It's not as showy or grand as the Fairmont on the Plaza, it doesn't have a swimming pool, and the ballrooms are too tiny for most social events, but what the 77-year-old Hotel Phillips has in abundance is the flavor of Kansas City in its heyday. Long before downtown Kansas City began its renaissance, the Phillips cast off its inner-city dreariness and underwent a $30 million renovation in 2001 that restored the historic hotel's elegant public rooms to their former glory and gave a fresh, stylish face-lift to the badly dated guest rooms. The Phillips is also the only downtown hotel with decent restaurants -- the pricey but first-class Chophouse and the more casual 12 Baltimore CafŽ -- and that alone elevates the 20-story hotel above its competitors.
