Stayed at HI Express at last minute over a weekend in early August 2008. Great hotel. In the heart of Philadelphia's gay neighborhood and a great place to stay to explore the area on foot. Typical (great) HI Express breakfast, Hotel has some fancy flourishes in lobby. Room was very nice; plasma tv and comfortable bed with fine sheets and coverings. Bathroom was mediocre. Front desk staff were very friendly (and offered a nice welcome gift of bottled water, city map and gay guide on check-in) but were not very experienced (when i mentioned I tried video checkout they said they'd never heard of it). But friendliness and wilingness to help far outweighed any negativity. Would definitely stay here again.

For service, value and selection, this hotel cannot be beat. The staff were incredible!!! They were so friendly, it was like staying with family.
The really great thing was, it was within walking distance to everything...all of the major attractions were just minutes away by foot.
The breakfast bar is unbelievable. It was hard not to overdo it, everything was so good, and it was always kept clean. The only problem, was that it could be hard to find a seat. Not that there was no seating, it's just that they have a lot of huge tables tht fill up fast, and for couples who would rather eat alone, there are only 6 little tables rammed into a tiny corridor of the breakfast room. Sometimes, if all of the couples tables were full, it made manouvering around people difficult....especially with a full plate of food and a steaming hot beverage!
All in all, I am so glad that I chose this hotel, I think you would enjoy it here too.
P.S. At the end of a hot, humid July day, there is no better place to relax then by the rooftop pool on the 7th floor.

We stayed only one night at this Holiday Inn Express, but it was a nice lodging choice for us.

The lobby is quite small, but because we were with a large bus tour, we were not inconvenienced by any check-in wait. (Reps from the tour company ran that gauntlet and room keys were waiting for us on arrival). The food service area just off the lobby was clean and efficiently attended by HIE employees when we ventured down to sample our complimentary breakfast. The breakfast bar was well stocked with hot and cold offerings including scrambled eggs & pork sausage patties.

Our room was on the small side, but nicely appointed and CLEAN, let me tell ya. The bed was wonderfully firm and comfortable.

The bathroom was luxe, with a generous number of soft towels and nice selection of grooming products.

This HIE is easy for us to recommend as a hotel choice when visiting Philadelphia.

My first impression of the neighborhood was not good, but it really grew on me through my stay. The hotel is old, but the room was clean and comfortable. The front desk staff were very friendly and helpful. The pool on the deck of the sixth floor was nice. The location was convienient to all of the downtown sites. We walked to the historic district with no problems. The breakfasts were ok. The first morning there was a student group there getting breakfast at the same time as us. The room was very crowded but we managed to get to a table just a someone was getting up. We had no issues with noise. Also there are several restaurants nearby.