The spa is gorgeous and well managed by Kerry Strokes. Kimberly's fitness classes are worth planning your day around. If you want friendly and great service at Balsan, ask for Kelly. Arland, the house car driver, is a pleasure and a lifesaver during Chicago's cold winter.

I stayed here last weekend with my boyfriend in celebration of my birthday. Being from Chicago, it takes a lot for us to feel like we're on vacation in our own backyard - but this did the trick!

All I have to say about the room was WOW! We stayed in the Gold Coast Suite. Everything, from the beautiful fireplace to the bathroom mirror television, was visually stunning. I never wanted to leave!

The service was generally on par with the quality of the room. I was a little dismayed by the quality of the check-in. The agent barely spoke to us, and just handed over the keys. Not something you would expect at this kind of hotel. However, the rest of the staff that I encountered at this hotel was excellent, professional, and friendly. The hotel has a strict no-tipping policy and Wifi was free - both were wonderful surprises!

I headed down to the spa area before I left to check out the pool and other facilities. The pool was beautiful. Its indoors but has sort of an "outdoor" feeling to it because it is so light. I could have seen myself lounging there all day! The locker room facilities contained a steam room, sauna, and whirlpool and all looked very nice. There was a wait to use one of the showers in the locker room though, which I thought was sort of unusual.

The wait for the elevators was terrible. I think this may have been because one of them was broken versus just slow elevators in general, but I just wanted to point that out if that wasn't the case.

Overall, I was very impressed by the quality of the rooms and the professionalism of most of the staff here. I would certainly love to come back one day!

My wife and I chose the Waldorf Astoria Chicago for a one night get-a-way. As having had the opportunity to stay at some of Chicago's other wonderful hotels, we were really looking forward to a outstanding experience at the Waldorf.

The Good
The hotel staff was truly fantastic. From the valet, to the check in agent, to the bellhop, to the building engineer (who we unfortunately got to know due to numerous problems with our room). The location is also fantastic. The hotel is minutes away from anything you could want in the way of food or shopping.

The Not-so-Good
Here is a list of things that were wrong with the room:
- the fire place did not work.
- some of the cable channels (hbo, show time) did not work
- the television in the bathroom did not work
All of the above items were fixed by the staff engineer.
Below is a list of items that were annoying that we did not call the engineer for:
- the faucet for the soaking tub had a leak and soaked the bathroom floor
- every time the hvac system kicked on, one of the vents in the room rattled loudly. I could not figure out which one it was.
- the coffee table in the living room area was about to fall apart to the point we were afraid to rest anything on top of it
- the extra linens for the room are stored in a sealed bag in the closet. The zipper to the sealed bag was broken so we were not able to access the extra pillows.
- the refrigerator drawer would not stay closed, so the alarm kept sounding. I was able to lean a suitcase up against it to keep it closed.
- the sofa in the living room smelled really bad

Also, the view leaves a lot to be desired. We were on the fifteenth floor, I believe the views would be a lot better on higher floors.

In summary, great staff, great location but the rooms should be really gone through and assessed.

With numerous other options for top notch hotels in Chicago (trump, four seasons, etc) I'm not sure the Waldorf would be our first choice.

Pure elegance. Been looking forward to a stay here and my wife and I escaped from the kids for a night downtown. We live in Chicago so this is all about the hotel. Who cares about going outside! Fireplace, amazing shower and super spa. Haven't eaten here yet but I am sure it is amazing. Didn't get an upgrade as I was hoping but the hotel is booked. Oh well. It is pricy but the no gratuity policy both saves money and fits the hotels style.