My maiden W experience, been a Starwood Preferred Guest at various brands and properties now around the globe, and W didn't disappoint! Great location, good value for money through my Founders Card membership, love the lobby bar and also Whiskey Bar on the rooftop!

The location is great and offseason, the rates are pretty good for downtown Chicago. Great concierge and from desk staff.

I received and auto upgrade to a lake view room on the 22nd floor. Nice and quiet and just what I expected. Very minor wear and tear on some of the furniture (only asthetic issues). Room was clean and what I come to expect from an SPG hotel.

I fly into Chicago once a month for business. I’ve tried a number of hotels in the city, W Lakeshore is my first choice. Location is great, can't beat near north Lakeshore Dr. Rooms are spacious, well-kept, great beds (None of that weird stale hotel smell). Staff actively trying to improve your stay (during one stay a large family with kids checked into the room next to mine, which is rare at a W, no questions asked I was moved to a quieter room on another floor). And of course, having Bliss toiletries… need I say more.

My husband & I just stayed at the W Hotel Lakeshore over New Years. This hotel's location is great, and our suite overlooked the lake & pier. Our suite was nice - we had a living area separate from the bedroom, and I really enjoyed the bathroom shower and design. Bed is very comfortable, as most Starwood beds are. My biggest pet peeves at hotels are no outlets next to the bed. I had to plug my phone into the adjacent bedroom wall and set the phone on the floor. Overall, the room was clean and comfortable & housekeeping was quick to respond to requests.

The lobby bar is nice, we enjoyed a few drinks there with friends one night. The draft from the front doors blows straight past the bar so I had to keep on my coat, as I noticed a few other people did as well. The "bar" at the top of the hotel is a joke - actually a bit scary as it's just a small VERY dark room. It looks like an afterthought - not very "W" at all. The views are great, so it has potential for something really cool.

The valet underwhelmed us - it was freezing cold, but they never opened our doors when we arrived, assisted with luggage, or even greeted us. The hotel wasn't busy, so they just couldn't be bothered to come over to our car I guess. So our first & last impression of the hotel wasn't great due to this.

We walked down the street for a coffee & bagel in the morning (just around the corner, 2 blocks I think?), then headed out to do some shopping. There's no need to take taxis around the general area (ie: to Michigan Ave) as there are quite a few restaurants/shops all within walking distance. We took a short taxi ride one night to eat at Avec (which I highly recommend!).

Bliss Spa is a "must" if you stay at this hotel. We didn't have time to go during this trip but I've been in the past and it was wonderful.

Checkin/checkout was seamless. The only negative was again the valet as we left (just left the car running at the front door and walked away - no assistance with luggage, or "thank you for staying with us" which I thought was poor service as most hotels do this), but other than that this hotel was a good choice.