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Philly's Four Seasons Taps Their Courtyard for a Beer Week Biergarten

Where: One Logan Square [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States, 19103

The courtyard, pre-biergarten

We have three very inspiring words for you: hotel beer garden. We don't know about you, but just the words "beer garden" inspire us to dress casual-cool, get outside and order a foamy pitcher. Add "hotel" onto that and we're planning a weekend around it—specifically June 6-10 as the Four Seasons Philadelphia plays home base for Philly Beer Week.

Daily from 4pm-8pm during this time, the Four Seasons will transform their al fresco courtyard into a full-fledged beer garden, complete with taps for special and limited-edition brews, like Victory Brewing Company's second annual release of Summer Love Ale.

What's more is that the beer garden will be doing giveaways to those who check in on Foursquare and Facebook Places (of course), and if you're hungry, there's a menu of cookout favorites coming from the Four Seasons' Executive Chef Ralph Gonzalez. Here is the full schedule of goings-on at the hotel, which is just one hotspot for beer guzzling awesomeness during Philly Beer Week.

[Photo: VisitPhilly]

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Liberté Is Now Open At Sofitel Philadelphia

Where: 120 South 17th Street [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States, 19103

If all those pumpkins and pesky trick or treaters didn't make you feel like fall is here to stay, try this: a nice cozy spot in front of the fire at Liberté, the chic-looking new bar at the Sofitel Philadelphia.

We first heard about this French-inspired cocktail bar back in September, and now, thanks to the good people at VisitPhilly.com we get wind that Liberté is well and truly here. Hooray!

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Liberté Comes To Sofitel Philadelphia, And Cheers To That

Where: 120 South 17th Street [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States, 19103

NYC isn't the only city cooking up new hotel bars and restaurants. We hear that our favorite neighboring city, Philly, is also getting a fancy new hotel cocktail bar. It's called Liberté and it's moving into the Sofitel Philadelphia in October.

We already like the sound of it, just from the name alone--Liberté will replace the old Lounge Bar La Bourse, which is a bit of a mouthful, especially if you've already had a few cocktails.

Located in the first-floor lobby, Liberté will having a dining area, lounge and seating at an oval-shaped central bar.

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The Case of the Dreaded Hotel Jogging Map

Where: 117 South 17th Street [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States, 19103

There it was, sitting on the desk and openly taunting us. Would we dare read it or could we pretend we never even noticed it in the first place? The Hotel Palomar Philadelphia's city jogging map threatened to make us feel guilty about taking a long weekend away from New York City and all the subway stair-climbing life in NYC entails.

Instead of in the back pocket of our workout pants, the map landed in a shuffled stack of torn-off hotel notepad paper on which we had jotted our impressions of Philly cheesesteaks from around the city, but we had not forgotten about it.

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Inside the Hotel Palomar Philadelphia

Where: 117 South 17th Street [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States, 19103

We just had our favorite kind of weekend: a long one spent in a hotel with a giant bathtub and an excellent city view. So where were we? On the 22nd floor of Kimpton's Hotel Palomar Philadelphia, the chain's first Philly hotel and a semi-new one at that, since it only opened back in October 2009.

We stayed for two nights—one of them a gift from a party and the other paid for by ourselves—in a King City View room with Spa Tub, which starts around $250 per night.

Check-in: Located just off of the ritzy shopping strip of Walnut Street and like a two minute walk away from Rittenhouse Square, the Palomar occupies an enviable location. We actually walked straight to it from Philadelphia's 30th Street train station after taking a bus in from New York; that took no more than twenty minutes. The hotel itself is in the "Architects' Building," a vintage structure directly across the street from the Sofitel. Comparing the two, the Palomar makes the Sofitel look like a crummy office block built during the Cold War in East Berlin.

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Twenty-Two Stories Above Philadelphia, We're at the Hotel Palomar

Where: 117 South 17th Street [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States, 19103

What are we doing twenty-two stories high above Philadelphia? Sleeping at the newish Hotel Palomar, naturally. On a weekend escape from New York, we headed down to the City of Brotherly Love for our own loves: baseball and food. And since temperatures here are reaching a humid 92-degrees, there's never been a better time to return from a Phillies-Reds game to central air conditioning and free Arnold Palmers in the lobby.

We'll have the full hotel review for you tomorrow, but enjoy the video tour of our room above—a King City View with Spa Tub, which runs $250 and up per night, although other rooms here go as low as $149. And like the Hotel Palomar Chicago, Philly's Palomar is on the conservative end of the Kimpton Hotels chain, but that doesn't mean that the Kimpton-standard free wine receptions in the evening are any less neighborly. See what we mean tomorrow. [Photo and video: HotelChatter]

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The NYT Says It's Always Sunny at The Hotel Palomar Philadelphia

Where: 117 South 17th Street [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States, 19103

Let this week’s Check In, Check Out review in The New York Times be a lesson to any hotel outside of New York City: Do not mess with a New Yorker’s breakfast bagel. Or, if you do, make sure you’re damn well apologetic about it.

The Grey Lady visits nearby Philly for this review of the Hotel Palomar Philadelphia, almost six months after it opened last October. Things start to sound ominous when we learn that the reviewer’s “smoked salmon breakfast arrived without smoked salmon” in the first paragraph. But it’s the same mix-up that ends up earning the Kimpton property extra points for service.

The staff was so eager to make amends that I came away with a better impression of the hotel than if nothing had gone wrong.” (In case you’re wondering, the smoked salmon on a bagel costs $11.)

And from that point on, it’s always sunny at the Palomar Philadelphia…

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Philly’s Hotel Palomar Opens This Thursday

Where: 117 South 17th Street [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States, 19103

While we wait patiently for a slew of hot new hotels to open in New York City, there is movement over in Philly, with the opening of the city’s first Kimpton property, the Hotel Palomar, this Thursday.

And we’re not the only ones excited about the opening. Just ask Ed Grose of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association. He told the Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday:

“Having a property like Palomar by Kimpton come to Philadelphia confirms that we have made it as a city.”

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Hotel Palomar Philadelphia to Open October 15th

Where: 117 South 17th Street [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States, 19103

In a move that makes us happy (hard to do on the day after a three-day weekend marking the end of summer), we've just heard that Kimpton Hotels will open their Hotel Palomar Philadelphia on October 15 in the City of Brotherly Love's Rittenhouse Square neighborhood.

Not only will the Palomar be the first Kimpton in Philly, but also the first Kimpton to receive LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

By the looks of the room renderings we’ve seen so far, the décor will reflect the property’s green cred. The exterior looks pretty exciting too: the hotel is situated in the landmark Architects Building, built in 1929, and known as one of the city’s best examples of Art Deco architecture.

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Jamie Foxx Has a Security Issue at AKA Philly

Where: 135 S 18th Street [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States, 19103

We joke about stalking celebs 'round here quite a bit — but we promise we'd, like, never actually go stalk them. We're not nutjobs. Poor Jamie Foxx got quite a scare earlier this month when a stalker made his way into the actor's room at the luxury extended-stay AKA Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia.

TMZ reports:

It all went down at the AKA Hotel in Philadelphia on March 22 -- sources say Jamie had to physically struggle to shove a 49-year-old perp out of his room, after the guy tricked Foxx into thinking he was Beyonce's producer.

We're told Jamie realized something was wrong as soon as he opened the door, but the suspect quickly tried to push his way inside. Fortunately, Jamie overpowered him and slammed the door in his face.

Ew. Who let that guy in, anyway? Hotel security, where were you on that one?

In other news, we have finally heard of someone who has stayed at an AKA Hotel. We'd contact him to see what he thought of the place, but, you know, maybe something sorta tainted the whole stay for him.

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Sheraton Philly Forces Guest To Charge Laptop in Bathroom

Where: 2 Franklin Plaza 17th & Race Sts [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States, 19103

On any given trip, how many gadgets do you travel with? We'd be willing to bet you've at least got a cell phone every time, a laptop some of the time, perhaps an iPod, a curling iron, an electric shaver or even a little personal DVD player if you're into that sort of thing, right? And in your hotel, you'd probably be in need of an outlet or two to plug in said gadgets or at least recharge them overnight, correct? Correct.

And haven't we all been in hotel situations where we've had to crawl under desks or bedside tables or unplug lamps because of a shortage of outlet options or an illogically placed, inconveniently-located socket? It's the worst. You'd think your traveler-of-2009 needs would be considered when hotel rooms are being built or renovated these days — but, miraculously, sometimes they're not.

The next time you're crawling under your desk to plug in your laptop, just remember this photo and remind yourself that it could be worse: you could be faced with no outlets and all — and left with no choice but to plug your stuff into the bathroom wall.

This was posted to Flickr by cubemate, who seemed to have no other outlets in his hotel room at the Sheraton Philadelphia (tags for this shot included "rundown," "atrophy," "missing," and "smell.") He adds:

It was the "3V" floor. If someone of ill repute were to show up smelling of vice, vomit and vermin, I imagine this is where you would put them.

Wow, seriously? Looks like someone might need a renovation soon.

[Photo: Cubemate]

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Who Knew? A Small Four-Room B&B in the Middle of Philly for Under $200 a Night

Where: 2023-2025 Locust Street [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States, 19103

There may be nothing worse than finding a hotel that looks amazing online, but when you go to vet that amazingness through past guest reviews, you find zilch. We don't mean you find zero people who have nothing nice to say; instead, you find no one has said anything at all. Which is the case with Philadelphia's Lippincott House.

The bed and breakfast is one block from Rittenhouse Square, which--as anyone who's been to Philadelphia knows--is the place to bunk in Philly, either for the night or permanently, thanks to the area's many Victorian mansions.

The Lippincott House was constructed in 1897 and only has four rooms, some with fireplaces and all with individual bathrooms and WiFi, starting at $175 per night. The property also has a banquet room, games room and theater-style media room. Each afternoon between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., the place serves up complimentary soft drinks and cheese.

Sounds great, right? Expect that the absence of reviews on this place have us wondering if it's some sort of metropolitan mirage. Surely someone who has stayed there has something to say. If that's you, please tell us!