Having stayed here a few years ago for a meeting, I decided to book the same hotel again, having nice memories of the place. I have to say that I will not be coming back. The hotel has 2 good points: Location (a half block from Michigan Ave, nicely situated between points of interest and shopping) and large suites. Getting in is odd, as you first enter a small lobby, take an elevator to the 3rd floor (where the front desk is) and then a separate elevator up to the rooms. There was almost no holiday decorations, as opposed to every other Michigan Ave hotel. The staff was moderately friendly, except that the concierge was not but the doormen definitely were (neutral). However, the bellman took my luggage to the front desk and no further, leaving me to lug it up to my room. I signed up for their preferred program but got no water and never had Starbucks delivered to my room like others have mentioned.
However, the rest of the stay was marred the a number of bad points. First was the room. The room, while clean, and big, was otherwise unremarkable. Flat screen in the sitting room offset by small bedroom TV, and the furniture was OK. The bed was not particularly comfortable, unless you like very firm mattresses, but was without lumps. My room was next to the elevators, and the bed is against that wall, so elevator noise kept me up the first night, but the bed was far enough away that hall noise was minimal. The towels were very scratchy and thin, especially for a nicer hotel, and while normally I do not notice this much, the toilet paper was single ply and so rough that it felt as I was receiving dermabrasion.
Housekeeping was spotty. Had turn down service only once my entire stay, and on 2 of 4 nights, they forgot to replace the travel cups so I could take a cup of coffee with me as I walked to the shuttle bus. Little things, but made my stay noticeably less comfortable.
Upon coming out of the elevator on 3 of my 4 nights at the hotel, the hallway literally reeked if cigarette smoke, so much so that I went back down and asked if they had mistakenly put me on a smoking floor (the entire hotel is nonsmoking I found out). As far as I could tell, no effort was made to stop the smoking form occurring, although they did send someone to liberally spray air freshener up and down the hall each time.
Overall, I would not recommend this hotel at this point based on my stay. On my next visit, I will probably go with the Westin, Marriott, or Intercontinental.
Room Tip: Get a higher room to avoid traffic noise and do not get one by the elevator!
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
November 30, 2012
We apologize that we didn't provide help getting your bags to your room. You are right. The little things do add up. We're sorry that you had to deal with cigarette smoke in the hallway, a lack of attention to detail from housekeeping and a bed that wasn't very comfortable. When a guest is smoking on one of our floors we do everything possible to locate the source and warn them to stop or else we will have to remove them from the hotel. We also charge a large cleaning fee to any guest who smokes in the room to discourage it. We know you will most likely try another hotel next time you are in Chicago, but we hope that if you don't find a better place that you will give us another try.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.