Let me begin with the good: great location and reasonably priced as compared to nearby hotels. That's it.
Now to the bad: We were in Room 611 that overlooked an alley in which dumpsters from every nearby building were seemingly located. While the view was less than ideal, our issue concerned noise. On Friday morning at 6:17 a.m. (our first morning in the hotel and more than four hours before we planned on getting up) we were awoken by the incredibly loud sounds of garbage trucks backing into the alley (beeping every second or so), picking up dumpsters, and then dropping them onto the ground. If this only happened once it would still have been annoying, but might also have been a reality of staying downtown. Unfortunately, it did not happen only once. It happened repeatedly from 6:17 a.m. until around 9 a.m. (after MANY separate dumpster loads were picked up and DROPPED). Having our sleep ruined by dumpsters, we then had the rest of the morning ruined by constant whistles from bellmen hailing taxis (that lasted until at least 11 a.m.). We complained to the hotel staff who told us that there were no rooms available to move us until later that day, so we went about our business of trying to enjoy our long weekend in Chicago. When we returned to the hotel in late-afternoon, we were told that the hotel only had one room available on the 5th floor of the hotel - albeit not right over dumpster alley, but still pretty low. We asked whether dumpsters would be picked up in dumpster alley on Saturday morning (it being a weekend) and were told by the front desk person that the hotel's were not picked up on Saturday and that she did not "think" but (in fairness) could not be certain that other dumpsters would not be picked up the next morning. Having places to go and not wishing to re-pack and move to another low floor, we risked it one more night. BIG mistake. The next morning - at precisely 6:42 a.m. - we were greeted with the relentless sounds of dumpsters being picked up and dropped. Having a second morning completely ruined by the sound of crashing dumpsters, we again complained, and this time we did decide to re-pack and move to a much higher floor - further away from the dumpsters. It is scarcely believable that the Whitehall would not: a) warn their guests whose rooms overlook the alley; b) contact the waste management companies to adjust their pick up schedules; and c) work on soundproofing the "dumpster alley" rooms.
Almost as bad as was the noise was the reaction of the hotel staff to our complaints. While they did ultimately change our room, most quality hotels would have comped both nights, but not the Whitehall - which ironically describes itself as a "landmark destination," "one of the eight great small hotels in the U.S.," and a hotel that "will exceed all of [our] expectations." Indeed, we didn't even get a fruit basket.
From this experience at the Whitehall, if you are planning on staying at the Whitehall you should definitely inquire whether your room faces the alley. If it does, you cannot and should not stay at this hotel unless you are planning on getting up at 6:15 a.m.
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