Really enjoyes staying here. Stayed there before we got on our cruise ship and was very impressed. Staff was marvellous and very helpful! Beautiful place and easy access to inner harbor and local shopping and dining.

I came to the Renaissance on a business trip with a conference of over 2,000 people.

Pros:
Check in was great! They pulled out all the stops! They clearly have done their homework on preparing for the masses. There were 12 people at the front desk - some helping to check you in, others helping to organize the paperwork and others who were working on keys. The system ran extremely smooth (better than I have ever seen!) They also had extra staff on assisting with the elevators, keeping the isles clear of those groups that do not know group waiting manners, and others helping to direct people to the right places.

The staff could not have been more helpful and friendly. We were checked in by "Megan" who kept apologizing that she does not normally work at the front desk but was there helping. I didn't mind the extra time of doing checkin as she was very pleasant and was trying very hard.

The Harborplace is also CONNECTED to the mall which means VERY easy access to the mall for a quick starbucks run (though there is one also on the 1st floor - it was faster to go into the mall with the line in the hotel). Through the mall connection, you are also only a few steps away from the bridge which connects the hotel to the harborplace restaurants and shopping of the inner harbor and Aquarium - HUGE bonus of not needing to cross any busy streets!!


CONS: Design!!
I have no idea who designed this hotel, but it is about a 1/4 mile walk from the elevator to my room! If you have ANY mobility issues, or do not want to walk 1/4 mile to your room , you will need to make that request ahead of time. The halls are VERY long and there is only 1 set of elevators in one corner of the hotel. So if you are not there, plan on adding about 5 mintues walk from your room to the elevators. If I were staying here for pleasure you'd be assured that I would have asked for a better room assignment (my room was 11060). 11th floor was great - but once you start getting up in numbers, you are at the BACK of the hotel with a beautiful view of parking garages that you can enjoy once you make it there. Ask for a map with your room location at checkin!

The rooms are fairly standard of a Marriott - nice furniture, comfy chair and foot rest with table, flat screen TV, marble counterspace in the room - though I swear I've stayed in beds that were more "wecloming" at Marriotts - not bad, just not amazing. The rooms are relatively clean, though if you have allergies, you may want to recall housekeeping to visit as it appears that they don't clean their window treatments that have dust that is faily thick above 5 ft.

Only other "con" which really isn't one - but was an annoyance was that we had quite a lot of stuff to bring up from our car and asked to use the luggage cart. Because they are a "full service" hotel, you have to have a bellman come and bring up your stuff if you want to use a cart. Not horrible, but when you COULD have dont it yourself, the $5 tip you give them is a little annoying - not horrible - just blah!.


All in all I would definitely stay here again - but I would call ahead to see if there are massive groups having a conference and might rethink it because of the elevator issue. But otherwise, great location, nice staff and standard Marriott expectations have been met!

My family and I just stayed at the Renaissance and I have to say it was perfection. I booked the room online directly through Marriott and got a fabulous rate, especially considering it is in the heart of Inner Harbor. We were allowed early check in and it was seemless - the front desk staff were so courteous and helpful. My children were even offered cookies and hot chocolate - what a combination! They loved it, of course. Our room was on the seventh floor and had a beautiful view of the harbor. It was very clean and the beds were so comfortable - probably the most comfortable beds I have had in a hotel. Check out was also very smooth. I can't remember a friendlier hotel staff!. The hotel is connected to a mall (although you would never know as there were no random people in the lobby). It is directly across from the shops along the harbor and diagonally across from the National Aquarium. All in all, this was a fabulous hotel and we will absolutely return here on our next trip to Baltimore.

I am a travel agent and recently stayed here for one night, while my son and I were touring colleges.

You can't beat the location. Directly across Pratt from the inner harbor.

The entire staff that we dealt with could not have been friendlier. It started with the valet then continued to the front desk staff, bell hopp and the gentleman that delivered our room service for breakfast. They were all very pleasant and engaged us in conversation. I travel a lot and I can't remember the last time that every person I encountered in the hotel was so helpful and nice and seemed to genuinally want to learn about us.

We stayed in a room that faced teh street on the east side of the building on the 11th floor. Next time I would request a room on the interior courtyard, as I did hear the street noise during the night.

Our room was clean, contemporary and updated with flat screen TV and IPOD docking station. The beds were very comfortable. The AVEDA products in the bathroom were a nice added touch. There was a mini refrigerator which is always a nice bonus. Due to my marriott status I was offered free wifi or 500 bonus points. I took the points since we were not going to be there that long. I wish all hotels would get with the current age and offer free wifi throughout the entire hotel. However, it was offered for free in the lobby.

Our room service was on time and the food was excellent and the price was not too unreasonable.

If you can get a decent price I would highly recommend this hotel.