Recently, a friend and I stayed at the JW Marriott Thanksgiving weekend to see the 25th Anniversary Production of Les Miserables at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. I've typically been extremely pleased with the upper end properties of a hotel chain, so I took a chance for a great weekend at an exceptional rate. The service was top rate! Proably, the most efficient and courteous customer service I've encountered at a luxury hotel. The in-dining breakfast was served prompt and hot, with plenty of coffee refills. The hotel lounge area was also a delight. The bar staff, especially Lisa Marie, was tops. Ask Lisa for a house martini well shaken and/or a hotel old fashioned. Excellent! However, and there is always the inevitable however. I requested a handicapped accessible room with a roll in shower, with two beds. However the room 861 was on the other side of the floor from the elevators. Walking that distance with a walker was excruciating and unnecessary. I even asked to use the staff elevators which were only two doors down from my room, but was denied the privilege, stating "that elevator would take you places you wouldn't want to go...". The room was well appointed and with a nice decor, and an excellent accessible restroom, but the first night, the HVAC would not work and we were given the opportunity to change rooms in the middle of the night, but I deferred. Instead, we were given an electric fan to circulate the stale air. Alas, the HVAC was temporarily fixed the next morning, and the engineer told us it was only a fix until we checked out on Sunday and the room would be taken off line for repair. The temporary fix never worked, and the room alternated from cold, to hot, to no circulation at all. The environmental impact of the non-functioning HVAC made sleeping under heavy feather comforters extremely difficult. Basically, for a weekend trip to Chicago, we slept very little. After bringing this to attention to management, we were comped a free breakfast and given 10,000 Marriott points. A nice gesture, but it didn't compensate for a troubled two nights sleep. A that is the bottom line for a hotel....a comfortable room with a comfortable bed. The hotel did allow to keep our car in valet parking after check out, and made our journey to see Les Miz. The exciting, vibrant, production was one of the best I've ever seen, and it certainly created such a rush that the lack of sleep abated. Still, the top of the Marriott chain should provide comfortable rooms, comfortable beds, and an accessible room environment. Even at a great rate, it was a poor choice, and not one I'll make again. As I told the Service Manager, this is the JW Marriott, the top of the chain, to which she replied, "every luxury hotel has their off nights." So don't take a chance on an "off night" here, instead stay one street over at the Hampton Majestic. The more I stay at Marriott properties, the more convinced it is a hotel chain in decay.

Room service food is terrible and banquet food is even worse. Last year I had wonderful meals here. This year sucked. Worst food I've ever had at a conference. What happened? Change the staff over that fast? Maybe you should concentrate on quality if the food you offer. Luxury hotels should offer more than just junk food and sandwiches

We landed at the hotel by complete accident. We flew into Chicago planning on staying at a different Marriott that I had made reservations at a week prior to arrival. Long story short, we ended up at the JW Marriott and we were MORE than pleased with this mix-up. This hotel was lavish, fancy, well kept, high end, perfect! We stayed for 3 nights and it was the best hotel stay I've ever had. The bedding in the room was to die for! Extremely soft and clean. The room was spacious with nice furnishings. The best part of the room was the BATHROOM! The tub in this room was where I spent most of my time. It was a HUGE ceramic tub with tile surroundings, that could easily hold 3-4 regular size people. I would stay here again just for the tub! There was absolutely NO COMPLAINTS while we stayed here. The service was great, they were very helpful. The only thing that could have been better was the pool being finished, during our stay, it was under construction. The location of this hotel is perfect in downtown Chicago. Parking was expensive though.

I stayed at this hotel for more than a week on business. The hotel is located in the financial district, which is good if you have business downtown. However, for a pleasure trip, nothing is very close. The hotel is quite luxurious and tastefully decorated. The lobby bar is really nice with good food, although it closes pretty early. The rooms are large, well furnished with a nice desk, comfortable bed and large TV. The bathrooms are really large with a separate head, shower, soaking tub and double sink – all finished in marble and granite. The service in the executive lounge is absolutely great – it serves a varied and well prepared breakfast and hors d'oeuvres in the evening. The gym is well equipped with weight and cardio machines. The in hotel restaurant the Florentine is very good. This hotel would be almost perfect; except for a few service flaws – hair conditioners comes up missing and have to call to get more – someone comes to pick up laundry and steps on my paper outside the door, instead of picking it up and handing it to me - paper delivered for two days and then stopped. Would give 4.5 stars.