jerry a. laska

Welcomed as a diamond member at check-in yesterday and was provided the normal coupon for diamond breakfast in the restaurant, Andiamo. The FD person also provided a coupon for a hot drink, cold drink, and breakfast item at the coffee counter in the lobby, Cafe Mercato, in case I was leaving before the normal breakfast hours at Andiamo. The Cafe Mercato coupon is labeled "HHonors VIP Breakfast" and does provide that it can be used to upgrade to the full breakfast in Andiamo for $15.

I asked the FD person about reports from earlier this year that the Andiamo breakfast for diamonds had been "enhanced" away and replaced with the Cafe Mercato "breakfast". The FD person said that she has not seen any changes made to the diamond breakfast benefit. She stated that she tries to ask guests if they have an early flight before 7am and gives them the Cafe Mercato coupon as Andiamo doesn't open until 6am.

Drinks in the bar while watching the games last night, breakfast in the morning, and the rest of the stay were problem free.

Forgot to mention the fitness center which contains multiple cardio machines and a full selection of free weights and other machines. Locker rooms seem much cleaner than I remember them.

pinniped

Stayed at this hotel Saturday night. I was given coupons valid for either items in the cafe or $10 per person food credit in the restaurant.

$10 won't buy anything in that restaurant. There was no option to get a continental breakfast buffet.

Breakfast for us was a heated-up sandwich, a cup of coffee, and a juice.

On the plus side, the room was only $94. About what it was worth I suppose...

Not a hotel I'll stay in again except for some sort of unavoidable stuck-at-ORD kind of emergency.

Miesque

This is very disappointing as it wasn't that long ago that the Diamond breakfast was excellent at the O'Hare Hilton. Its a pretty dramatic change, enough so that my next O'Hare stay I will either go back to the Doubletree or the Hilton Rosemont where I can get a real breakfast.

controller1

Reading the Gold/Diamond Breakfast thread, it appears this was changed early this year.

CMK10

Yep, I think I mentioned upthread that I got stuck with the new crappy choice on a 2/28-3/1 stay

pinniped

I wonder what changed with this hotel. The staff seemed disinterested in hospitality, they clearly don't have an interest in providing good treatment to HHonors regulars, and it was just an unfriendly place to be forced to reside for about 10 hours. Do they make so much money off of O'Hare's flight cancellations that it's in their best interest to actively discourage HHonors members from staying there?

I don't get the value prop. To me, it's a bad hotel that I don't even want to spend $94 on. I guess they get a blizzard and sell rooms for $300/nt. then, right? Are there that many nights at ORD where they're able to command such rates?

CMK10

I stay a few times a year at ORD properties and have done so regularly for the last four years. The $94 fare tends to show up Friday nights and Saturday nights. This hotel is routinely $299 during the week and people will pay it. They probably know that their selling point is proximity, no other hotel at ORD can offer that and people will pay for that luxury. Hell, no matter how badly I'm treated if my flight is 7 AM or earlier, this is where I'm going to be.

Miesque

I agree, there is usually a bit of a premium on the hotel and its all location, location, location. You don't have to rely on a shuttle, you just walk to your gate. That said, if you don't have a 6 AM flight or one that comes in really late (or have a short layover), it no longer makes sense to stay here. I wonder if there was some sort of management change because at least a few years ago, it was pleasant in terms of service/hospitality for an airport hotel.

pinniped

You guys really pay $299 for this place during normal flight ops?

If, just as you were about to check in on the $299 rate, someone stopped you and said quick - I'll pay you $140* right now to take a 10-minute shuttle ride to a better hotel - you wouldn't do it?

I mean, I like walking to my gate, but still...



* $140 being roughly the total difference between $299 and the $170-ish base rate I can book the DT Rosemont for tomorrow night if I needed to...

Truffles

This hotel has gone downhill a lot in the past few years. Apart from the breakfast changes for diamonds (and the reduction in breakfast choices and total disinterest from the servers), there is no longer any basic laundry service to clean a shirt, only dry cleaning. Despite being HH diamond, I now stay at the Hyatt despite having no status there.

Miesque

Oh absolutely not at that price, even in its better days. I had a reservation for $159 for mid August which I have since cancelled and booked the DT Rosemont for $135 due to the combination of really enjoying my stay at the later a few weeks ago and realizing the Diamond breakfast at Hilton O'Hare was going to be crap. The DT rooms are bigger/better condition (especially the bathroom), room service is also a lot more reasonably priced and at least the food I had was pretty good. I also think the DT is better than the Hyatt across the street (nicer rooms, less people), but if you like having a Regency Club to pop into I can see that leading you to prefer the Hyatt.

jerry a. laska

At the end of May I had a stay and still received diamond breakfast coupons for Andiamo despite several reports from earlier this year that only Café Mercato coupons were being given out and that the diamond breakfast benefit had been ended. See:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22944178-post284.html
The desk clerk stated that she was not aware of any changes to diamond breakfast at Andiamo. It's hard to understand these differing experiences. I'll have another stay next month and will inquire again.
In May breakfast was the same as it used to be with a great server. Service in the restaurant and bar the night before was fine and it seemed to me they had cleaned up the issues that had developed the year before.

toomanybooks

In 2010 I inquired of their sales staff about holding a 500+ person meeting there. Some of you know what that was. 2-3 nights, would have been hundreds of room-nights, meals, meeting rooms, AV, internet, everything.

They didn't even call me back.

So you can imagine what they think about one guy for one night for $94.

Hope our FT HH rep is reading this.

TRAVELSIG

I have held meetings here without any problems or issues. Sales staff very proactive. Not cheap however a lot of people can come in for a day or two which is a bigger savings than the costs.

LucWise

I stayed here over the weekend. Hotel was fine... don't need much when you are just sleeping before catching a connecting flight. Got a room for $79+tax. Diamond breakfast was two coupons good for the little coffee stand (one hot drink, one cold drink and a muffin or sandwich) or $10 off in the restaurant. The restaurant looked busy, so I took the drinks and the sandwich. Wasn't great, but good enough.