I am a frequent traveler and often seek out Marriott properties and had the privilege to stay at the Residence Inn in mid-October. The hotel has a great location and is close to many good restaurants and bars.

The fitness facility is located on the 27th floor which was a nice change to other hotels where the views from the gym are less attractive. Four treadmills and four elliptically to use. Dumbbell weights only went up to 50lbs, but works.

I stayed in room 2606 which offered a great view of the city. The room provided a nice king size bed, strong hot water and water pressure in the shower and plenty of space to spread out. The only negative was the slow drain in the sink, but a simple call to the front desk and it can be fixed.

Decided to stay here for my wife's birthday while we were in Chicago (having a full kitchen for me to cook in beats out a luxurious suite) and also because I've been platinum elite with Marriott for years and love the extra service they provide for being an elite member. This will be a long review as I'll be using it for my Marriott based survey so I'll be covering everything from start to finish.

Location is great, right in the thick of things downtown, and the facility is also connected to a Springhill Suites. Parking was rough, the valet was apparently extremely busy and we were early so we just went ahead and parked in the garage ourselves, only to see the harried valet flying around the garage in a Lexus SUV, tires squealing as he went around the corners. We figured our self parking choice was best.

We got there around noon on a Saturday so figured the odds of checking in early were pretty dismal but tried anyway. The folks at the desk were dressed down as sometimes happens at Marriott's on weekends, but after not acknowledging my elite status, the desk person noted there were no rooms available currently and offered to take my phone number to call when available. Great, so I did. She promised we would be called promptly when a one bedroom suite was available.

We went to lunch, did some shopping, and never got a phone call. So we went back at 3 (the normal check in time) and proceeded to check in. Couldn't help but notice the list I had signed up for sitting on the counter apparently untouched. Alrighty then. No big deal.

This time a different young lady acknowledged my status and checked us in quickly and my brother in law and his wife were also checked in quickly. I have several standing requests on my profile, one of which is for a high floor. We got on the 19th floor (of 27). Brother in law who isn't a Marriott rewards member got 22nd floor. Alrighty then. No big deal.

I can confirm 100% the complaints about the elevators seen in other reviews. There are three elevators servicing 27 floors on the Springhill side and three more on the Residence Inn side. One of those 3 on each side is a service elevator with a separate button on the door frame we happily learned, and almost every time we got that elevator once we learned the trick. Wait times averaged 5-10 solid minutes (not kidding) even with calling the service elevator. Still, six total elevators for 27 floors seems pretty inadequate.

Our room was 1911....the first room against the elevator bank on the 19th floor. Alrighty then. No big deal. But the no big deals are adding up. Thankfully the inefficient elevators are very quiet so it didn't become an issue at all, and we discovered the next morning why they were especially quiet that night.

Standing request for extra towels and pillows not honored. Alrighty then. I'm beginning to think they don't look at member profiles at all, which is fine I guess. The room itself was clean and comfortable, we got a 1 bedroom for some privacy so the extra tv and rollaway bed for our son was handy. Kitchen facilities were very nice and everything worked fine. One of the very few high hotels with opening windows, which was nice for a little downtown ambience.

Preparing for bed that night I was able to check off more of the other complaints I've read here. Sink water pressure is non existent even at max settings, so I brushed my teeth in the kitchen to rinse my toothbrush properly. And hot water at 9pm was of a very short duration so I couldn't wait to see how it was in the morning....

And it was just fine. All three of us took hot showers with no interruptions or hiccups in temperature, which was nice. What wasn't nice is the very modern glass enclosed stand up shower didn't have any kind of water barrier at the bottom of the door so the bathroom experienced a minor flood with every shower. Hmm, that explains the water rings on the tile floor. Now if only I had some extra towels to soak up the excess water...My in laws also commented on the flooding in their room so it must be an overall issue. Looking at it again before we left I'm not real sure how they'd fix it short of lowering the door and putting a seal along the bottom of the door. Probably too much work.

Breakfast was very good, albeit very crowded. The staff is very attentive and laid it on pretty thick, doting on my son. Oh, hang on, I should back up. When we left our room there was an elevator on the 19th floor, door open waiting on us! We got on and after playing with it for a few minutes discovered it was out of service. So since it was there on the floor with doors open, it disabled the up and down call buttons for the other elevator. The service elevator never came either. So after a few minutes we walked over to the Springhill side and waited about 5 minutes to get down over there. Once in the lobby I noticed the huge line on the Residence Inn side waiting on elevators so I went ahead and let the desk people know the middle elevator was stuck on the 19th floor. She apologized and stuck an out of service sign on the elevator and literally did nothing else. I pointed out to some of the people there was another bank of elevators on the Springhill side and managed to disperse a lot of the crowd myself.

Checkout experience was pretty bland, not even so much as a thank you for staying with us, but I guess since she was by herself at the desk (one other young lady eventually came out while we waited for the rest of our party) she probably didn't have much time for anything overly courteous.

So overall, for a one night stay, not bad. Not great, and not sure I would want to come back, but not bad. One thing I noticed here on Tripadvisor is the management staff responds to issues and posts comments. Considering the relative newness of the building and the complaints about nearly the same issues over and over (elevators, water pressure, and hot water), I'm a bit curious about whether or not the issues are even fixable, so I suppose that should factor into your decision to stay here. There's plenty of hotels in the same price range nearby.

On the other hand, not acknowledging a rewards member's profile requests seems pretty unforgivable to me. Yes, I could have asked for the items every other Marriott does automatically for me, but then what's the point of being a rewards member? For that reason this hotel will receive a poor review once I receive my Marriott Survey, but I wouldn't discourage the average customer from staying here. For the structural faults and issues which the staff seems to take in stride, the hotel location and overall cleanliness make the hotel worthwhile.

This hotel is actually amazing in terms of location and amenities. Brand new granite countertops and brand new stainless appliances make for a very, very comfortable room. However, I was woken up in the middle of the night to my windows rattling from the club across the street. I had to go to the lobby and ask for a room on the other side of the building. This was on a Wednesday night. Marriott accommodated me, which was absolutely fantastic. But still, not a full night's sleep as I had to change rooms. If you make a reservation, be absolutely sure to ask for the side of the hotel away from the dance club. Otherwise, amazing hotel.

Very spacious rooms, great breakfast and happy hour. Only complaint is that some of the nights, rate was much higher. Very good location in river north. Overall very good stay. Exercise room is spacious and really good equipment.