Guest User
April 8, 2024
My wife and I recently stayed at the Four Seasons Philadelphia with our dog for one night to celebrate my wife’s birthday. We live nearby in the Philadelphia suburbs, and as frequent Four Seasons guests at other properties, we had been curious about staying at our local location, since we’ve only ever visited for dining. The hotel’s location high above the city is unique and stunning, and it has a lot to offer in terms of amenities. However, given how expensive it is, we did find that there were still some things that could be tightened up to have a stay commensurate with the high room rates. Trip Planning: As I always do when booking a Four Seasons, I reserved through a Preferred Partner travel agent, which enabled us to get free perks (I highly recommend doing this). For no extra cost, our reservation included a room upgrade based on availability at check-in, priority early check-in and late check-out, a $100 hotel credit, and a breakfast credit of $87 each morning which could be used at Skyhigh or in-room dining. Prior to arrival, using the Four Seasons app, the staff was helpful in making spa appointments and dining reservations. The dining assistance is particularly useful, since the hotel restaurants are all very popular with non-hotel guests. You can book them up to 60 days in advance as a hotel guest, as opposed to 30 days in advance otherwise. Arrival: I messaged the hotel in the app on the morning of our arrival to see if I could get an idea of when our room might be available, and was pleasantly surprised that our room was ready for us at 10:00 am. When we’ve visited as non-hotel guests, we’ve observed that staff service at the entrance always seems pretty poor, with no one holding the doors open or really greeting anyone. Arriving as a hotel guest was no different. We pulled up when it wasn’t particularly busy, and I saw one of the valets watch us arrive, but take no action to come right over and greet us like I expect from a luxury hotel. He did eventually come over, and was friendly enough, but there’s a lack of proactive effort from the valet and door staff here, which makes a poor first impression. The ground floor entrance area also has a couple people at a desk whose role I have not been able to figure out (they rarely greet anyone, and just seem to stand there). Check-in itself was ultimately good, but started on the wrong foot. I was checked in by a trainee (as noted on her name tag) who seemed well-meaning, but wasn’t ready to work independently. She went through the process painfully slowly and in an unpolished manner not at a luxury hotel level. An example would be her explanation of our breakfast credit, which was along the lines of “You can use the credit for in-room dining. In-room dining is when you call us and we send food to your room.” I did really appreciate that Mallory, the Front Desk Manager, was at the desk at the time and seemed to sense how it was going. She came over and immediately expedited things a