My wife and I took our 2 kids (18 & 13) and our small dog to Chicago for the weekend from Metro Detroit. We take this trip almost every year. This time we decided to try somewhere nicer than our usual Holiday Inn.
First the positive: The location is great! Right on Michigan Ave, a block and a half from the Chicago River and just over 2 blocks from the Art Institute. Dog "friendly"
Now the bad part: We checked in and were told that we could not leave the dog unattended at any time - in other words, we could go nowhere as a family. The manager had me sign a waiver to get around that issue. We were then checked into a smoking room even though we requested a non-smoking room. 30 mins later, that problem was corrected. We were surprised to see that both rooms (not suites) could barely hold the 2 queen beds and still have room to walk wround them. (They never showed a room in the photos with 2 queen beds) . Both rooms had beat up furniture and looked like it had seen its day (however the beds were comfortable and clean). In addition, our air conditioning was non-functioning. When I mentioned later in the day our dissappointment in the room(s), the manager apologized and said that he had a suite that was empty and we could have it - that is if we wanted to pay the cost difference! (Let's see here...you have unhappy customers, an empty, unbooked room but instead of making the customer happy, you insult them by asking them to pay!) When it came time to walk the dog, we were told that the closest grassy spot for her was FOUR blocks away! Not very dog FRIENDLY - perhaps more dog tolerant. Two of the five elevators that we stepped in throughout the weekend never moved - just closed the doors and sat there. If you wanted a stack of 3 pancakes from room service, that will be $11. - the prices go up from there.
All in all this hotel is in a classic historical building (the carbide and carbon building) and in a great location but this hotel is riding on it's name and is really quite poor with a front desk staff that has very few customer service skills (the baggage guy and consierege were very nice). We look forward to going back to our old stand-by Holiday Inn.
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