This hotel is very elegant and spotlessly maintained. Rooms are beautiful, beds are wonderful. Big problem with hearing your neighbors. One night my wife and I were both woken up at 2 AM by the noise and laughing in the room next to us. After 30 minutes of this I called the front desk and complained. They said they would take care of it and in about 20 minutes I heard one of the men next door say "Someone called security on us" followed by a lady saying "Oh my G-d". They then left the room. The thing is that these last two comments were made at normal conversation level and I still heard them as if they were in my room. I spoke with other friends staying here and they said the same thing, that they could hear the people next door in normal conversation like they were in their room. No hotel should be built with acoustics and soundproofing this bad. Other problems: After we checked in we went to the only elevators we could see from the front desk, and could not find our room. We then found out from a chambermaid that there were two towers and we were in the wrong one so that we had to lug our luggage back down to the main floor, all the way across the hotel to the other end and up the elevators. A simple courtesy from the registration desk pointing us in the right direction would have been much appreciated. Lastly, two other people in our party asked for wake up calls and never received them. Other things you should know about this hotel; 1) If you are a Marriott Rewards member wi-fi is free. If you are not a member they charge you $9.95/day for wi-fi. 2) This hotel does not have an included breakfast, like for example the Hampton Inn has. 3) If you take a bottle of water sitting next to the TV, the charge is $3.50 per bottle.

This hotel was staffed with a multitude of wonderful staff. They went far beyond the call of duty and for that I am writing a wonderful review. I have never reviewed a hotel before, because there has never been one that I have found worthy of scoring, but my recent visit to the Chicago North Shore was extra-ordinary and deems a star studded review. You will not be displeased by the service here.

I booked this room using Priceline, and got a great $55/night (plus taxes and fees) rate for Friday through Sunday (11/23 - 11/25) of Thanksgiving weekend. We arrived and noticed the renovated lobby. Very nice. I hadn’t been to this hotel since 1993 when it was a Sheraton. Although the outside is dated, the interior (except for the elevators) is definitely upgraded.

We were placed in a north tower room right by the elevators. Note: I’m OK with a “not great” room location when using a discount travel site like Priceline or Hotwire. The room itself was clean and nice – new furnishings, large bathroom. We were in desperate need of a nap upon arrival, so we went right to sleep.

About 10 minutes later, we heard a lot of yelling and screaming in the hallway. The doors are definitely not soundproof at all. I opened the door three times in 10 minutes, and asked the “tweens” and their parents (part of a larger group staying on the floor) if they could halt their hallway conversations and gymnastics. No response.

After my third try, I went down to the lobby, shared the issue with the gentleman at the front desk (the same guy who had checked us in about 30-45 minutes earlier), and asked to be given a new room. He was very helpful and accommodating. Though he did say that the staff had received numerous complaints about the group on my floor, and that they were about to ask the group to leave the hotel.

My reaction: If you’ve received numerous complaints about that group, why did you place me in a room on their floor?

The gentleman assigned us a room in the south tower. The room was very clean, had similar (new) furnishings, but the bathroom was tiny. I think the south tower is slightly older than the north tower. Like the first room, the door to the room was not very soundproof. And although it was much quieter in the new room, we still heard room doors slam in the hallway.

Aside from the room situation, the hotel was nice. The bed was, perhaps, the most comfortable hotel bed I’ve ever slept on. Water pressure in the shower was fine.

Upon checkout, the woman at the front desk was not very gracious. I handed her the key cards and she didn’t respond with a “thank you” or anything. I figured she would ask us about our stay, but no.

I'd stay here again if the rate was good, but I'm not going to go out of my way to come back.

Recently stayed at Renaissance Chicago North Shore Hotel when everything downtown was booked for big convention. Was pleasantly surprised by the location and easy access to the interstate and a quick trip to Chicago.
Beds were very comfy and the room was a good value for Chicago (based on what we have paid for prior visits to area).

The breakfast buffet was small but very good and all the food was kept warm with covered serving dishes. We also ordered breakfast off the menu one morning and it was one of the best breakfasts we had while on the road. I enjoyed the Farmers Market omelet and it was very good and the hash browns were perfect! The service in the Restaurant was top notch on both mornings!

My only complaint about this hotel was that we did not have an ice bucket or coffee maker in our room. I'm sure the ice bucket was just an oversight since we did have an ice machine on our floor so we filled up our cups individually and forget to ask about the bucket. The hotel was very clean and everyone working there was very pleasant and their customer service was excellent!