Morris House

I believe I've reviewed Morris House before, probably several years ago. It maintains its excellent service, quaint and spacious rooms, and convenient location to many things in downtown Philadelphia. Another plus is that it is a good value.

We chose this hotel based upon the stellar reviews. We were disappointed on a number of fronts: 1) Things they can’t change; the neighborhood is not a great place at night. On one side are many beautiful old colonial buildings, but on the other….walking home from the wonderful Dizengoff restaurant (mostly modern buildings which kill the colonial effect of the hotel), there are a remarkable number of homeless, many of whom seem to be on drugs and very unstable. Not a place to walk with children. There is an ugly building across from our room, which blocks the view, but more importantly, if has a 24/7 loud ventilating system. (Opening the windows also brings in wafts of a fishy/garbage smell). When I brought this up to the day manager, she shrugged and said “use earplugs.” The extension where we were -modern, nice but generic, not colonial- requires lugging up heavy luggage two floors.; there was nobody on the staff to help. Advice: Try to get a ground floor if you have heavy bags. Take taxis back at night. Avoid the extension if you want a “colonial” experience. 2) Things they can change: a) the fan system within the room, including the bathroom, is too noisy. B) the room is quite bright at night – the TV screen was bright (?), and there are no full curtains, so bring night sleep goggles. C) extremely few amenities in the bathroom, except repeated makeup-remover kits, not helpful for a father and son d) our second bed was a convertible, which took up the entire living room leaving little sitting space -we were not warned. E) no drawers for one’s clothing, just a very large clothes closet, whose two very bottom drawers are taken up by hotel pillows, etc. f) too many things are broken – clothes hangers, the bathtub front piece, sink drain, etc. Housekeeping should be aware of these kind of issues. G) breakfast is quite disappointing. H) the new extension needs a new paint job.

I stayed at Morris House last night and was so impressed. First, the location to Jefferson and Penn is perfect. The price for the room was great. I stayed in the ground floor of the Carriage house in a great, 2 room suite with small kitchenette, china, stainless flatware and glass-glasses. The owner toured me around the main house (built in 1787) when I checked in. The artwork and period furniture are perfect for the decor. I couldn't stay for the breakfast, but it was described to me and sounded great. This is a fantastic place to stay for just slightly more than a big box discount hotel. Highly recommend.