Hotel Review: The Notary Hotel – An Autograph Collection

Located in the heart of Center City Philadelphia, the notary hotel – an autograph collection is a former Courtyard by Marriott Hotel. The hotel went through a rebranding and renovation and was reopened in summer of 2019. The Notary Hotel is situated at 21 North Juniper Street, Downtown Philadelphia. A 15-storey former City Hall Annex building which was built in 1926.

During my stay in January 2020, the hotel was a Category 5 hotel, but later became a Category 6 hotel in March 2020. It would require 40,000 points for off-peak, 50,000 points for standard, 60,000 points for peak to book a 1 King Room per night. But in some instance, 35,000 points for Points Savers.

BOOKING:

I stayed at this hotel for 5-nights during a bleisure trip in the iconic city of Philadelphia in January 2020. I had booked a AAA Hot Deals King Guest Room at $134 per night. A friend of mine was with me on the trip and instead of booking 2 rooms, I decided to use some of my Suite Night Awards to guarantee a suite. 

The upgrade was confirmed 5 days before arrival, and I received a confirmation message from Marriott on the 1^st of January 2020.

CHECKING IN:

Check-in was prompt, and I was thanked for being a Marriott Titanium elite. Being a Notary Hotel, your keycard envelope is notarized with a stamp upon check in. I was assigned a room on the 7^th floor. Although the hotel is surrounded by the best views of downtown Philly, the suites at this hotel does not have a good view at all. For rooms with great views, I’ll recommend City View, Studio or Corner Rooms.

The hotel lobby is vibrant and well decorated in a notary-signature boutique-way. I must say the hotel did a great job converting the former Courtyard hotel into what it is today without leaving any trace of Courtyard behind. The Notary Hotel was given a great makeover no doubt.

This boutique hotel lobby features unique architecture and arts installments which dated back to the 1920s. I love the high ceilings, the chandeliers, and the arch windows. The décor and furnishings at this hotel also did not disappoint.

THE 1 BEDROOM SUITE:

The suite is spacious enough for a downtown hotel. The separate living room was well decorated in a notary-signature chic boutique-way. The separate bedroom features a comfortable king-size bed and a chaise lounge.

The bathroom features double vanity sinks, a walk-in shower with good water pressure. During my 5-nights stay at this hotel, the toilet was blocked, and I called front desk to send maintenance to my room that the toilet is blocked, but maintenance didn’t show up until some hours later when housekeeping came in and saw that the toilet was really bad. It took the second call from the housekeeper to get maintenance to come in and fix the blocked toilet.

DINING:

The hotel restaurant, Sabroso + Sorbo is a Spanish-inspired restaurant which serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There’s also La Colombe coffee bar which serves handcrafted coffees, teas, as well as grab and go pastries.

Breakfast was one of the very few things I enjoyed here at the Notary Hotel. Although the service I received on the first day was not pleasing at all. I actually abandoned my breakfast and just left as I felt like the server gave me attitude simply because I had the elites Breakfast Voucher. She must have thought everyone who has that voucher eats for free, not considering the fact that those who qualifies for complimentary breakfast at Marriott Hotels contributes thousands of dollars in revenue.

Honestly speaking, the breakfast was good and I looked forward to it every morning during my 5-nights stay at this hotel. One morning during breakfast, I ordered for 3 items from the menu and I was told I could only order 2 items when using the breakfast voucher. I had to push and summoned the manager before I was able to get what I wanted. Dinner wasn’t that impressive here at this hotel, per my friend’s words.

I skipped breakfast on the fifth day and opted for 750 points instead. I love the fact that I didn’t have to call the hotel for this as most Marriott hotels are fond of not crediting such points to your account unless you call to follow up.

SERVICE:

Service was a hit or miss, and we have different reasons to say that. One evening, I went to the market at the lobby to get some snacks and water and when I wanted to charge the items to my room, the front desk attendant responded “is it just the water and the chips? Don’t worry about it “. I found this to be generous of the attendant / hotel.

One morning while I was in the bedroom sleeping, housekeeping lady came in to clean the room. A moment later, another guy also came in and he and the housekeeper started having a conversation in the living room. It was a long conversation, of which it does not occur to them that there was someone in the room. I found this to be very wrong and unprofessional that I had to call the front desk to complain. I was promised 5,000 points as a compensation which was never credited to my account till tomorrow. 

Some of the hotel staff was really friendly to us during our stay here. Especially one of the bellmen who told me about Mustang Sally, since I had a Mustang convertible during my stay here at the hotel. The housekeeping lady from Cameroon was also very friendly and professional.

The both TVs in the suite weren’t really that useful. The one in the living room kept restarting itself to free up some space. 

OTHER AMENITIES:

The hotel has a fitness center onsite, but I wasn’t able to visit the gym during my stay. Although we made use of the internet, The Points Engineer did not conduct the WiFi test during this stay.

LOCATION:

The hotel is nestled in the heart of Center City Philly. With steps from City Hall Plaza, Masonic Temple, and many other popular landmarks in downtown Philadelphia. 

This historic hotel is surrounded by some of the most iconic architecture and picture-perfect views of the vibrant city of Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Convention Center is also located a block away from the hotel.

PARKING:

The hotel offers valet parking at $55 per night. There’s also a Day Parking option which costs $24 (from 10:00am to 6:00pm). The hotel charges an additional 22.5% tax on every parking. There are several other parking garages around the hotel, and lots of metered parking which is free at night. 

FINAL VERDICT:

My stay at this hotel was okay. The price was reasonable and being able to use some of our SNAs was exciting. Although there were couple of things the hotel could improve on, but overall it was an okay property. The hotel did a great job converting the former Courtyard hotel into a boutique hotel without leaving any trace of the Courtyard by Marriott we’re used to. Very good breakfast even though the menu was limited. But it was disappointing being limited to only 2 items from the menu. We were also disappointed at some of the hotel staff, as we pointed out in the review. But again, some of the hotel staff really impressed us and went out of their ways to satisfy us. 

Have you stayed at this hotel before? I’d love to read your comments below.
Planning to visit this hotel soon? I’d love to answer any of your questions below also.