Had a weekend stay here to burn a few Cat 4 certs. Overall I'm unsure how I feel ... there was good and bad but on net I probably wouldn't return, given the large number of decent options in Chicago.
The good
I hesitate to even mention, because I am the person who would read this and get my hopes up for something that was probably a very unlikely event, but I received an upgrade to a Penthouse suite, which was quite nice and I think was probably something of an op-up as the hotel was sold out for the weekend.
I liked the location a lot, right in the heart of the upscale Gold Coast neighborhood and surrounded by bustling restaurants. Mag Mile is only a short walk away, but it felt like a more locals vibe.
Globalist breakfast is pretty good, though I am still not sure of all the parameters. It seemed you could order pretty much as much as you like from the a la carte menu (the waitress encouraged us to order another coffee to go before we closed the bill), and you could order from room service, which is always a nice option to have. The website suggests the breakfast menu is served until 11am, but they seemed to move over to the brunch menu at 9am, which only had about half as many breakfast options. On a couple of days we ordered between 9 and 11, from the breakfast section only, and the charges were removed from the bill, but unclear whether we could have ordered lunch options from the brunch menu, or after 11 (brunch runs until 3) under the Globalist offering.
The bad
Not to revisit the coffee machine debate of a few pages ago, especially because there *was* a Nespresso machine (with weird unlabeled capsules) in the penthouse suite, but there is likewise no self-service ice at this property. I kind of agree with the general spirit of the coffee machine complaint that, while 5-star hotels can sometimes get away with moves like that as a part of a "we will take care of everything for you" approach, at this definitely-not-5-star hotel it was mostly just annoying to have to wait and tip.
The gym is IMO pretty lame for a hotel of this size and price point. Okay for cardio with the usual set of machines, including a couple of Peletons, but weight equipment consisted only of dumbbells, two benches, and a simple cable crossover machine with only basic handle attachments.
I know it's lowered-expectations time in the travel industry in general but there was a general sense of things going off the rails more so than I've encountered at other hotels lately ... one elevator of two was out of service during our stay, making for some long waits ... both of the phone handsets in our room didn't work (ordered room service by speakerphone) ... room service breakfast took 2 hours to be delivered one day, and getting through to someone to take an order was ridiculously difficult.
And not to be ungrateful but if I had paid the asking ~$2k/night rates for the penthouse suite, I would be pretty unimpressed. It was nice for an upgrade, but ultimately not all that different in size or amenities from what you might expect in a standard suite, just in a bi-level layout with a living room area and half bath downstairs, and a bed and full bath upstairs. The two levels were open to each other so it didn't even offer the benefit of two separate rooms as you would get in a normal suite. (It is common for hotels to have a few suite categories that are priced at a reasonable premium and then a few top categories with prohibitive pricing, but in such cases those top suites usually have more to show for it, in size if nothing else.)