice and in a much better location given where I usually need to be in Center City Philadelphia.

The highlight of our visit to this hotel were two people. Kai was the gentleman who warmly greeted us and took such good care of us the whole time. He is always looking for an opportunity to support his guests and is so much more than just a doorman. For example, when he saw that we were carrying a bag and looking for the bathroom, he immediately offered to hold our bag so that we wouldn’t be encumbered. We have stayed at 5 star hotels all over the world and have never experienced the kind of attention to detail and thoughtfulness of Kai. He really cares about his guests—he’s not just doing it because it’s his job. The other member of your team who was impressive was Romy, the lovely supervisor at the front desk. She is so caring with guests and effective at her job. I couldn’t help wondering: why is she only a supervisor? Why is Kai only a doorman? The staff are what make this hotel special and shine. Let’s celebrate and reward them! Out experience at this hotel was not perfect, but they helped to make up for what was lacking.

Malcolm was very helpful! We asked him if our two trained pianists could take turns playing the piano upstairs and he was both friendly and accommodating. 🎹