Philadelphia Hotel Resort Fees Go by Three Other Names
By Matt Spaulding · November 10, 2026
Photo: Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
None of the six Philadelphia hotels on our site that charge a nightly fee calls it a resort fee. Four call it a Destination Fee. The other two say Guest Amenity Fee and Urban Experience Fee. Where the hotel gives a figure before tax, it's $20 to $35. Of our other 37 hotels, 36 printed no hotel fee. The 37th, Independence Park Hotel, printed two small lines its cart never explained.
The Notary Hotel, Philadelphia, Autograph Collection and The Rittenhouse put the fee inside the price their booking screens show, and Accor does the same for Sofitel Philadelphia at Rittenhouse Square. Kimpton Hotel Palomar Philadelphia and the Bellevue Hotel add it on top. On the first price you see, the Notary's $30 is already in and the Palomar's $28 is still to come.
We read the hotels' own booking screens between 29 October and 10 November 2026, for two adults in one room for one night. Most we read on 29 October for Tuesday 17 November, with The Westin Philadelphia and Philadelphia Marriott Old City for the 18th. Club Quarters Hotel, Rittenhouse Square followed on 30 October. On 4 November we went through the carts of five small hotels and read Cambria Hotel Philadelphia Downtown Center City on Choice's screen. On 10 November, for Tuesday 1 December, we read the Sofitel a second time and three screens for the first time: Loews Philadelphia Hotel and Hyatt's two, the Hyatt Centric and the Bellevue.
The date picker for Sonesta Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square wouldn't open, so its fee comes from the hotel's own site, read on 3 November. By a named fee we mean a nightly hotel charge, apart from tax, under one of the three names above. Independence Park falls outside that. Its SiteMinder cart for 17 November listed a $2.00 Local Fee and a $5.20 line labeled HPF beside two tax lines, and said nothing about either. Any of these fees can change after the day we read them.
Destination Fee: four hotels, $20 to $35
Marriott's rate list for the Notary says "Includes 30 USD Destination Fee". We never read what that fee buys, or what the Rittenhouse's does. The Rittenhouse's own screen labels every rate "Per Night Including destination fee", and the fee is $35. A separate $5.73 Destination Fee Tax goes on top, so the Rittenhouse's fee costs $40.73 a night.
At The Bellevue Hotel, in The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, the $32 sits in a notice above the room list: "A daily destination fee of $32.00 (subject to change) is applied to each room of your stay." The notice gives no tax figure for it. Hyatt's policies page says it covers access to The Sporting Club at the Bellevue and premium WiFi, among other things.
Sonesta's is the cheapest of the four: a daily Destination Fee of $20 plus applicable taxes, per the hotel's own site. We never saw it on a booking screen, so we can't say whether it's inside the price or on top.
The Palomar's $28 fee comes with a $20 daily credit
The Palomar lists the $28 under "Additional charges", on top of the room. The hotel's dialog puts it at $32.58 with tax and lists eight things it buys. Only one has a dollar figure: a $20 daily food and beverage credit at the hotel. The rest include upgraded WiFi and board games to borrow. If you'd eat or drink at the hotel anyway, the credit covers most of the fee.
The Sofitel prints its fee only with tax
Accor's rate list for the Sofitel reads "Taxes and fees included (of which Urban Experience Fee : US$32.58)". Choose a room and the basket shows it again as a separate Fees line of US$32.58, under the words "Including city taxes". It never prints the fee before tax, or says what it buys. The figure was the same on 29 October and 10 November.
The Tourism Fee on a Kimpton screen is the levy
IHG's screens for the Palomar and Kimpton Hotel Monaco Philadelphia print "Tourism Fee 0.75% on rate" beside a City Tax of 8.5% and a State Tax of 7%. That line is the PHiL, Philadelphia's 0.75% hotel levy. It's a hotel-industry assessment, and we don't count it as a hotel fee. Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District prints it as "Levy Tax .75%". Our Philadelphia hotel tax guide covers it.
The 36 hotels with no hotel fee, by area
Besides the Notary, the other 11 in Center City East and the Convention Center printed no hotel fee: the Loews, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, The Ritz-Carlton, Philadelphia, W Philadelphia, Residence Inn Philadelphia Center City, Aloft Philadelphia Downtown, Four Points by Sheraton Philadelphia City Center, Hilton Garden Inn Philadelphia Center City, Home2 Suites by Hilton Philadelphia - Convention Center, PA, Hampton Inn Philadelphia Center City-Convention Center and Canopy by Hilton Philadelphia Center City.
Rittenhouse Square holds four of the six that charge. Its other seven printed none: The Warwick Hotel Rittenhouse Square Philadelphia, the Westin, Club Quarters, Hyatt Centric Rittenhouse Square Philadelphia, Motto by Hilton Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square, the Cambria and DoubleTree by Hilton Philadelphia Center City.
None of the other nine in Old City and Independence Hall printed a hotel fee: the Monaco, the Wyndham, Renaissance Philadelphia Downtown Hotel, Marriott Old City, Hilton Philadelphia at Penn's Landing, Penn's View Hotel, Morris House Hotel, Society Hill Hotel and Holiday Inn Express Philadelphia Penn's Landing.
Sonesta is the only hotel with a fee in Logan Square and the Parkway, despite the Rittenhouse Square in its name. Its four neighbors printed none: The Logan Philadelphia, Curio Collection by Hilton, Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia at Comcast Center, Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown and The Windsor Suites.
In University City all five came back with no hotel fee: Sheraton Philadelphia University City Hotel, The Inn at Penn, A Hilton Hotel, The Study at University City, Homewood Suites by Hilton University City and The Rooms at Fitler Club.
