Last updated October 13, 2026
I haven’t stayed here yet, so this guide uses Hilton’s property page, award prices and published guest reviews, with property details checked October 5, 2026.
Table of contents
This is a points and booking guide to Hotel Phillips Kansas City, a Curio Collection by Hilton property in Kansas City, Missouri. It covers what a night costs in Hilton Honors points, the room types, what Gold and Diamond members get and how to book direct with Hilton.
Why Hotel Phillips matters for Hilton members
Kansas City has 9 Hilton-affiliated hotels in the downtown core. Hotel Phillips Kansas City is the only Curio. Competing Hilton-tier properties include the Hilton President Kansas City (a 1926 sister landmark 4 blocks west on Baltimore Avenue), the Hampton Inn & Suites Country Club Plaza, the Home2 Suites downtown, and an Embassy Suites near the airport. None of them combine the Art Deco landmark architecture with a true downtown location the way Hotel Phillips Kansas City does.
For a Hilton Honors regular who wants to walk to the Power & Light District, T-Mobile Center, and Bartle Hall without a rental car, Hotel Phillips Kansas City is the call. The 20-story tower sits at 12th and Baltimore, 2 blocks from the Power & Light District entertainment blocks, 3 blocks from T-Mobile Center, and 4 blocks from the Kansas City Convention Center. The KC Streetcar stop at 12th and Main is 1 block east and runs free to the River Market and Union Station. Rooms run 280 to 520 sq ft and trade square footage for genuine 1931 detail.
The other reason to care: P.S. The basement speakeasy sits in a former mail-sorting room behind an unmarked door, with low ceilings, leather banquettes, and a cocktail list that leans pre-Prohibition. A Friday night Old Fashioned at P.S. is the best 1930s drinking room in downtown Kansas City, and it is 30 feet below your bed.
- Address
- 106 West 12th Street, Kansas City, MO 64105
- Rooms
- 217 guest rooms across 20 floors in a 1931 Art Deco landmark, including 16 suites
- Brand
- Curio Collection by Hilton
- Points per night
- 35,000 to 60,000 depending on season
- Cash rate
- $110 to $450 a night
- Best for
- Art Deco landmark stays downtown
History and architecture, briefly
Hotel Phillips Kansas City opened in 1931, built by hotelier Charles E. Phillips and designed in the Art Deco style by the Kansas City firm Boillot & Lauck. At 20 stories it was the tallest building in Kansas City when it opened and remains one of the most intact Art Deco interiors in the Midwest. The lobby’s centerpiece is a 9-foot gilded statue, the Goddess of the Dawn, sculpted by Jorgen Dreyer, surrounded by black walnut paneling, nickel-bronze metalwork, and a tiered Deco ceiling. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The site has a Truman footnote: the corner once held a haberdashery connected to the Truman family’s downtown business circle, and the hotel’s top-floor suite is named for Harry S. Truman. The property was restored in the 2010s, joined Curio Collection by Hilton, and kept the original mail chute that runs all 20 floors, the Deco light fixtures, and the mezzanine balustrades while updating rooms with modern beds, C.O. Bigelow bath products, and contemporary wiring.
The location is the heart of downtown. From the front door, you are 1 block from the KC Streetcar at 12th and Main, 2 blocks from the Power & Light District, 3 blocks from T-Mobile Center, 4 blocks from Bartle Hall and the Kansas City Convention Center, 5 blocks from the Crossroads Arts District, and about a mile from Union Station and the River Market. Arrowhead and the Truman Sports Complex are a 15-minute drive east on I-70.
Rooms: book these, skip these
Hotel Phillips Kansas City has 9 room categories. In a 1931 building the differences come down to floor, corner exposure, and whether a room has been opened into a suite layout. Higher floors get downtown skyline views; corner kings get the best Deco window detail. Here is what to do:
Book
- King Corner (around 340 sq ft). Floors 9 to 18 on the building corners, with 2 walls of original Deco windows and skyline views toward Power & Light or the Crossroads. The best balance of period detail and light in the building. Cash rates run $170 to $290 in shoulder. The single best room category at the price.
- Junior Suite (around 450 sq ft). A handful per floor, with a separate sitting area and the building’s best bathrooms. Worth the splurge for an anniversary night or a Chiefs weekend when you want room to spread out before kickoff. Books $60 to $110 above a King Corner in shoulder.
- King Deluxe (around 320 sq ft). Floors 6 to 16, slightly larger than a standard king with a small media/seating nook. The right call for a 3-night business stay; it has the desk and the lounge chair a standard king lacks.
- Two Queen (around 330 sq ft). Floors 5 to 14. The family and friends-trip pick. 2 queens, the same Deco window detail, and books at the same rate as a King Deluxe in shoulder.
Skip
- Standard King, low floor interior (around 280 sq ft). Floors 3 to 5 facing the interior light shaft. In a historic tower these are the smallest, darkest rooms and the windows look at masonry 20 feet away. If a low-floor interior king is the only option, move up a floor category or shift dates by a night.
- Lower-floor street-side king during an event weekend. Floors 3 to 5 on the 12th Street side pick up Power & Light crowd noise on Friday and Saturday until about 2 AM. Take a floor 9 or higher room on an event weekend; the noise drops off fast above the 8th floor.
Dining
Hotel Phillips Kansas City has Tavernonna Italian Kitchen on the lobby level, the P.S. basement speakeasy, and the Tavernonna bar for coffee and a quick breakfast. For a fourth meal, the Power & Light District 2 blocks south has 20-plus restaurants and bars within a 5-minute walk.
- Tavernonna Italian Kitchen. Breakfast 6:30 to 10:30 AM, dinner 5 to 10 PM. Italian-American with fresh pasta made in house. The cacio e pepe ($24) and the chicken parmesan ($29) are the menu signatures, and the wine list leans Italian regional. Reservations on OpenTable 3 days out for Friday and Saturday during Chiefs season.
- P.S. Speakeasy. Open 4 PM to midnight Wednesday through Saturday. Basement cocktail room behind an unmarked door in a former mail-sorting space, with leather banquettes and a pre-Prohibition cocktail list. The Old Fashioned and the seasonal punch are the standouts, with a short menu of small bites. No reservations; expect a short wait after 9 PM on event weekends.
- Tavernonna bar and lobby coffee. Open 6:30 AM to close. The bar at the front of Tavernonna pours espresso and quick breakfast plates in the morning and turns into the lobby aperitivo spot in the evening. The 6:30 AM open is useful before a convention session at Bartle Hall. Diamond F&B credit applies here.
Room service runs 6:30 AM to 10 PM with a $6 delivery fee plus a 20 percent service charge. For more range, walk 2 blocks to the Power & Light District; for a special dinner, the Savoy at 9th and Central is a 6-block walk.
Hilton Honors strategy
| Season | Cash rate | Award nights | Aspire cert value | What to book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peak (Chiefs home games, Big 12 tournament, NFL Draft-type events) | $290 to $450 | 55,000 to 60,000 pts | ~$340 net | Burn cert |
| Shoulder (Apr-May, Sep weekdays, Oct) | $140 to $260 | 40,000 to 50,000 pts | ~$200 net | Pay cash |
| Off-peak (Jan-Feb non-event, Jul) | $110 to $160 | 35,000 to 42,000 pts | under $150 net | Pay cash |
| Avoid (Chiefs playoff games, Big 12 title Saturday) | $480 to $700 | 60,000+ pts | ~$520 net | Skip |
Cash rates by season
Hotel Phillips Kansas City has 4 pricing seasons that mirror the city’s sports and convention calendar:
- Peak (Chiefs home Sundays September through January, Big 12 men’s basketball tournament in March, large Bartle Hall conventions, NFL Draft-scale one-off events): $290 to $450 standard king, plus $42 valet (no self-park on site), plus about 17 percent tax and city fees. A 2-night Chiefs weekend all-in runs around $850.
- Shoulder (April through May, September weekdays, October): $140 to $260 standard king. Spring brings 70-degree weather and the Power & Light patios open; October is crisp and the convention calendar is moderate.
- Off-peak (January and February with no event, mid-summer July): $110 to $160. Cold January downtown or hot July afternoons, but the property runs below 60 percent occupancy and rates sit 50 percent under peak.
- Avoid (Chiefs playoff home games, Big 12 tournament championship Saturday): $480 to $700. Downtown rates spike across the board for these windows. Move dates by a week and save $400 to $600 on a 2-night stay.
Award rates and Aspire/Surpass certificate value
Standard award nights at Hotel Phillips sit between 35,000 and 60,000 points depending on date. No published cap applies to the Aspire free night certificate on a standard room. Once you hit the $15,000 spend trigger, the Surpass certificate behaves identically.
Rule of thumb: book the Aspire certificate for a Chiefs Sunday or the Big 12 tournament. Pay cash for shoulder spring and fall. Skip points off-peak because cash rates are too low to make the redemption worthwhile.
Diamond benefits, specifically
Diamond gets you a $15 per person daily food and beverage credit at Tavernonna or the lobby bar (so $30 for 2). At Tavernonna breakfast, $50 covers 2 coffees plus 2 breakfast plates with room to spare. In the evening, $50 covers 2 cocktails plus a shared small plate at the Tavernonna bar. The credit does not roll forward and does not apply to room service or to P.S.
Diamond room upgrades happen on most stays here because the building’s premium inventory (corner kings and junior suites) is large relative to demand outside event weekends. Upgrades thin out fast on Chiefs Sundays.
Best and worst months to book
Best months: April and May (70-degree weather, Power & Light patios open, moderate convention calendar), September weekdays (warm, before the Chiefs home crowd peaks), and October (crisp downtown, fall events without playoff pricing).
Worst months: Chiefs playoff home weekends in January (rates above $500 and the whole downtown sold out), the Big 12 men’s basketball tournament championship Saturday in March, and any weekend with a stadium-scale Bartle Hall convention layered on a Chiefs home game.
Trade-offs
Parking is valet only at about $42 a night plus tip, and there is no self-park on site. If you have a rental car, the cheaper move is a nearby city garage; the Cosby Hotel and several downtown garages within 2 blocks run $12 to $18 overnight. Most guests valet on arrival and walk the rest of the trip, since the KC Streetcar at 12th and Main is free and covers the downtown spine.
There is no pool. The property does not lead with this and some leisure travelers are surprised. The closest hotel pool option is the rooftop at a competing downtown property; for swimming, this is not the stay. Hotel Phillips is a downtown city hotel, not a resort.
The fitness center is small, around 800 sq ft, with a few cardio machines and free weights. It gets a short morning line during big convention weeks. A full gym option is the downtown YMCA a few blocks away with a day pass.
The historic building is the headliner and also the constraint. Rooms are not large by modern standards, a few low-floor interior rooms are dim, and the elevators move at 1931 speed during the morning rush. None of this is a dealbreaker; it is the trade you make for staying in the most intact Art Deco hotel in Kansas City. Book a higher floor and a corner and the trade tilts in your favor.
3 alternatives if Hotel Phillips is sold out, 1 outside Hilton
- Hilton President Kansas City. 1926 sister landmark 4 blocks west at 1329 Baltimore Avenue, also restored, with the Drum Room jazz bar in the lobby. 213 rooms, full Hilton brand. Cash rates run 10 to 20 percent below Hotel Phillips on the same date. Pick this if you want a comparable downtown historic feel and a slightly lower price, or if Hotel Phillips is sold out on a Chiefs weekend.
- 21c Museum Hotel Kansas City (independent of Hilton, listed for context). 120 rooms in the restored Savoy Hotel and grill at 9th and Central, 6 blocks from Hotel Phillips, with a contemporary art museum on the ground floor. If you want the boutique-historic feel and do not need Hilton points on this trip, this is the closest equivalent.
- The Candler Hotel Atlanta, Curio Collection by Hilton. Different city, but if you are flexible on Midwest-versus-South and like a restored early-1900s landmark conversion, The Candler is the closest sibling Curio with the same downtown-tower historic profile. 265 rooms in the 1906 Candler Building in downtown Atlanta.
See how every US Curio hotel ranks: Every US Curio Collection hotel by state, ranked.
FAQ
Is Hotel Phillips Kansas City pet friendly?
No, Hotel Phillips Kansas City does not accept pets. The property is a 1931 historic building and does not run a pet program. Service animals as defined by the ADA are always welcome and are exempt from any fee. If you are traveling with a dog, the Hampton Inn & Suites Country Club Plaza is the closest pet-friendly Hilton option.
What fees does Hotel Phillips charge beyond the room rate?
There is no resort or destination fee at Hotel Phillips. The main add-on is valet parking at about $42 per night, since there is no self-park on site. Wi-Fi is included for Hilton Honors members. Local taxes and city fees add roughly 17 percent. The Aspire certificate covers the room but not valet parking.
How does parking work at Hotel Phillips?
Valet only at about $42 per night plus tip; there is no self-park garage at the hotel. If you have a rental car, several downtown city garages within 2 blocks run $12 to $18 overnight and are the cheaper option for a multi-night stay. Diamond status does not discount valet. Most guests skip the car entirely and use the free KC Streetcar at 12th and Main, 1 block away.
Can I use the Hilton Honors Aspire free night certificate at Hotel Phillips Kansas City?
Yes. The certificate works on any standard room, with no published cap. The booking engine occasionally blocks it for Chiefs playoff weekends and the Big 12 tournament. Call the front office to override, which works most of the time. The certificate is highest value on a Chiefs home Sunday or a Big 12 tournament night, both of which run $390 or more in cash.
Is Hotel Phillips Kansas City haunted?
Hotel Phillips has a long-running local reputation for ghost stories, and the property leans into its 1931 history. Nothing about the stay reads as a haunted attraction; it is a restored Art Deco landmark with the usual creaks of a 90-year-old building. If you enjoy the lore, ask the front desk, who will happily share the lobby’s Goddess of the Dawn story.
Rates and resort fees move every quarter. The point math here assumes Hilton Honors does not change the standard award range, which has held since 2022.
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