I stayed at the Conrad hotel in downtown Chicago, selected for its 5 star rating and attractive low rates. In comparison to most other 5 star hotels in Chicago, this is one of the best properties for the money, which is why I booked here. The location is good, especially in winter months. It is located right across from a mall, so you can enjoy nearby shopping and dining. From the time I stepped out of the cab, I was greeted by a friendly and professional doorman, leading me to the elevator for the reception area. The reception area is neat and informal. This wasn’t the opulent, grand experience like most 5 star places, but it is simple, efficient, and worked well. I would say the décor is modest and uneventful. Although nice, you won’t find much of a WOW factor here. (Until you see their breakfast prices…I will get to that.)
My check in went smoothly, and I informed the hotel that I had 2 separate reservations that needed to be merged together. I informed them I would be staying 2 nights, not one. The friendly check in reception gentleman told me that this would be no problem, and the following day, to just come down to reception to have my keys recoded so that they would still work. No problem. I made my way up to the rooms where on my way, I found the elevator areas adorned with beautiful potted orchids; the look was very beautiful and elegant.
Once inside my room, I noticed 2 things. (1) The bathrooms are really beautiful, big, and full of amenities. They are marble, gorgeous and complete with matching bathrobes. (2) The TV is huge. The not so great thing was that my view was directly into an office building. I literally could see what they were eating for lunch, etc, so it wasn’t just barely visible. It was like I was in there with them. No bother. I drew my blinds and moved on. (When you check in, ask for a view of NOT into an office building.)
A small perk of this hotel is that they do a complimentary tea service each morning until 10 AM, which we used and enjoyed. At night, they put out hot coco and marshmellows for guests, which is cute and a nice touch. We did like that.
What sort of struck me as funny at this hotel is that they pride themselves on having a pillow menu, where I think you can pick between 4 different kinds of pillows delivered free to your room, plus others at an additional cost. The irony in this is after waking up, I had concluded that the Conrad pillows were the least comfortable I had ever experienced in a hotel. Funny. (Maybe I should have ordered up a special pillow?) Downside to the room – I didn’t like that the once stocked mini bars are all empty now. The only use for them now is to put your leftovers in. Me? I like to be able to grab a snack or a drink from the mini bar. I found it strange that this was a 5 star hotel with a little, pathetic, empty fridge. Despite this, however, all in all, the room is quite suitable, I think most people wouldn’t have much an issue.
Here is where you may take issue with this hotel…breakfast prices. Wow. For a complete breakfast in the dining room ,it is $24-$32, depending on which “breakfast meal” you get. It is very pricy on this, (but delicious and well prepared / served.) However, as good as it was, it just wasn’t “$60 for breakfast for 2” good. My opinion is, there are nearby places that you can find that are a nice walk for $28 for 2. We asked the front desk for a recommendation and he said that Yolk was good. (Most Nordstrom’s have a café, and had I thought of it, you probably could have gotten something awesome and cheap there, inside, right across the street from the Conrad.) All and all, I simply found the breakfast menu to be a turn off all together. Breakfast at the Park Hyatt, arguably a nicer and more upscale hotel, is less at $16 for room service complete breakfast, just for perspective. My opinion is that the Conrad should consider their cost of stay vs their cost of breakfast and maybe consider reducing.
Here’s where my stay got kind of annoying. The housekeeping belted on the door at 8 AM on a Friday morning. A little early, don’t you think? We told them to come back later, and we got out of bed and hung the DND sign on the door. Fine. Jet lagged and needing a nap, we retired back to the bed, only for the bellman to WALK IN to our room at 2 PM WITH THE DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door. Have you ever even heard of such a thing? We yelled out, “We are staying another day,” from the bed and he left. We drifted back to sleep when…RING RING. Are you kidding me? We are being woken up again. It is the front desk, now calling to apologize for the bellman walking in. They caught the error in the computer now, where the hotel room bookings had not been merged like I had asked them to at check in. Now, I am really pissed. It was just all the getting woken up. The only point of booking the room was to have a luxurious sleep after a 16 hour nonstop flight. This rather ruined it. I wished this hotel could have been a little more organized and perhaps have housekeeping come by at 10 AM instead of 8 AM on the dot. Just too early for folks that are here to relax and unwind.
I would describe this hotel as quiet, tranquil, spacious, unfussy, unpretentious, classic, non-trendy, simple, elegant, and calm. It really just depends on what you are looking for. This property competes in price point with the Sofitel and overall, I would stay at the Sofitel over this hotel for the money. This is a decent property, but didn’t blow me away. I would describe it as luxury on a budget. Affordable rooms, but you can probably do better if you are patient and look.
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