The parking was a bit pricey, but the hotel room and cleanliness of hotel was amazing. I would recommend you stay on the 7th floor in the historic rooms. Dont worry, they arent old inside, but the foyer / hallway is amazingly beautiful. The breakfast was great, the location was superb, and the hotel staff was awesome. Our jacuzzi didnt work, so they comp'd our room (awesome) and took off the parking charges! WOW! The city is awesome, plenty of walking to do. I would recommend eating at Phillips Crab House. The inner harbor is incredibly romantic, so keep your honey warm on the cold, November nights. :)

Okay, I almost cancelled this reservation when I drove into town and saw all the horrible traffic and construction. There is no drive to pull into - the hotel opens directly onto a crowded one way street. I thought I would NEVER get the car valet parked much less unload the luggage.

However, I had a wonderfully pleasant surprise. When I pulled up to the hotel, the valet was instantly at my side - helped unload the bags and took the car in an efficient and friendly manner. He returned it the same way the following morning.

The hotel is about 2-3 blocks off the inner harbor. Had I the budget, I would have stayed at the Renaissance Hotel which is DIRECTLY on the harbor and has a nice covered walkway into a food and shopping area.

However, my budget was not for $350/night and this hotel was about $239.

It was a reasonable walk to the aquarium. The science center would be too far. Lots of restaurants around the area.

The room was extremely large and VERY comfortable. The breakfast the next day was okay - the scrambled eggs were hard - how does that happen? But otherwise it was very nice. And Mon-thurs they have a manager's reception from 5-6pm with free wine and beer and munchies. Nice touch.

But the ULTIMATE moment was when the hostess walked around the lobby after the reception was over with a plate of HOT chocolate chocolate chip cookies. YUM YUM YUM!

CHECK-IN/ARRIVAL:
I stayed at the Baltimore Hampton Inn & Suites on Sunday August 19, 2007 with my wife and almost 3-year-old son. We stayed on a Hilton award night, so I can’t comment on value for the money. When we arrived, the valet parking was a little confusing; there was a little sign on a pole that explained the charges (Note, it is $28, not $25 as their web site indicates), but there was nobody around, and it didn’t seem obvious that you just stopped there. I parked at the curb and went inside where I found the valet guy. Check-in was simple and fast, we did so at about 4:45 pm.
LOCATION:
The location is good because it is only a short 2 block walk to inner harbor attractions. The area seemed ok during the day when there were people walking around to work etc, but I would be a little weary of walking around at night. Because we have the little one, we were back at the hotel by 8:00 so we didn’t need to walk around at night.
ROOM:
We were in room 627. The room was large but seemed to have a bad layout. There is a big space in from on the closet, but then the chair/ottoman is right next to the left side of the bed by the windows. It is a little tight getting in and out of the bed in the middle of the night in the dark. There is a desk with a standard office chair, a sitting chair with ottoman, king size bed, small “coffee” table, bench, and dresser/entertainment unit. The room has a TV small microwave, mini refrigerator, and coffee maker. There is no safe in the room. There is complimentary wired (cable provided) and wireless Internet access. The TV has pay per view and HBO, but only about 20 regular channels. The view from the window was an abandoned building (see photos). The room was quiet, not much street noise, but there were a couple of sirens during the night.
BATHROOM:
The bathroom was a decent size. Toiletries were “Purity Basics” brand, which I believe is a Hampton Inn brand. There was shampoo, conditioner, body wash, moisturizer, shower cap, shoe mitt, cotton balls/q-tips/nail file. There was a hairdryer as well. Water pressure in the shower was good, water stayed hot and the shower head was at a good height.
RECREATION:
There is a fitness room and pool on the lower level. I didn't use the fitness room but it looked small and seemed to have an elliptical, bike, and treadmill. There was also a TV in the fitness room. The pool was an ok size for an indoor hotel pool. There was a very strong smell of chlorine when you entered the room. I was a little itchy after exiting. The towels at the pool are a joke, they were very small, not even 3 ft by 2 ft and very thin.
MISC
The breakfast was pretty much the standard free continental breakfast. There was also a hot item, but I couldn’t tell what it was by looking at it. I think it was some sort of sausage inside an egg. All of the staff are extremely helpful and friendly. We forgot our toothbrushes and got 2 from the front desk.
CHECKOUT:
We had 9:00 am tickets for the aquarium so we checked out using video checkout around 8:30 to head over to inner harbor. We left our bags with the Valet. We came back around 2:00 pm to get our bags and car. Again, staff was friendly and asked us if we needed directions etc, while another valet got our car.

Bed comfortable, shower excellent. We stayed on the 7th. floor which the hotel calls "The Historic" floor. I guess this is where the former bank executive offices were located. The room was kind of cramped and badly laid out. When we arrived after 3.00pm we were told that our room was not ready and we had to wait 20-30 minutes in the lobby. There is no bar in this hotel. Valet parking is expensive at $28 plus tax, plus tip on arrival and again on departure. We disputed the $28 charge because both the hotel's web site and the guest services brochure in the room indicated it was $25. This is bait and switch and the charge was waived. Breakfast is OK. All the staff were friendly and helpful but at $369 plus state and city tax for one night, this hotel is overpriced. We would not stay here again.