Philadelphia Marriott Downtown

Our wedding took place in September 2021, and we signed our contract with the Marriott in February 2020. Everyone we encountered with the venue was extremely professional and wonderful to work with, especially our venue day-of coordinator Alicia. She worked closely with our external coordinator to develop a timeline, connect with all of our vendors, and set-up/break-down all of our decor. Throughout our planning process we discussed COVID concerns with our contacts at the venue, and they provided regular updates and assured a safe event. We worked closely with the Marriott to ensure a safe event, and some of the COVID precautions included: the ceremony room chairs were social distanced, appetizer display stations were changed from self-serve to an attendant/small plates, the rooms were reorganized to allow for social distancing in cocktail hour and the reception, hand sanitizer stations were placed throughout the venue, etc. This was the first wedding held at the Marriott in nearly 18 months, and the team showed up wonderfully! We were extremely impressed by the level of service they provided to us and our guests, and would highly recommend the Marriott as a wedding venue.

Weddings are among the most meaningful and high-pressure moments in life. Every detail matters, timelines are tight, emotions are high, and consistency is everything. Throughout our entire wedding planning process, one constant we could rely on without hesitation was the exceptional team at the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Philadelphia Downtown/Center City, led by Austin Dyees and Malik Bonney.

From our very first inquiry, Austin and Malik demonstrated nothing short of extraordinary professionalism, kindness, and attentiveness. They are the true definition of exceptional customer service. This was not typical hotel service. This was true partnership, care, and ownership of an experience that mattered deeply to us. From start to finish, they went above and beyond at every opportunity, genuinely rolling out the red carpet for us and our guests. The hotel truly bent over backwards to accommodate our needs, and both my wife and I can honestly say we have never experienced this level of platinum-diamond service without additional charges, hidden fees, or any sense of being nickel-and-dimed.

We hosted the majority of our wedding guests at the hotel, and Austin and Malik handled every aspect seamlessly. During one of the most stressful moments of the weekend, our best man was dealing with a sick family member while also navigating valet and transportation concerns. Austin and Malik stepped in immediately, handled the valet coordination on his behalf, and ensured everything was taken care of so he could focus on his family and his role in the wedding. That level of compassion and awareness meant more to us than words can express.

They also assisted in coordinating catering for the groom and the entire wedding party as a celebratory thank-you lunch. They helped ensure the timing, setup, and logistics were handled smoothly, allowing us to enjoy the moment without distraction. These thoughtful gestures consistently demonstrated their ability to anticipate needs before they were even voiced.

Their care extended to our families as well. When the bride’s stepfather required a more comfortable chair in his room to be able to rest and sleep properly, the team addressed the request promptly and without hesitation. The solution was handled quickly and discreetly, reinforcing their commitment to the comfort and well-being of every guest.

In addition, during an extremely busy New Year’s period, we required extended time at the hotel, including early check-in and additional flexibility in the days leading up to the wedding. Despite the high occupancy and demands of the season, Austin and Malik never hesitated to assist us. They worked with us to ensure we had the time, space, and accommodations needed to prepare, all while maintaining the same exceptional level of service.

They generously accommodated us with a king suite and a queen suite for the night prior so we could remain separate, allowed us to rehearse elements of our wedding in their office conference space, and ensured our guests were cared for with the same level of attention we received. They even surprised us with champagne waiting in our suite. Each detail, no matter how small, was handled with precision and genuine care.

Beyond the flawless execution, what truly set this experience apart was the sense of connection we felt. Over the course of our stay and planning process, we did not just feel like guests. We felt like we had made friends and even family along the way. That level of warmth and personal investment is rare and speaks volumes about the character of this team.

We trusted this team with one of the most important weekends of our lives, and they exceeded every expectation. Austin and Malik represent the platinum-diamond standard of hotel concierge and hospitality service. They embody exactly what A+ service should look like and are a credit not only to this property, but to the Marriott brand as a whole. This level of service sets this property apart not only within the Fairfield brand, but across the hospitality industry as a whole. Marriott leadership should be incredibly proud of the team at this location.

We would also like to sincerely thank the incredible supporting staff who helped make our wedding weekend flawless: Ta’jal, Tim, Letitia, Lauren, Brian (Maintenance), John, Jihad, Quamir, and many others who worked behind the scenes to ensure everything ran smoothly. Every interaction reflected professionalism, warmth, and a genuine desire to help.

The wedding of Lauren and Farrell Moskow would not have been possible, nor nearly as successful, without Austin, Malik, and the outstanding Fairfield Inn & Suites team. We will absolutely return to this property whenever we are in Philadelphia and will confidently call upon this team again whenever we need accommodations or support in the future. We would recommend this property without hesitation to anyone planning a wedding, milestone event, or high-stakes stay, knowing they will be cared for at the highest possible level. If it were possible to rate this experience beyond the standard scale, we would give it 10 out of 5 stars without hesitation. Their level of care, professionalism, and execution is simply unmatched.

We loved our wedding here! The team, led by Gerard was amazing. Our guests raved about the food and everything was so wonderful. It was so easy to have our ceremony, cocktail, hour and reception all in the same area and in such a great place in Philly. Cannot recommend more!

The Marriott Downtown was such an amazing find for our wedding day. First, the ballroom is absolutely beautiful with such elegance and class (and the balcony looking out to City Hall is so fun!). The staff is extremely professional and made everything run smoothly leading up to and on our day. On top of that, the hotel is large and centrally located, so it has everything that you or your guests might want. We had a lot of out of town guests but never had to worry about having enough space (even though we expanded our room block twice). The hotel has a Starbucks, a market, a gym, a bar, multiple restaurants all right in the lobby so we knew our guests would be well taken care of. We had our rehearsal dinner there as well and were so impressed by the venue. The luxury of the experience, the ease of planning, and the stunning beauty of the spaces were all so incredible, and especially given the extremely reasonable price tag, we would highly recommend the Marriott to anyone planning a wedding in Philly!

This was our main hotel for all of our out of town guests for our wedding. We had over 50 rooms reserved here. The staff was SUPER helpful and accommodating, answering my ever need! Early/Late check-in's and out's- they made everything super stress free! We also had a post wedding brunch at Restaurant 13 and the staff was absolutely amazing! The best!

My wedding on 9/28/19 was the most amazing time because of the Marriott! Barbara was our sales woman and was amazing to work with. She explained all the details and showed us where the event would be held. Once we booked, she even offered us free flyers tickets in a box! It was the best time!

Gerard Mendoza was our Wedding Planner & he was the most incredible person! He catered to our every need, was always quick to respond to any questions we had. We wanted to make a lot of changes to the food and other things and Gerard made it happen. He made the whole day stress free for us. He even got little gifts for our flower girl & ring bearer and was pretty much taking care of them throughout the night. Everything looked beautiful and turned out amazing! Gerard gave us the suite for an extra night and provided transportation for our honeymoon as well. He goes above and beyond and is simply amazing at what he does! I would put my full trust in him for any event. I cannot thank Gerard and the Marriott enough for making my wedding the day I have always dreamed about!

Great place to celebrate your special event. My guests had a lot of fun. Thank you

My groom and I had an incredible experience with our 10/20/18 wedding at the Marriott. I wrote a small novel to share our experience but I wished there were more reviews when I booked the Marriott so I hope this helps! Here are a few of the major areas where we had a great experience with the Marriott team.

* Intros / Contract – We started the process with Barbara Bruck who gave us our tour, after which she treated us to a drink and apps at the lobby rest ‘13’. She was very accommodating during the process and stayed in touch but was not pushy. She also provided a detailed folder of information with menus, and floor plans of event space and guest rooms which I used up through the event to help with planning.
* Planner Assignment – after working with Barbara, Gerard Mendoza was assigned as our day of coordinator. He was AMAZING from the beginning – immediately started off very personable, responsive to all requests, and I never had to keep pushing on any specifics (he just remembered and got it done). He was on vacation out of the country the week prior to our event but was still responsive to questions, and his team was able to help me through questions in his absence. Once the event was over – we genuinely missed Gerard since we got so used to talking to and emailing him for the past 10 months! He also made a huge impression on our parents, and even our bridal party, who consistently said he was extremely helpful, friendly, never stressed, and provided any day of request without hesitation.
* Pricing – One of the most attractive points of the Marriott is the package that they offer and the all inclusive rates for tax/gratuity. It was an extremely reasonable cost especially for Center City Philadelphia. Gerard also threw in a handful of extras beyond what our package stated which was a huge treat.
* Accommodations – a huge benefit of the Marriott is the amount of rooms that were provided as part of the package. I (bride) was given a VP Suite starting Friday evening and was used for bridal prep the day of wedding and sleep the night of. This was a 3 bay room with a full dining room, living room, kitchen, powder room, and then a standard bedroom with huge bathroom. More than enough space for 3 makeup artists, 6 girls, bride, moms, and a few others that hung out during the day. See pics for a few of the VP suite. The groom was given his own room for Friday night which was attached to a “grooms suite” which was a cool wood paneled room for groomsmen prep, as well as storage for all of our DIY items. Our parents were upgraded to Marquis Suite rooms (living room area, small kitchenette, bed/bath). The other point is we had multiple requests for locations of other guests’ rooms – to ask that they be near parent rooms/etc to accommodate children. Gerard did a great job accommodating all of these requests which was extremely helpful for our parents. He also guaranteed late checkout for us, and allowed us to have the groomsmen suite/storage room through Monday so we had enough time to pack up and remove all of our decorations. This was a really stress free part of the process and I can’t imagine having to have planned all of this with an independent hotel if we had chosen a venue without a hotel attached.
* Food – we had heard great things about the food prior to our event, and we were glad we heard correctly! First the tasting is amazing – come hungry! Lots of apps of your choice, plus you get a healthy tasting of each of the entrée options. When it came time to pick our selections, Gerard was very generous and threw in a few extra app options since we had too many favorites. As for the day of, we had no complaints on the food – the guests loved all of the options at cocktail hour. There were multiple servers walking apps, there was hand passed champagne and wine, and the pasta station was a hit. We really loved the soup/salad combo for the appetizer which was unique and the guests said it was delicious. The entrees were great - Gerard forced me to eat dinner (thank you!) and the filet was so tender and a very generous size. They were also very accommodating to food allergies – we had a few GF plates which were no problem, and a couple major milk/nut allergies and they were very keen on cross contamination. As for the bars, we worked with them on bar placement to make sure we had enough bartenders per guests, and I had multiple compliments on the signature drink and lack of long lines to get a cocktail.
* Extras – Gerard isn’t just the Marriott “do-er” – he helps with so many other things, here are just a few of the extras that he provided to us throughout the process:
- Uplighting – he provided a deal on uplighting through the in-house vendor which saved us hundreds of $$ after obtaining independent quotes from other vendors, and it looked amazing the night of.
- Meals – we met multiple times over lunch at ‘13’ and was always covered – even the day before the wedding, the groom grabbed lunch with a couple friends – Gerard popped in and saw, and made sure the entire meal was covered.
- Welcome Reception – prior to our Rehearsal at the church, Gerard organized a 1 hour cocktail reception with wine/beer/cheese – which was so nice for family/friends to congregate before our walk to church which was also just provided by the Marriott
- Pre-Cocktail Hour Reception – additionally the day of, we had a private bridal party only cocktail reception with wine/beer and all of the passed apps for cocktail hour – gave us an opportunity to take a breath and EAT prior to mingling with all of the guests
- Room Treats – Gerard made sure all of the parents had drinks waiting in their rooms based on their taste, and cheese plates on Friday to have a mid day snack. He even made sure that a few of our friends who had just flown in had drinks sent up to their room. Beyond that, we had choco covered strawberries and full coffee/drink service the day of the wedding. They even brought some cake to my room so I could enjoy it the next day since I didn’t have time the night of
- Setup/Help – I had a handful of DIY items I brought – Gerard’s team helped to setup the day of, and pack up after the reception. The also made sure all some things I didn’t want lost (champagne flutes, cake cutters) were delivered to room with the cards/gifts and other valuable items.
* Staff/Service– overall, the staff was amazing, from all of the servers the night of, to even the staff at the lobby restaurant ‘13’. The night of, they had one server dedicated by table (we had 23 tables) and they were able to get plates cleared quickly and have food put on the tables quick. My MIL worked in catering for years and was quite impressed, which reinforced my thoughts that they did an amazing job in that regard.
* Overall – we were extremely pleased with our experience at the Marriott and would recommend it to anyone – especially working with Gerard!! We had a family party 2 weeks post wedding and still had people gushing over how amazing everything was - wish we could do it again!

We had a wonderful wedding at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. From the beginning, we met with Barbara who was extremely hospitable. My husband and I went to take a tour with her, and we were greeted with welcome bags and then cocktails after the tour. We went to look again with our mothers, and the same thing happened for them - it was such a nice treat! We were then given a coordinator, Gerard, who was great from beginning to end. He also responded promptly to emails, and checked in on us the entire wedding weekend. The quality of service that my husband and our families received was top notch the entire weekend. Gerard was also FANTASTIC with motivating our 3 year old ring bearer - his parents were so impressed, as were we. The wedding itself went very smoothly - we heard great feedback from our guests for the food and bar - which we thought was delicious as well. The lights were turned off once the dancing got fully underway around 9 or so, which made it really dark in the room, but that is really my only complaint and I'm sure we could have asked them to be turned up a little bit without a problem - but we were having too much fun at that point! Also, for the tasting, definitely go hungry!! There was so much amazing food. We had a fantastic time for our wedding there and we would highly recommend this venue.

Our wedding was an unforgettable night thanks to everyone we dealt with at the Marriott ! Gerard , especially, was very accommodating and helped us create the best evening! The liberty ballroom is beautiful and elegant . The bathrooms are clean and updated . Food is awesome ! Guests are steps away from their hotel room - which is great after a long night of dancing! I would highly recommend this venue !