This Hilton boutique hotel is a wonderful hideaway in the University City area of Philadelphia. The rooms are large and well apportioned. The public spaces have numerous private alcoves and invite casual meet ups. I expected a standard university hotel, and I was very pleasantly surprised. One word of warning, the rooms are pricey but good, safe hotel space in Philadelphia is hard to come by.

I stopped using Hilton Hotels about 4 years ago as I felt they had noticeably declined in service, quality and general maintenance. My last visit to The Waldorf was a complete disaster resulting in my switch to Sofitel.

Anyway, I was pretty impressed with Hilton Inn at Penn by some major advances for the business traveler. Although, it's still very much a Hilton, e.g. the choice of "Merlot, Cabernet or Pinot Noir" at the bar doesn't much confidence in quality, they have introduced small but significant advances.

OK, one bad thing about this place was the lack of service at the door. My baggage and I were sort of dumped at the front door without assistance. I had a lot of baggage. I had to find my own cart and take everything up to the check-in desk myself. I would have made this a 4 star rating if it wasn't for that rather rude introduction.

Anyway, the small things DO count and here's a list of the good stuff:

1. The desks do NOT have glass tops. This is very important as I hate glass desks because my mouse never works on them.

2. There's an iPad in the room. Brilliant! No need for those pesky folders full of out-of-date information about room service etc. This way, I can do everything online without having to rummage for extension numbers for the front desk, gym etc. Every hotel should do this!

3. There's a box full of cables so I can fully connect all gadgets. Marvelous! I cannot count the number of times I've been unable to fully connect due to a lack of cables.

4. There's a console on the wall by the desk so I can plug everything in. I don't like having to scramble around on the floor under desks to find plugs etc.

OK, that's all great. The one thing that would make this review a 4 - apart from naming the wines and lack of front door service - would be to have the TV in a position near the desk so I can use the screen as a monitor. I have yet to find a hotel that enables this. Most have the plugs but usually, the enormous TV is located on the other side of the room from the desk.

I may just return to Hilton for business if all their hotels have useful gadgets however, Hilton, please do something about the service issue!

Five nights in a hotel is a pretty good test I reckon and the Inn passed with flying colours. Understated, super-clean and spacious, it was a great base for our family. Room decor won't set any hearts racing with excitement but all immaculate and in proper condition. Slightly compact fitness room but perfectly adequate. Very friendly concierge who gave us several spot-on eating out suggestions. The breakfast buffet is well organised and lots to eat.

I am picky, trust me! I have stayed at several Philly hotels over the last few years. Inn at Penn is ranked number one for me. Just got back from 3 nights there,stayed due to Hurricane Sandy. First of all the place is spotless. If you read all my reviews you will see I check the room as soon as I enter, I won't even unpack until I do. I lift all the bed spreads and check thoroughly for bed bugs, dirty sheets,check the bathroom,etc. It was very clean. Secondly the rooms feel spacious compared to other city hotels I have been in,same with hallways, everything is a bit wider and doesn't feel cramped. All of the hotel looks newly remodeled, fresh looking and up to date decor. The bathrooms are great, large vessel sink, rain shower head plus seperate sprayer, couldn't get my kids out of the shower. Towels are good quality. Beds very comfortable, and have extra feather beds on them so nice and soft. They give each room an ipad which serves as directory, you order your room service on it,etc. Room key also serves to turn on and off lights, it's all pretty technically savvy which I love. The restaurants ,there are two. The Italian one is called Penne. Very good, cool wine bar atmosphere,good food,nice wait staff. The casual one is University Club. Has decent buffet breakfast,not the best I have had but decent and clean, again much cleaner than other buffets,no drippings of food around or dirty serve ware, someone seems to be constantly tidying it up. Made waffles the kids liked a lot. The hotel is in a quieter area compared to downtown hotels I have been to, and I preferred this area.Was convenient to get to everything, I highly recommend.