First off, the staff is extremely pleasant here - particularly the front desk and breakfast room employees. While I didn't get to interact with them, housekeeping staff kept the room clean and stocked on the days I needed them (several days during my stay I opted out of housekeeping services by hanging the card on my door alerting them to skip over my room).
This Marriott is undergoing some renovations; however, I was on a floor that had already undergone renovations so there was no noise disturbances whatsoever from the construction they were doing during business hours. While my room was nicely decorated with new carpeting and a spacious bathroom, the mattress seemed way too soft like it had reached the end of it's lifespan.
The other issue with the room was the HVAC system was incredibly loud when turned on. It sounded like metal scraping on metal and got to the point where we had to turn it completely off to get to sleep, but when the room got too warm, we needed to turn it back on and use earplugs to lessen the noise.
Other than those 2 issues with the room, everything else was fine. The free WiFi was consistently working with a strong signal, breakfast buffet gave you ample choice with eggs, meats, cheese, yogurt, cereals, bagels, toast and other pastries, make your own waffles, multiple juice options and plenty of coffee and tea - loads of seating in their dining room and the staff was always super friendly and constantly tending to the buffet keeping everything stocked and busing tables to clear them off for the next guests to sit down.
Location is extremely central - right across from City Hall so makes it easy to access any businesses both east or west of Broad Street. Plenty of public transit options nearby and ample access to taxis or Uber. Easy walk to Reading Terminal Market as well as the many dining, drinking and boutique shops located just a few blocks away on 13th Street. There is a 7-11 convenience store and a Dunkin' Donuts right downstairs in the same building as the hotel.
It should be noted that the area immediately within a 2 block radius of the hotel is not a residential one - it's primarily hotels, office buildings, Macy's and City Hall/Courts, so you will see a few homeless sleeping or panhandling in the vicinity both during the day and late at night. It's no different than any other large city. They are harmless, but if this upsets you or makes you uneasy, then take a taxi if you are going to be out late.