The front desk clerk told us this Residence Inn was the only one without two-bedroom units... but swiftly gave us a double-upgrade to perfectly lovely one-bedroom units.

The hotel is in an old office building directly east of City Hall, so the location is excellent. At street level there is a 7-11, Dunkin Donuts and Subway restaurant... and a lot of homeless. But an omni-present security guard in the lobby made us feel perfectly safe. Valet parking is available but expensive.

Breakfast is in a huge 2nd floor lounge and was the usual R.I. fare. Rooms were quiet but windows do not open and AC is strong.

We stayed on the seventh floor facing the eat side of the architecturally stunning but in-need-of-repair Philadelphia City Hall.The room was a corner with plenty of windows with sheer curtains and light-tight drapes. There's a fully equipped kitchen with a two-burner stove top, a microwave, a dishwasher and an apartment-sized fridge. They'll even grocery shop for you. There's a two-seat cafe table, a desk and office chair, a couch, a coffee table, a TV stand, a queen bed and a split bathroom. I've never seen such a well-lit hotel room. My wife and I slept well on the bed. Despite being at the intersection of the two main Center City streets, the noise wasn't enough to wake us up. The dining room/lounge/bar are on the spacious second floor. Breakfast is included and on Sunday there were scrambled eggs, sausage and biscuits, plump pork sausages, breakfast potatoes and a mini-waffle maker. The staff keeps the counters well-stocked. Weekday offerings are scaled back, but it's still good and handy if your planning a day out. The location is convenient to the Convention Center and Reading Terminal Market where there are enough prepared food choices for a week or more. Because it's in the heart of Center City, wandering homeless come out on the street at night and the first-floor 7-Eleven attracts a crowd of loafers, but there were no issues with them. Police are very visible in this part of town, especially during weekdays when the nearby criminal justice center is open for business.. There were only two downsides: probably because of its relative age, there are no in-room safes (only safe deposit boxes in the first-floor lobby), so you have to haul your laptops with you or take a chance leaving them in the room. The hot water system needs help: we had to run the bathroom sink faucet for several minutes before getting hot water for hand-washing, and it can go cold when someone on the same supply line turns on the faucet. The place -- a former Art Deco bank/office building -- attracts a lot of business travellers, conventioneers and airline crews, so that business works in its favor and speaks well for the property.