Philadelphia Convention Center Expands

The City of Brotherly Love has wrapped its arms around a much larger and more modern Philadelphia Convention Center. It recently cut the ribbon on a $787-million expansion of the facility on North Broad Street, giving conventioneers one million square feet of usable space—enough to hold two large gatherings simultaneously. The city claims it’s the largest contiguous exhibition space in the Northeast. The many enhancements include Wi-Fi throughout the facility.

Last year Starwood opened the 201-room Le Meridien Philadelphia, a stone’s throw from the convention center. Kimpton is planning to supplement its two-year-old Hotel Palomar Philadelphia with a second property opening in 2012, the Hotel Monaco—a refit of the Lafayette Building along Independence Mall. Also due in 2012 is a new Homewood Suites at 41st and Walnut in University City. The city says a record four million room nights were booked in 2010.

At Philadelphia International Airport, there’s a new Minute Suites facility in the A/B Link, where guests can rent private, self-contained units with daybeds, TV and Internet for $30 an hour or $120 overnight. Also new at PHL are an XpresSpa in Concourse D, Vino Volo wine bar in International A Terminal West and Good2Go takeout in Concourse E.