1. Kimpton Hotels’ newest Philadelphia property, Hotel Monaco opened in October, transforming a 1907 Old City building into a 268-room boutique hotel. The 13,000 square feet of event space includes the 3,300-square-foot Lafayette ballroom on the ground floor, which features 12-foot windows that overlook Independence Park. An 11th-floor rooftop lounge seats 250.
2. Set on the University of Pennsylvania campus, this extended-stay property opened in May. Homewood Suites by Hilton University City has 136 studios and one-bedroom suites, which include living rooms and kitchen areas. An 800-square-foot meeting room seats 50 and a boardroom seats 20.
3. This high-end hotel brand’s first local property opened in June, taking over the former Crowne Plaza Philadelphia Downtown building in Center City. Sonesta Hotel Philadelphia has 445 guestrooms and 16,000 square feet of meeting space, including the Liberty ballroom, which holds 600. Also on site: a rooftop seasonal pool.
4. Open since March 2012, Valley Forge Casino Resort is a half-hour from downtown Philadelphia. The $150 million complex includes two refurbished hotel towers—Casino Tower and Radisson Hotel at Valley Forge—encompassing 486 guest rooms, as well as the 100,000-square-foot Valley Forge Convention Center, home to 45 meeting rooms.
5. The 180-room Sheraton Valley Forge opened in King of Prussia in October, a mile from Valley Forge National Park. Nearly 25,000 square feet of meeting space includes an executive boardroom seating 16, and a grand ballroom that holds as many as 1,400 or can be divided into four smaller spaces.
6. A new Delaware County option, the Clarion Hotel Conference Center was scheduled to open in December, offering a conference option just outside Philadelphia and in close proximity to the new PPL Park soccer stadium. The 297-room property includes two ballrooms that accommodate 880 and 220, two boardrooms, and a hospitality suite.
