I stayed two nights here and had a comfortable stay. The lobby was especially nice, with lots of fresh flowers and a fire in the fireplace surrounded by couches. The room was spotlessly clean, the bed comfortable, the TV big, spa shower newly renovated and hot... it's not going to win any awards for personality (it is marriott, after all) but it's going to give you exactly what you'd expect from a nice new hotel. Right in the heart of downtown, too.

There's an indoor pool and sauna, but no hot tub.

Be warned, parking is like $40 a night, we found a garage two blocks away for $13 a night.

The location of this hotel cannot be beat. It's right in the Inner Harbor area, and within walking distance to shops, restaurants and attractions. The great locations means a high price tag though.

The lobby is stunning! We arrived a few days after Christmas and it was beautifully decorated with a large tree in the center of the lobby. They also had an immaculate gingerbread house/candy display in the breakfast area -- it was beautiful.

Check in was easy. We got our room right away, despite arriving at 10am, much much earlier than normal check in. Also, as a Marriott elite, upon check in, I got to draw a free gift out of a bag -- I got extra reward points -- nice!

The room was okay. I expected better for the price tag of this hotel. It seemed very basic. But it was spotless and the view was to-die-for!

What I didn't like:
Expensive breakfast buffet. Now, I know most of the upper tier Marriott properties do not offer free breakfast, but ugh. I love me some Marriott waffles, so I was a little sad that I couldn't do a DIY breakfast during our stay. But that's okay, there are plenty of other great restaurants in the area. But I did check out the buffet. Oh my. It looked sad. Don't eat here, go to a real restaurant.

No free wifi! This is 2013. How much longer can these hotels get away with this?! Oh wait, I know! Because this is considered one of Marriott's top tier hotels (and thus, used frequently by business travelers), they can charge for this because the main demographic of their guests is paying via company expense account. No biggie though -- there's always 3G/4G.

TEENS TEENS TEENS: Apparently, this is a choice hotel for school trips/conferences because teenagers were running amok around this hotel. Very loud, very annoying.

HVAC system in the room: The A/C kept turning on. We had maintenance come up twice to look at it and no one could figure out what was wrong.

Bottom line, the location can't be beat, and if you're here to explore the inner harbor area, I recommend this place. Granted, the Four Seasons next door is probably better if you're looking for luxury, but really, this isn't bad either.

This place is nice. It's not a luxury hotel, but the bed is a luxury hotel style bed - pillow top, super comfy, super soft sheets. But, the down-free pillows were terrible - really mealy and mushy. If we stay here again, I'm bringing my own towels. The rest of the room is just okay, the bathroom is fine but the shower/tub is just a plastic fitted tub with a cheap shower and curtain. The view over the harbor was really stunning and beautiful. We didn't eat breakfast there, as it's $24.95 for the buffet and it really didn't look good. A quick 3 minute walk to Panera Bread was great. Also, we realized later there's a nice looking Delicatessen on the inner harbor, I think we will go there for breakfast next time. The thing that kind of ruined our peaceful weekend stay was that the previous occupant of the room had the clock radio alarm set for 6:45 AM. Argh! Can you imagine, after having a nice meal out on the water on Saturday night, then to wakt up at 6:45 with a blaring alarm? It would be a good idea to remind the housekeeping staff to check that and turn it off between guests.

I loved everything about this hotel, the location, the common areas, the room, the breakfast buffet, but most important, the hotel staff. I found everyone to be extremely friendly and helpful. The area where the hotel is located is upscale. The Four Seasons is across the street. There are many restaurants, bars, and shopping very near. There is also a movie theater half a block down.