More about Sheraton University City Hotel
What you would expect from a Sheraton
by A TripAdvisor Member
If you are visiting Penn, Drexel or other businesses in this area, then this is a nice, convenient hotel. We were club level, so I don't know if all the rooms are as equipped as the one we were in which had a free internet access computer (only functions internet, email and im) and flat panel tv. The beds are very comfortable. The rooms are on the small side of a standard Sheraton. If you needed a rollaway, I think your room would barely accommodate it. Someone from the area told me that it used to be a Holiday Inn, so this explains the smaller size. Speaking of small, the club lounge is also small. We were there for the evening snacks & beverages, and these were OK. We had to go to an early morning event, so we missed the continental breakfast there. To their credit, the hotel gave us breakfast passes to the main dining room instead. Actually, this was quite good, and they even had an omelette station. This was a Sunday morning, so it might not be standard weekday mornings.
The staff was friendly and helpful. My bill was correct. This may sound weird, but I often have billing problems with Sheratons. We had dinner at the hotel, and the food was above average. If you stay at Sheratons, you won't be diappointed with this hotel other than the fact that the room is a little smaller than typical rooms, but it is well-equipped.
Horrible experience
by TripAdvisor Member marigold10
This was an absolutely awful experience. From the garbage on the floors, smelly sheets, the room smelling like smoke, mold in the bathroom,hotel personnel and other guests keying into my room and housekeeping using clean wash cloths on the vanity to wipe down the sink area and then replacing the dirty wash cloth back on the vanity. Unreal, totally unreal! I will be encouraging my company to terminate their relationship with this hotel and would encourage anyone considering a stay at this hotel to give it a serious second thought.
ok for students, parents. vpn fails
by TripAdvisor Member tampaneil
Good location, rooms are ok. 17th floor hallway smells really bad, and the first room I got had a horrible odor. Second room is not so bad and staff had no problems with a room switch. Parking is $15/day (not mentioned beforehand) but internet is free. My main problem with the hotel is that VPN doesn't work through their network... something to consider for those who have to work through the weekend.
A pretty decent experience
by TripAdvisor Member psu86
I booked a business meeting at this sheraton last week. I stayed on the club lounge floor. The rooms , while small, had tons of technology! Great flat screen tv and free wireless internet. In fact they had a computer in every room for your use. The bathroom was kinda beat but had tons of towels and nice bath products. The bed was very comfortable with soft pillows.
The club lounge was small, you had to fight for a seat. The food was good, both in the evening and for breakfast. They had a nice bar with cheap drinks in the club lounge.
The staff at the reception desk were ok, nothing great. They did do a good job with the meeting set up and the catering was good quality. Parking was very easy.
Noisy. Not a great stay.
by TripAdvisor Member brookl
I stayed here the night before an important exam that I had to take nearby. I was checked into a room that hadn't been cleaned, so there were problems right off the bat. They immediately switched me to another room, so that was fine. I needed some quiet time to rest and prepare for the exam. But then a woman checked into the room next door some 30minutes later. I don't know how loud she was talking, but I could literally hear her entire phone conversation through the wall/door (our rooms were adjoining and separated by double-door). She finally left, and things quieted down. But she kept coming in and out of her room (it's her right); noisy as heck everytime she'd come in and talk on the phone. Then around 7pm, she came back to the room apparently with few other friends. That pretty much doomed my stay. I couldn't study or sleep. They were so loud I had to turn up volume just to watch TV. I called front desk and they sent up security to tell the neighbors to quiet down. That didn't do anything; 2 minutes later, they were yakking away. Had security come up again; this time, they were supposed to ask the guests to leave the room and go talk elsewhere. But apparently the security didn't do its job, cuz those people all just stayed and resumed talking afterwards. I finally gave up and left the room to go wander outside. When I got back, the next room was quiet again. By then, it was too late to study so I decided to just turn in for the night before the neighbors became noisy again.
So those valuable hours the day before the exam were sabotaged, thanks to inappropriately poor noise insulation and the staff's inability to handle the situation properly. If you have to stay at this hotel, make sure you ask for a room that's not a tandem room. Even then, you'll still probably have noise issues. I could hear people's conversation out on the hallway all during the evening.
The noise aside, I suppose this hotel is a legitimate 3-star establishment. Room was clean for the most part and everything worked fine in the bathroom. The supplied toiletries were of very cheap quality, esp when considering that Sheraton is supposed to be competing with the likes of Hilton and Radisson. My room came with free computer with free Internet access... that was a nice touch. I ate at the hotel restaurant... very expensive but the food was decent.
Worst Hotel Experience I Have Ever Had
by TripAdvisor Member WG_in_Chicago
This was the worst hotel experience I've ever had. To start with, we called from the restaurant where we were having dinner to confirm that there was a room available, since there were several hotels nearer to Independence Park than this and we would have been happy to change. The front desk confirmed that our $225, club-level room was available and they were waiting for us.
After dinner, we arrived at the hotel to learn that the double-double we had reserved (dad-mom-2 kids) was not available, but they would be happy to put us in a king bed room. Of course, this was not acceptable, especially since we had called to confirm the reservation. We asked for the manager, who could not provide us with the room we had ordered. Later, however, he managed to find our double-double on the club floor! Sadly, by the time they put us in a room (over 30 minutes after we arrived) the pool had closed - a sad thing for the kids on vacation during July.
When we arrived in our room, it became apparent that this room had been taken out of service (and restored JUST FOR US) because the toilet ran all night and the air conditioner leaked so that the carpet was soaking wet. When we complained about the room in the morning, the manager VERY GRACIOUSLY provided the $15 breakfast buffet, compliments of the hotel.
We will never voluntarily book a room at any Sheraton again. We had another unbelievable experience at a different Sheraton property, and we recently attended a convention (locally, thankfully, so we didn't stay there overnight!) at a Sheraton -- the hotel had neglected to notify guests who booked directly with the convention site that the pool would be closed for maintenance during their stay.
Our experiences tell us that Sheraton doesn't care about its guests at all.
Lovely
by TripAdvisor Member Leaudemiel
It was clean, comfortable and upscale. Though they knew we booked through a cheap agency, they treated us as nicely as their other customers. Though its a little out of the city, cabs were never a problem. And plenty within walking distance.
Not Good
by TripAdvisor Member treetravel
Our stay at this hotel was not good!
My husband and I arrived at 5 pm on a Saturday. We were in Philly for a friend's surprise b-day party and we were already running late when we tried to check in. Believe it or not - our room was not ready! We waited for about 45 minutes and finally a room became available - we had reserved a club level room but got a regular room. We were so late at this point that we did not care.
Once in our room - I immediately jumped in the shower to get ready for our party. OH NO - there was no shampoo - only 2 bottles of conditioner. I was really mad at this point!
Then I noticed that there was thick yellow pee on the back of the toilet bowl - the kind that had been there for a while. Yuck.
After a great time at our party I was looking foward to sleeping in - something we don't get to do very often because of our children.
Too bad for us, the bed was so old & worn that my husband and I kept sinking into the middle. It was very uncomfortable.
We left the Sheraton really unhappy with all aspects of our stay.
It is a really disorganized and dirty hotel. They need a complete overhaul and new managment.
