I found a place on Earth where the laws of physics cease to exist: room 3322 at the Fairmont Chicago. Let me explain. Upon check in my room was hot. I hate being hot. I cannot sleep when I'm hot. I'm irritable when I'm hot. The outside temps while I was in Chicago were upper 40s to lower 50s during the day and upper 30s to lower 40s at night. Why was the room so hot??? I found the thermostat on the wall. You can adjust the temp down or up and the fan speed down or up. I turn the temp down to 60 (lowest it will go) and the fan speed to high. This resulted in a tiny little trickle of air dribbling out of a tiny vent in the wall that looked like it was about to fall out. This was clearly not going to cool the room off. Suprisingly, the room had two windows that cracked open at the bottom around 5 inches. I opened both of them. It's cold outside. The wind is blowing fiercely. Surely my room will be cold in no time. Nope, it barely made a dent. What in the world is going on? I felt like I was the victim of a practical joke.
Moving on...
Hotel managers need to understand that people care more about being able to control their room temp than whether or not the soap came from some boutique where rich people would shop.
Hotel managers also need to understand that putting a gross, scratchy coverlet and boudoir pillows upholstered in gross, scratchy material on the bed is a waste of time. They get thrown on the floor, and they never get washed. People want a nice, CLEAN bed.
Overall, the room was nicely designed in modern, low key decor. The bathroom was nice, appointed in marble. Seperate shower and tub. Although, i did find a clump of hair in the bath tub that was not mine because I didn't take a bath, and I don't have any hair on my body that was that long or that color. If I'm dropping $300 on a room, I better not find anyone else's hair in the room. I know the cleaning staff has to be very thorough to accomplish this, but what the hell? It's the Fairmont right? It's $300 a night right? That's a freakin car payment. Clean the rooms!
You ever notice how the higher the room rate, the more you have to pay out of pocket for simple stuff. I'm paying several hundred dollars a night and you can't float me a cup of coffee and a stale doughnut??? Hell, $60-100 a night hotels give you a damn buffet in the morning or at least a cup of coffee and some breads. It's not the highest quality, but it's hot and contains caffeine. I've stayed in a $700 a night hotel, and they had a very nice, free breakfast including fresh yogurt and berries. Maybe the middle ground is where you get screwed, or maybe it's stingy ownership?
Hotel feel: They're attempting to be as hip as possible while still being low key. The result is one of the darkest hotels I've ever been in. The lobby was lit like a club, and they even played some sort of ambient yet upbeat techno in the mornings I guess to get people pumped for the day. I don't know. The rooms were also very dark. You could turn on every light in your room, and it would still look someone turned on a couple of weak lamps. I don't like pooping in the dark.
Location: boring. There is a CVS across the street, which is nice if you can't afford a $5 mini bar Coke. It is one block north of Millennium Park, one block east of Michigan and one block south of the Chicago River and Whacker, but it felt so removed from the action. I'd much rather be on Michigan or around the corner from Michigan or on the river. I guess I'm being picky, but there are tons of hotels in Chicago that have much better locations and are probably much less expensive.
My view was nice, The room faced east so you could see Lake Michigan and a nice little park that bordered the University of Chicago. I would have preferred a south facing room to see the museum campus and Michigan Ave. I've never really considered Lake Michigan around Chicago very pretty.
Overall, you can spend this much and do much better IMHO. Do you research. Don't swoon over the Fairmont name. At least not at this location.
hotel reviews