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OLD Conrad Chicago {US-IL} (no longer Honors)

OLD Conrad Chicago {US-IL} (no longer Honors)

Old Jul 22, 2006, 11:09 am
  #31  
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: DTW
Programs: HH Diamond
Posts: 1,934
Never hurts to ask, nicely...

Unless you were able to get a MR for pretty cheap, I would just stick with Gold and see what they offer you. That is just me, I haven't stayed at the Conrad though, so maybe others who have stayed there can post their experiences.

This would be after I asked in the comments section, "HHonors Gold guest would appreciate any available room upgrade".

As well as presenting my Gold card (unobtrusivly) w/ credit card (to make sure they have my HH # on file).

And it never hurts to ask, if they do not confirm, "Mr. Cisco Kid, we have upgraded you to the Jr. Presidential Suite, we would have given your the Presidential Suite except the Sultan of of Kyregisnki is residing their presently."

Just a simple question, with a slight smile and a slight head bow... "Were you able to get us an upgrade?" The same goes for the breakfast certs.

And I would do the above whether I was Gold or Diamond, if I was not told I recv'd the upgrade and/or breakfast certs.
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Old Aug 1, 2006, 3:30 am
  #32  
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: JFK
Programs: UA Gold (Million Miler), FI Gold, Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 1,075
The lack of an exec lounge here puzzles and bothers me a bit so I wrote to ask if they were planning to build one...

"As of right now we do not have any plans for an executive lounge but that could change. We are still in our first year and a bit early to tell. Thank you for your interest in Conrad Chicago we hope to see you soon."
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Old Aug 1, 2006, 7:34 am
  #33  
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: JFK
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Posts: 1,075
Conrad renovations

"The hotel has under gone a transformation since November of last year
including the opening of The Terrace at Conrad complete with day beds
serving specialty beverages to accompany Chef Baasim's Global Tappas
menu.

The guest rooms have been updated to conform to Conrad standards from
compandium, lit vanity mirror, scale, Conrad Umbrella & Shopping Bag,
Shoe Shine basket, Molton Brown Bath Amenities, complimentary Wireless
High Speed Internet, cordless phone, Laptop Safes, etc.

40% of our rooms have also now the 42" Plasma Screen TV's and BOSE
Surround Sound System. The remainder will be complete by year's end."
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Old Aug 1, 2006, 9:35 am
  #34  
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Originally Posted by Karter
"The hotel has under gone a transformation since November of last year
including the opening of The Terrace at Conrad complete with day beds
serving specialty beverages to accompany Chef Baasim's Global Tappas
menu.

The guest rooms have been updated to conform to Conrad standards from
compandium, lit vanity mirror, scale, Conrad Umbrella & Shopping Bag,
Shoe Shine basket, Molton Brown Bath Amenities, complimentary Wireless
High Speed Internet, cordless phone, Laptop Safes, etc.

40% of our rooms have also now the 42" Plasma Screen TV's and BOSE
Surround Sound System. The remainder will be complete by year's end."
I was at the Conrad Chicago, July 22/23, I think it would be hard to "build" a long onto a Historical Landmark. In addition, the rooms as I reported in my tirp report do need some attention and they are taking them out of service in order to meet "conrad" standards. My first visit the Le Meridian brand of towels..linens etc was still in effect. The stay I noticed the "conrad" items in the room, although my suite didn't have the flat screen TVs...dang it!
KENNECTED is offline  
Old Aug 7, 2006, 12:14 am
  #35  
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: random hotels
Programs: 1K, Marriott PP
Posts: 212
I stayed here as a diamond on a reward stay this past weekend and was not impressed. We had booked a two bed room and the front desk agent mentioned that he had blocked us a newly remodeled room with a flat screen tv. The room we actually got certainly did not look remodeled- Old TV, chipped/dented furniture, and a door that scraped against the door frame so bad that you had to slam it to get it closed.

Location is good and we enjoyed the outdoor terrace for drinks but overall it still needs work- If this were an older Hilton I'd say it was fine but as a Conrad it falls short.
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Old Aug 7, 2006, 12:22 am
  #36  
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Originally Posted by mimitche
Old TV, chipped/dented furniture, and a door that scraped against the door frame so bad that you had to slam it to get it closed
Did it used to be a Doubletree Club?
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Old Aug 7, 2006, 1:19 pm
  #37  
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: random hotels
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Originally Posted by Points Scrounger
Did it used to be a Doubletree Club?
No, it used to be a Le Meridian.
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Old Aug 14, 2006, 11:53 am
  #38  
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
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DiamondRock Hospitality Co., a real estate investment company, said Friday it agreed to buy the Conrad Chicago Hotel for $117.5 million.

The 311-room hotel, located in Chicago's Magnificent Mile shopping district, was built in 2001 under a different name and is undergoing a $5 million upgrade.


http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/pro...811&ID=5942685
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Old Aug 14, 2006, 12:56 pm
  #39  
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Originally Posted by edbyu
DiamondRock Hospitality Co., a real estate investment company, said Friday it agreed to buy the Conrad Chicago Hotel for $117.5 million.

The 311-room hotel, located in Chicago's Magnificent Mile shopping district, was built in 2001 under a different name and is undergoing a $5 million upgrade.


http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/pro...811&ID=5942685

I hope this property stays a Conrad. I love the location and the service I get at this property.

The own the Marriott right accross the street.
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Old Aug 15, 2006, 4:01 am
  #40  
 
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Originally Posted by Cheap Elite
I hope this property stays a Conrad.
Probably this is part of Hilton's strategy of selling property and focusing on management. I'm guessing that Hilton bought the Le Meridien property just so they could get another Hilton property in downtown Chicago with the intention of selling the bricks as soon as they established their Conrad brand on it.
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Old Aug 23, 2006, 4:23 pm
  #41  
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
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Originally Posted by mimitche
I stayed here as a diamond on a reward stay this past weekend and was not impressed. We had booked a two bed room and the front desk agent mentioned that he had blocked us a newly remodeled room with a flat screen tv. The room we actually got certainly did not look remodeled- Old TV, chipped/dented furniture, and a door that scraped against the door frame so bad that you had to slam it to get it closed.

Location is good and we enjoyed the outdoor terrace for drinks but overall it still needs work- If this were an older Hilton I'd say it was fine but as a Conrad it falls short.
I'm staying at the Conrad now with my wife on a one night pay/two night award reservation and was upgraded to a very nice, modern executive suite (no flat screens). However, with the new amenities rules, I didn;t receive the usual comped continental breakfast for being a Diamond - I think the upgrade is the perk received and thus no free breakfast..rats!
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Old Aug 30, 2006, 1:31 pm
  #42  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Posts: 138
We had a wonderful stay at the Conrad Chicago this weekend. We were celebrating a special occassion and they took excellent care of us. I can confirm that the upgrade OR breakfast policy is enforced here.

We were given renovated rooms/suites and could not have been more happy with our treatment here. We would definitely return.
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Old Sep 18, 2006, 1:52 pm
  #43  
 
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Conrad Chicago

I just booked an October stay, any idea how Diamonds are being treated?
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Old Sep 19, 2006, 1:01 pm
  #44  
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
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My wife & I just spent 3 nights at the Conrad Chicago, Sept 14-17. I had booked the room back in June for a nightly rate of $185.

Checkin was effortless, they put us in room 1011, which is a corner room, very spacious. It was characterized as an upgrade at checkin when I asked. Nice view down the street, you could see the Lake at the far end. Bed linens, MB toiletries, robes, etc. were all very nice. This room did not have the new TV but WiFi was working well, no problems there. I didn't receive any coupons for breakfast at checkin, nor did I ask since we hadn't planned to eat at the hotel anyway.

A few little problems, all of which were resolved fairly easily. We sent some items down to the laundry service late Thursday night, chose the Express service (for return by 2pm) but when we got back to the room Friday at 5pm, nothing had come back. A call to housekeeping produced the missing items by 530pm and an offer to refund the express surcharge. I later pointed out to the manager (James, very helpful) that my complaint was not with the $$$ amount, but with the fact that there had obviously been no tracking of express items that had gone out, therefore no knowledge when an expected order hadn't returned on time, and finally no proactive notification to me. He agreed, refunded the whole laundry charge, and bought my wife & I a drink on the terrace later that evening, which was nice.

The cordless phone by the bed was DOA and was replaced. And the one-hour shoeshine turnaround required a call down to the valet the next morning to get my shoes back.

As many others have said, the location is excellent, and I like how discrete the property is, you don't have the zoo of a lobby the way the Marriott does. Access from the adjacent Nordstrom/mall is also similarly subtle, so no casual hangers-on that I noticed.

I had a rental car and used the self-park garage across the street. If you mention this to the front desk they will give you a discount card (good for $5/day I believe) but in order to use it you must have a physical ticket from the machine, rather than just inserting your credit card to gain entry to the garage.

All the staff we encountered were pleasant. The front desk staff were particularly good at calling out to me by name to say hello or goodbye whenever I walked by.

I've had some dreadful experiences at the Palmer House, and a range (from dreadful to quite good) at the Hilton/Michigan Ave, so this was certainly my best Hilton experience in Chicago so far. The day before arrival, the Hilton site was showing a daily rate of $545 for the 3 nights we were booked, so if they weren't fully booked, they must have been close. I would stay again at or around the rate I received, but if I were paying much more, I would expect little problems of the sort I described not to occur at all.

All in all, thumbs up, and I'd certainly stay there again.

twj
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Old Nov 6, 2006, 8:48 pm
  #45  
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Posts: 4,389
Hello all,

There are certainly some mixed comments here. I was wondering if anyone had an updated trip report for this property. I have a reward stay booked for 1/11-13, and after the wide range of comments posted here, I was considering paying for the (really) cheap rates at the Hilton Chicago instead. Of course, the location leaves much to be desired, but the rates are really cheap and it seems that they have a better hotel...based on the ratings here.

Any advice? Perhaps the Palmer House? They had a cool bar when I lived in Cook County.

Thanks!
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