We wanted to try something different on a recent business trip to Philadelphia so we chose the Hotel Palomar.  Its known as a small botique hotel and is part of the Kimpton hotel group.

Hotel

The hotel definitely felt very botique.  Arriving at the hotel we pulled up and were directly across from the Sofitel Philadelphia.  The valet was prompt and we left our car for the evening.  The lobby was very clean and felt somewhat like a living room.  They even had a Wii available for guests to play.  Checkin was friendly and efficient.  My room type was not given at checkin aparently there were none available in my type.  I apologize for the quality of the pictures, they were taken from the worst phone ever.

Square 1682 Restuarant

Hallway

Wii In The Lobby

Room

The room was very nice.  It reminded me of a newer W hotel without the plastic furniture.

Service

Each night at 5PM-6PM they have a huge dinning room table set up with over 12 bottles of Red & White wine set up for happy hour, it was fantastic.  They also have seasoned (e.g. truffle oil) popcorn to die for.

Everyone at the hotel was very nice however they are still working out some of the kinks since they recently opened.  Breakfast was brought to the room over an hour late, and when I returned to my room at 5 PM my room was still not made up.  I called for the room to be made but no one picked up the phone, so I went to the lobby and there were at least 4 people sitting around near the front desk.

Area

The hotel is in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood.  The area has plenty of restaurants, shops and bars.  My favorite restuarant in the area is Alma de Cuba.

Bottomline

I’m as much of a point junkie as the rest of us here on Boarding Area, but this time we decided to switch it up, and it was a nice change from the typical chain hotel.  However they need to work out a few of the service issues noted above.  And I’m most happy to report that the Thermostat trick worked at a Kimpton hotel, as well as Hyatt, and Hilton.  It was a pretty hot day in Philly, so I gave it a shot to lower the temperature below the 65 degree setting, a simple pushes of the code and it worked like a charm.

A VIP Code displays when you enter the Correct Code (Hold Display, Push Off, Push Up, Let go of Display) and you can override the thermostat to go as low as you’d like.