I'm at the end of a five-day stay at the Courtyard Marriott Phila. Airport. Hotels in Philly commonly have lots of problems -- high prices, poor service, bad maintenance, lousy management -- so this hotel was a BIG surprise.

There was a lot of thought put into the refurbishment that was done a year or so ago, and it was implemented well. And as a previous poster noted, the building is very solid. I never heard a sound from another room. The carpeting, linens, furniture and toiletries are a cut above what one would expect, as is the free breakfast: Not only is there an ample buffet, but they'll cook to order an omelet or other hot dishes at no cost! And unusual for Philly (the "City of Brotherly Shove"), I found all the employees to be pleasant and relatively competent; no "attitude" here.

Other small but nice touches include an excellent desk/work area (with free high-speed Internet); excellent lighting throughout the room; and a curved rod for the shower curtain, which gives the feeling of much more space in the shower. There are a small, unimpressive "fitness center" and a small swimming pool; both are clean and offer nice thick towels.

Minor minuses: I'd have liked a "central" heating/cooling system; my room had one that was built into the wall. It worked fine but created a draft when I was working at the desk. Also, a refrigerator would have been welcome.

Some might disagree, but I found the location and layout to be an advantage: It's in an industrial area very close to the airport, there's free parking, and easy access to both of Philly's major freeways. (I-76 and I-95). It's a 15-minute drive to the sports stadiums and to a wide selection of excellent restaurants in South Philly or in suburban communities like Media.

This hotel deserves to be solidly in the three-star category. I gave it a five rating both because of the factors I described above and because of the weak competition.

We went to Philly for a long weekend to celebrate a birthday. Many of the downtown hotels were full and the ones that weren't were ridiculously expensive. Having never been to Philly before, we were worried about finding our way to downtown from an airport hotel.

Happily, it all worked out very well. Although there is no shopping or restaurants readily close by, it was an easy drive to downtown.

We found out upon arrival that the hotel was undergoing some renovation. At first I was disappointed, but that quickly went away. Our room was very nice, completely renovated and it seemed as if we were the first ones to use it! The renovation was continuing in the hallway outside our room and all of the ceiling tiles were taken out, exposing the wiring and pipes above. However, the workers conducted their job as absolutely subtly as possible. In fact, we never heard a thing. They totally cleaned up everything each day so that you couldn't tell they had even been there. Congrats to Marriott for really making the renovation a non-issue.

Our check-in went smoothly except for a glitch with our room key which did not work. We had a nice courtyard view and did not notice the airport traffic at all. This is an older hotel that was obviously built back when they built them properly. The walls and floors are very solid and thick. We never heard a peep of noise from anywhere. The beds and linens were great. The room stayed at the perfect temperature with a very quiet thermostat. But the highlight of the stay was the shower head. My goodness, that thing was awesome. Wanted to bring it home with us.

Our checkout was smooth, billing, rates, and coupons were all correct. One of the front desk staff gave us a great tip and directions for a breakfast stop.

We would recommend this hotel not only for airport travelers, but visitors to Philly as well. It's really not that hard to get to downtown.

Excellent customer service, clean and confortable rooms, great place to stay!!!

This is a clean, convenient business class hotel very near the airport, with adequate parking, a good breakfast, and free WiFi in the rooms. The tv channel choice is adequate and the staff was pleasant to deal with. Shuttle to the airport is only on the half hour and nothing is within walking distance except other hotels. However, if you need a place to overnight between flights connecting in Philadelphia or a location for a business meeting near PHL airport, this is a great option.