HotelChatter

Check-In and Service
On arrival, everything was smooth, and the atmosphere was welcoming. Service overall was hit or miss. On the up side, phone calls to the front desk were answered promptly and always got us what we wanted. A bellman practically begged us to stowing our luggage for a few hours the day we checked out.
On the downside, housekeeping never bussed a plate of room service cookies. They sat there for days, as did a room service champagne bucket outside a room down the hall.

Room Reaction
Super nice. We had a corner room with a view of City Hall and the north half of Philly. The bed was enormous, and there was ample desk space for a laptop, city maps and papers.
The flat-panel TV wasn't too large for the room, and the pod-style coffee maker was awesome. Our room didn't have an iPod dock, but we plugged our music player into the auxiliary port on the back of the alarm clock.

The Bathroom
Pretty big for a renovated hotel. We had one of those curved shower rods, which we like. Amenities were a little lower end, but now we're nitpicking.

Internet Access
No reliable WiFi? Are you kidding? We paid $10.95 a day for wired access 'cause we had to be online for work. Terrible.

Bar and Restaurant Scene
We'd skip it. Sole Food--they serve fish, get it?--was overpriced, and there are heaps of cool Philly restaurants just blocks away. The bar had a good happy hour--$3 beers, $5 cocktails--but you won't enjoy your drinks in the under-designed, poorly lit space. The specialty cocktails created for that Star Wars show were sickingly sweet and utterly skippable.

Bottom Line
Despite a few hiccups, we'd probably stay at the Loews again. Rooms are going for well under $200 a night right now, and it's got a bit of style thanks to its setting in such a historic building.