Hotel Review: Motto By Hilton Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square

An Army buddy from my 3rd Infantry Division days, who also happens to be a fraternity brother from my alma mater, was recently assigned to Ft. Meade, MD, for the subsequent year. As he’s only 45 mins away from D.C., he called me up and asked if I wanted to take a road trip to Philadelphia as he had never been.

I had only been to Philly once or twice and never with anyone who appreciates the city’s history. So I thought it would be fun. That’s how we ended up booking the Motto by Hilton Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square.

BOOKING PROCESS
Motto is a relatively new brand of hotels by Hilton. There are only three of them currently open. The third just opened last week in New York City. The brand is focused on city destinations and designed to compete with hostels that offer small, no thrills priced rooms. The only rooms that had two beds were in a bunk bed configuration. We stayed in the city for one night, which was fine for the price point. It was an excellent throwback to basic training, just without the need for a fireguard.

As this was a holiday weekend, I booked a night in a twin bunk bedroom for $144, which is a bit more expensive than you would typically find for this hotel during another regular weekend. However, the room was still an average of $50-60 less than other hotels in the area, and as we would be spending the majority of our time exploring the city, it felt like the right choice.

I used my Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express to earn 34x Hilton Honors points. In addition, the card is currently offering a welcome offer of 150,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first three months of card membership. Additionally, the card comes instant top-tier Hilton Diamond status, and the $450 annual fee is waived for active-duty military members and their dependents.

If you’d instead use points to book the same room type, it will set you back anywhere from 25,000 – 50,000 points per night. Hilton no longer publishes an award chart and has moved to dynamic pricing. That means award prices will vary similar to the cash price of the hotel room.

LOCATION
The Motto by Hilton Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square is ideally situated in downtown Philadelphia just off of 19th Street. It is only a block away from the 19th Street Trolley Station and is perfect if you arrive or depart from the 30th Street train station. In addition, it is a short walk to most sites within Philadelphia, including City Hall and various museums along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. We spent most of our time walking through Philadelphia and only took the metro twice the entire time we were there.

CHECK-IN
We arrived just after noon on a Friday. The front desk was a bit hidden around the corner from where you enter the building but is located just in front of the elevators before you enter the hotel restaurant.

The staff welcomed me, but my Diamond status was not acknowledged, not that there were any real benefits to be gained from elevated status in this location. We were told it was a bit early to check-in, but they did have our room type ready. We were handed key cards, two bottles of complimentary water and told our food and beverage could be used at the El Café by the hotel entrance.

ROOM
We were given the keys to room 806 and headed to the elevator. The room is the first one after getting off of the elevator. The room was minimalistic, with a small shelf and coat hangers next to the door.

A small chair and desk pushed into the corner, and the bunk beds in the other corner.

A rather large TV hung up on the wall opposite the bunk beds.

Compared to the rest of the room, the bathroom was very spacious, well lit, and felt very modern. The dispensers for shampoo, conditioner, and body wash hung on the wall in the shower. I’m not a fan of these dispensers and prefer individual toiletries, especially in the age of COVID, but otherwise was ideally suited for our needs.

DINING
Condesa is the bar and restaurant on the first floor and serves “modern Mexican cuisine,” Although we did not get a chance to visit, I will say it was undoubtedly busy with patrons right up until they closed at 11 pm. Next time I’m in town, I wouldn’t hesitate to try it out.

The adjoining El Café on the first floor is where guests can redeem their food and beverage credit. Interestingly, the food and beverage credit didn’t set it up to give you $15 per the terms of the program for the Motto brand. Instead, if you were a Gold member, you would receive one pastry and one coffee, whereas if you were a Diamond member, you would receive two pastries and two coffees. I had not heard of this system before and am curious if it’s only for this location or this brand.

El Techo is the 21+ rooftop restaurant and bar. We explored it with only one hour left to close, and their kitchen had already closed, but drinks were still being served. However, the drinks were strong, and the seating was spacious. This was an excellent way to close down the night.

BOTTOM LINE
The Motto by Hilton Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square was perfect for our purposes of wanting a place to rest our heads at night while exploring the city as much as possible. The price was lower than anywhere else in the town; it had excellent on-site restaurants and bars available and is centrally located downtown. The hotel makes for a great property to serve as your springboard to explore the city at a lower price.