My spouse and I
stayed at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Pittsburgh Downtown on a Saturday night
in mid-September 2017. (We stayed previously for two nights on a weekend in
late November 2016, and this review repeats much of that information.) We
booked our stay on the Hilton HHonors website. As the day of our stay
approached, we contacted the hotel to ask if we could arrive one day early, and
although they could offer us a room, we could not keep that same room for the
second night (we would have had to move from a room with two queen beds to a
room with one king bed). Instead, we stayed at an alternate downtown hotel that
offered free parking and a much lower nightly rate.
The Embassy Suites
by Hilton Pittsburgh Downtown is located in the Henry W. Oliver Building, a
25-story skyscraper completed in 1910. Mr. Oliver intended the building to house the
offices for his steel and coal operations as well as other local businesses,
but he also wanted it to add visual appeal to the city skyline. Originally,
Mellon Financial (bank) occupied part of this building; today, two banks
(Dollar Bank and Northwest Savings) occupy two corner storefronts (at least one
of which offers two ATM machines). In 1974, the Pittsburgh History and
Landmarks Foundation designated the building as a Historical Landmark. Outside,
a stone and terra cotta facade covers the steel frame. Indoors, high ceilings
in the lobby and public areas add to the spacious feel; be sure to admire the
ornate moldings, mail chute system, elevator surrounds, and the bank’s original
vault (regrettably, the safe deposit boxes have been removed, but you can
inspect the huge impenetrable doors of the safe). In 2003, architects began to
convert the top 10 floors of the building (15 to 25) into the Embassy Suites.
Although the Oliver Building has entrances on three sides (Smithfield, Sixth,
and Oliver Streets), hotel guests can only use the Smithfield Street entrance.
This downtown hotel
occupies a good location if you plan to attend a Pittsburgh sporting or
cultural event. You can walk (or ride the “T” train/subway system) to Point
State Park, Fort Pitt, PNC Park, Heinz Field, Carnegie Science Center, Consol
Energy Center (now called PPG Paints Arena), the David L. Lawrence
Convention Center, and places further
afield like Station Square and the Rivers Casino. Numerous restaurants, other
hotels, and shops are within walking distance of the hotel. A Rite Aid pharmacy
is located on the opposite street corner (although it is not open 24 hours),
and other chain pharmacies and convenience stores are nearby. A package store
that sells beer is situated a few blocks away (it remains open on weekend
nights until 2:00 am), and a PA state liquor store that sells wine and spirits
is a few blocks away. Two beautiful houses of worship, Trinity Episcopal
Cathedral and First Presbyterian Church, are positioned behind the hotel. The
hotel building lies across the street from Mellon Square, a park that provides
green space, seating, and fountains. The park is actually located atop a city
parking garage, although it occupies a street-level elevation on several sides.
The garage offers an excellent value on weekend parking ($5 per day), but it is
more expensive during the workweek. (FYI: It is likely the same garage that the
hotel valets use.)
Because both the hotel and the commercial tenants use the building’s
street-level lobby, the architects created a “sky lobby”, whereby the hotel
lobby is on the top floor of the building rather than at ground level. The
hotel uses its own bank of about five elevators (which are express elevators
from the lobby and floor 2 to the top ten floors); the other building tenants
use a separate elevator bank (the “resident” elevators do not travel higher
than floor 14). The sky lobby offers all guest amenities (with the exception of
the parking valets and the concierge, which are located in the building lobby
on the street level). Near the front desk is a 24-hour pantry where you can
purchase drinks, snacks, and forgotten items; a business center with two
computers and a printer is nearby. The fitness center and indoor pool are
located off the lobby; both facilities offer city and skyline views. The
fitness center contains several kinds of equipment, including treadmills, stair
climber, elliptical, recumbent bike, weights, as well as a TV, water fountain,
and small towels. The indoor pool features a handicapped lift, pool towels, and
seating choices including reclining lounge chairs, regular chairs and tables,
and a comfortable grouping of all-weather wicker-like cushioned furniture. The
many windows make the pool area light and bright. (The building is shaped
somewhat like a letter W, offering the maximum number of windows and light for
each room.)
The Embassy Suite’s two dining options are located adjacent to the lobby.
Elevation offers a complimentary cooked-to-order breakfast in the morning and a
two-hour cocktail reception in the evening. Breakfast includes two buffet areas
that contains eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, French toast, bread pudding,
oatmeal, made-to-order omelets, fruit, pastries, and beverages. Snacks at the
evening reception included raw vegetables, dip, and pretzels. We only attended
the evening reception [and the breakfast] on the first night/day of our stay.
Instead, we chose to dine locally (and at our own expense) rather than use the
hotel’s complimentary offerings on our second night/day. The other dining
option at the Embassy Suites is Ollie’s
Gastropub, a bar/lounge that offers a light fare menu, extensive wine list, and
handcrafted cocktails.
The hotel offers 225 suites, including 20 studio, 195 one-bedroom, and 10 two-bedroom
options. The separate living area of our one-bedroom suite contained a small
sofa, coffee table, desk/chair/guest chair, wall-mounted flat screen with a
console table below, and a wet bar (with a sink, microwave, and empty
mini-refrigerator). On our previous visit, we also stayed in a one-bedroom suite,
but it was a corner room and therefore a bit larger with a better layout, more
windows, and a bigger bathroom. For example, the living room of our previous suite
contained an L-shaped sofa in the living room that offered a reclining section
that doubled as a single/twin sleeping space, and the coffee table and C-table
slid over the ottoman and sofa, respectively. A large work desk with three
chairs (two stationary and one rolling) functioned as a dining table for three
guests. In the wet bar area, a small sink, coffee station, and ice bucket sit
atop the built-in unit, with a mini-refrigerator (that you can adjust for
temperature) and microwave inside. (Ice and vending machines are available on
most floors.) The bedroom contains a second TV, dresser storage space,
nightstands with regular lights, reading lights built into the bed’s headboard,
and a closet with an electronic safe, iron, and ironing board. Last visit, our
one-bedroom suite contained a large bathroom with an oversize standing shower
(but no bathtub) and a single sink/vanity area that offered sufficient counter
storage space; on this visit, the bathroom was much smaller, as was the shower.
The hotel provides toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, soaps) and a
non-wall-mounted hair-dryer, but it does not offer bathrobes or slippers. The
room sizes and layouts seem to vary greatly in this hotel, so you may want to
utilize the online check-in feature to choose the one best suited to you.
We enjoyed our stay
at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Pittsburgh Downtown. The hotel offers a great
location for our dining and sporting purposes, it offers reasonable weekend self-parking
rates at the garage across the street, and fairly spacious accommodations. As
frequent visitors to Pittsburgh (several times per year), we will definitely
return to this hotel.
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