AKA Rittenhouse Square Extended Stay

I arrived on a late Wednesday night and flew in from California. I was woken up at 9am by the sounds of pounding and drilling on the 12^th floor, which is the floor we were staying on. Mind you, I was still on California time which would’ve been 6am. Exhausted from the all day travel on the previous day I was not happy, to say the least. I called the front desk and asked what all the noise was and he informed me they’d be doing construction starting at 9am for the next couple of weeks. I expressed to him I just could not stay on that floor to be woken up by that ruckus my entire stay. He let me know he’d speak to his manager and get back to me. I stepped out for a few hours and when I entered the hotel I was greeted by a tall woman and I reminded her of the noise and she informed me they’d been trying to reach me. Without a thought, she apologized for the inconvenience and let me know they’d be upgrading us to a one bedroom suite. She offered to have their staff help us with the moving of our belongings. We obtained our new key and couldn’t believe where they’d placed us. The 5^th floor in a beautiful one bedroom suite! We went from a basic room to a suite. Our jaws dropped! We just expected to be moved into a quiet room but they took it upon themselves to go above and beyond. There was a beautiful kitchen equipped with full size stainless steel appliances, a spacious living room with french doors looking out to the heart of Philly. Lastly, a spacious bedroom with a king size bed and gorgeous marble bathroom with shower over tub. Minutes after arriving in our new suite, a knock at the door. Complimentary cheese and crackers dish for the inconvenience followed by a telephone call making sure we were satisfied with the upgrade. We couldn’t have been happier with the hotel and staff! I felt like Julia Robert in the movie Pretty Woman :) Their motto «If you’re happy, we’re happy!» Had it not been for that first sleepless morning, I’d be giving a 5 star review and I also feel we should’ve been informed of the construction work prior to being placed on that floor.

I absolutely love the AKA Rittenhouse Square. It’s an older hotel but the elegance and glamor is still all there. The rooms are a great size. Our room actually had 2 bathrooms in it. The staff was very courteous and helpful. The location is amazing for all your Philadelphia, PA sights. The holidays are a great time to visit because the hotel is decorated beautifully. Worth walking by even if you don’t stay there.

This hotel is a classic. Great service. Some service items were over priced or should have been included as part of the room charge, such as internet access. The breakfast buffet was most complete and very good. The hotel location is great.

Three of us spent a week here during a recent holiday. Everything lived up to expectations. AKA Rittenhouse Square really does have a feel all of it’s own, a highlight being the bar with some great, relaxed live music. Rooms were well spaces and afforded some good views. Location was fantastic and having visited some other hotels in the immediate area, I didn’t see anything which made me think there was anywhere better.

Modern, chic. Upscale service. Exceptional location.

I was a bit skeptical, as every time we’re in Philly we stay at the Ritz Carlton, but the AKA Rittenhouse blew it out of the water. We had a one-​bedroom that overlooked the square. It was sooo perfect. The room was huge, a massive living room and den, with a huge kitchen. The staff was discreet and extremely helpful. Not to mention they noticed it was my birthday without me even saying so (ID at check-​in) and sent up a cheese plate with chocolates to celebrate! It was a rainy week, and without fail the front desk staff got up and gave me an umbrella before I ran out. So thoughtful. The location cannot be beat. It’s the best hotel in Philly, hands down.

French comment: Excellent hôtel longue durée. Chambre comfortable, service impeccable. Très satisfait de mon passage ici.

We rented a two bedroom apartment for a month while my mom recovered from open heart surgery at HUP. We’re from Miami so being away from home while recovering from such an intense surgery isn’t easy but staying at AKA was the best decision I could have made. The staff was great — had details down to helping us with wheel chair/​lift chair rentals, having umbrellas for us when it was raining and Evan, the manager even had a beautiful arrangement of orchids sent to us when mom got out of surgery. The property location is prime and the apartments are fully furnished, modern and beautiful. I would love to come back on vacation!

We booked one month in advance for our Thanksgiving stay. Ron checked is in and was knowledgeable and hospitable. The rooms were neat and clean. We rented the 2 bedroom suite which was wonderful. My room had a bay window overlooking the street. The whole rental was spacious and can’t beat a full kitchen! Lindsay helped us tremendously when one of our party was ill. Overall it was a grand experience! We even had a internet network specific to our room! Will definitely stay there again. I felt we received great accommodations for our money in Center City.

At first I was really skeptical because I was searching around for hotels in Philadelphia — Center City when I stumbled upon what seemed like an amazing deal. For two nights, we stayed in a lovely suite (1 kingsized bed, spacious living room, fully functional kitchen) for ~$ 400. Don’t get me wrong, that’s still a little steep for my taste, but compared to the $ 400-​$ 600/​night options that were pretty much across the street from this hotel, I had no choice but to settle for this price. Nevertheless, everything about the hotel itself was lovely and very modern/​artsy. The rooms were exceptionally clean. We even got free wifi and cable, which was awesome too. Moreover, the location was great! The hotel is situated pretty much in the shopping district of center city with Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, Coach, Burberry, etc just a 2 minute walk away! Moreover, the Rittenhouse park was right across the street. Overall, a splendid place to stay, and I will definitely stay here again when I come back to Philly. :]
Plus, I think I might’ve stumbled upon Lady Gaga in the very colorful elevator (especially because paparazzi were outside the hotel), tehehe.

The moment you see the hotel, you are impressed. The location is adorable, everything is nearby. The rooms are so clean!!! something that is very hard to find in a hotel. The bed is as comfortable as they could get. Staff very attentive and friendly especially Joe very welcoming and helpful! overall like i said five stars!!!

It’s like home away from home at Aka. My girlfriend took me here for a little birthday vacation and I was blown away by this place. The feel to it was so different from any other hotel I’ve ever stayed at. The lobby feels more like a club lounge and the elevator has purple and green lights inside. It’s very nice that at night they lock the front and your key opens the lobby doors but there is always a night guard. The rooms are great and are bigger then most peoples apartments, they had full kitchens and are fully furnished. The view we had was looking right at rittenhouse square. I loved this place and would definitely go back and stay for even longer time.

I’m so excited that I found this hotel. With family in Philadelphia, I’m sure I will be returning often and now I know exactly where to stay. We got a studio for 1 night. The room was small but comfortable. We didn’t use the kitchen, but it was fully stocked with plates, silverware, glassware, pots and pans. The bathrooms were really beautiful and had all Molton Brown toiletries. Location can’t be beat. LOVE THIS PLACE. Definitely returning, hopefully next time my stay is even longer.

The hotel itself is fabulous, the staff is awesome and super friendly, it was like a home away from home, HOWEVER, this hotel charges you for the day you check out (so if you stay 2 nights, you get charged for 3). For some people this may not be a problem, however i was staying here for work and was unaware of the policy and now it’s likely I won’t be reimbursed for the extra night I stayed there. I’d probably give them five stars, but because of this practice I am surely not going to return to a.k.a. Rittenhouse.

Great location. Good deals. Nice professional and amicable staff. Loved my stay and highly recommend it.

Wonderful location. I loved the two bedroom, two bath suite as I was travelling with others. It enabled each of us to have our own private spaces and share a wonderful kitchen and living suite. For the size and the area it is a really good bargain if you look in the right places to book it.
There are indeed 32 inch HDTVs in nearly every room. Décor is definitely leaning trendy but I found it stable and comfortable enough. They have marble in bathroom and kitchen areas which is nice. Hated that they charge for wifi though.
We had curtains so light was not a challenge but street noise was a bit problematic at times, especially as it got to be the weekend. I sleep like the dead but others in my party found it a bit annoying.
Staff was great, we made sure they knew we wanted daily maid service and got it no problem, the room was kept spotless. Tip nicely and you will get incredible service. The concierge was super sweet and helpful about various adventures we were looking into.
Plenty of great restaurants and destinations nearby, convenient and very nice indeed. Hope to be back sometime.

I was impressed by how clean my room was. I was on the 18^th St side of the hotel rather than the Walnut St side, so I didn’t find it noisy at night.
I am sure that the greater traffic, including bus traffic, on Walnut would be an annoyance. Since this is an extended stay hotel, I didn’t encounter any noise coming from others on my floor. I did hear complaints from someone on another floor of a couple who had left a barking dog alone all day.
The front desk staff were helpful. I found that to get the towels changed every day, all I had to do was ask.
We had a suite with a kitchen. It was a great convenience to have the fridge.
One minus that was reported to me: the hotel doesn’t have a concierge as such. The desk staff did seem able to steer me to the closest pharmacy, etc., so I am not sure that this is a strong negative.
I didn’t like the lobby of the hotel. Whatever had been there before had been gutted, and what was left reminded me of a garage. The upper floors are pleasant, however.
The elevator is slow, so if you are staying on an upper floor, you will sometimes wish that you had taken the stairs.

A truly amazing location, I stayed here for about a month while in town shooting a film, and the 2 bedroom suite I was in was absolutely fantastic. Full gorgeous kitchen with marble island and countertops, 32″ HDTVs in every room, WASHER/​DRYER IN SUITE… Some nice touches all around — you can tell they went very cheap/​modern on the furniture as it’s all kinda rickety yet LOOKS amazing.
Staff is really accommodating — I was on the 2^nd floor and the blinds weren’t doing a good enough job of getting my room to be a proper «hotel blackout», so they freaking installed curtains — which did the job and looked great. Really fine service.
My only complaint was the infrequency of the rooms being cleaned and towels replaced — ours were supposed to be cleaned/​turned-​over every 3 days, and we were lucky if it was once a week. I don’t care as much about having my bed made as I do about having fresh towels every day, but whatever, it is in the perfect location, and a relative bargain.

Very impressed with this hotel. Situated less than a block from Rittenhouse Square, this hotel has an unsupposing front, but as soon as you walk in you know you’ve found something special. There is mood lighting all throughout the lobby and the elevator.
The staff is very friendly and helpful. The rooms are gorgeous, with dark wood furniture, and marble all over the bathroom. The rooms are suites, with a small but full kitchen and separate living room. Also, there is none of that salmon-​pink and washed out-​yellow color you get in alot of other hotels, it’s all tastefully done in black, white, gold and silver.
It’s also situated in the middle of downtown and I found several wonderful places to eat, spanning several price ranges :-D
The only bad thing is that the downtown area of Philadelphia seems to not have any noise ordinances, and I could hear some nightclubs going on well into the night. If I could take away a ½ star I would just for that, because it was hard for me to sleep.
Other than that, however, I loved this hotel. They have complimentary coffee/​tea and pastries in the morning. The housekeeping was also wonderful and unobtrusive. For guests staying less than one week, there is light housekeeping every day. Guests staying longer than a week only get weekly housekeeping, or upon request. They also have a laundry room on premises, and an agreement with a gym situated 3 blocks away.
All in all, I was really impressed with this place.