TravelLawyer

@dcht we ended up having a great stay (no upgrade though despite diamond + virtuoso BUT they said they were sold out for 2 nights of our 3 night stay), but also snafu with our bill. Ours was slightly different issue - we had booked through our virtuoso agent, but they only gave us the diamond amenity ($30 for 2 people vs $60 for 2 people for breakfast), so we had to get it adjusted. I'll post more comprehensive review as time permits.

xenophile

Had a great experience here, stayed one night last month. But the headaches began after checkout. First off, it's a really nice property. Stayed using weekend night certificate from old Citi card. Upgraded to Deluxe King upon arrival as Diamond, asked about upgrade to a suite, was told they had one for $50. Great we'll take it. Informed desk clerk we were celebrating an anniversary, didn't want or expect any special treatment though, she had asked what brought us in. Room was awesome, great bed, bathrooms, fireplace is a great touch. Lobby cafe Petit Margeaux was excellent, served excellent croissants and coffees.

Asked for a late checkout, was granted 1 PM. Came back from some shopping at 12:45 and there's a bottle of champagne on ice. Wat?!? We lol, toss the champagne in our suitcase and check out.

Fast forward a few days and there's an unexpected $75 charge on my CC, call the hotel and ask for accounting, get transfered to "hotel accounting" in what I figure out is some central facility. The charges in question are for "private bar." We didn't eat or drink anything from the minibar, but did use it to keep our own champagne cold. Accounting rep promises to contact hotel and resolve issue within 24-48 hours. Six days pass and I hear nothing. Call Diamond Desk, and helpful CSR contacts accounting. No record of previous inquiry/call. Okay, let's start over. Just frustrating to spend so much time on the phone over the hotel's error. Anyway, I have several more weekend night certificates and I'd certainly stay here again despite the headache, as others have said it's a great property in a good location. Maybe I could have done something proactive to avoid this.

babillin

Anyone know if this fell through the cracks and triggers the Aspire credit?

xenophile

What do you mean triggers Aspire?

I just stayed here again and once again billing shenanigans!! Great stay like last time, they even upgraded me to Junior Suite for free which is nice. Deluxe Suite last time cost me $50. I just checked my CC statement and they failed to take off charges from Cafe Margeaux in accordance with the policy to give Diamonds $30 in free restaurant/cafe credit. I called Diamond Desk and they contacted hotel and had them credit me.

What's weird is that last time the $30 covered charges at Cafe Margeaux including the tip which was under $30 threshold all together. This time hotel is only covering cafe charges plus tax, not the tip. Even though the grand total is once again under $30.

This place is funny like that, don't know what to say. Will certainly review folio with front desk before checking out next time.

babillin

I mean the $250 resort credit.

AlexB

Am at the property now. Arrived at 3:00 PM, was told no rooms were available of any type. They promised to text me when a room became available, which ended up being at 5:15 PM. Asked for a late checkout, was told 1:00 PM was as late as they could go for a Diamond.

While the building is lovely, a property of this class and this level of dollars/points needs to try a little harder.

arlflyer

Yep, that's the WA Chicago I know from my stays over the past 5+ years. They think of Diamonds as problem customers; absolute lowest on the totem pole. Their focus is more on big $ spenders and event parties. If it weren't for the WA brand name bringing them a ton of business, they'd probably have deflagged years ago.

AJC724

Stayed here for a one night staycation as a diamond using an expiring certificate and had a similar experience to the others mentioned. Room was not ready at check-in. Went to Margeux for a cocktail and oyster happy hour while we waited and the front desk proactively comped the full cost.

Hotel was at capacity, so the front desk agent stated they were unable to provide an upgrade.

After check out a $30 room bar charge appeared on the credit card, which was quickly resolved with a phone call, but a bit frustrating and certainly in line with some of the other noted experiences.

janwillem

sorry if this has been covered before: I see in the app, for my next week's stay, that the hotel has a $15 daily F&B benefit for Diamond members. Does this stack with FHR/Centurion F&B benefit?

michaelr

How does the hotel handle the Diamond benefits with 2 adults in the room? It is $15 per night per room or $15 per night per person per room, i.e. $15 vs $30 a night when two people stay?

MS02113

$15 per person, per night, for up to two guests.

ben1233

Just will add....the daily F&B credit is Not valid on room service.
Theyre also now serving free coffee in the lobby from 6am to 9am, or I believe they’ll deliver a nespresso to your room free of charge.

TravelLawyer

I just stayed here for one night using a Hilton Aspire free night certificate. This is only the second hotel I've stayed in since January 2020 (the other being the Langham Chicago). We have a couple high risk factors for covid, so we have been very reluctant to go anywhere. But given the Hilton's CleanStay protocols and the Waldorf being one of our favorite properties in Chicago, we were happy to book a room for a special occasion. We had an early afternoon pool reservation so we requested an early check in as Hilton diamond. Due to schedules and traffic, we were a bit late to the hotel, but the app wouldn't let us check in because it wasn't the official check in time. The line to check in was 5-6 groups deep and a bit slow moving. About 15 minutes in line, and we were finally checked in.

ROOM
We were upgraded as diamond from a deluxe room to a junior suite. However, we first noticed an issue with the CleanStay sticker. It wasn't a new sticker - half of it was ripped off and the seal was definitely broken. Now we weren't sure if the room had been cleaned. But since we were late to the pool reservation, we headed to the pool and called the front desk. They sent housekeeping over to make sure the room was clean (not sure what that meant), but now there was a new sticker on the door. The room itself looked the same. One thing that is vastly different from the Langham and our previous stays is that the hotel room is barren. No coffee maker or coffee, no tea, no cups, no remote for bathroom mirror tv (did these get removed?), no special occasion amenity (birthday), no kids amenity, no room service (only offered on weekends), there was nothing - not even a note. It was literally just a room.

DINING
Also, let me reiterate...there was no room service and the main restaurant was closed. No one bothered to let us know this at any point of our reservations. We booked through their phone number for the free cert, and was not informed. No emails or websites mentioned that room service or the restaurant is only open on weekends. We had wanted a worry free stay and ended up scrambling to order door dash for dinner and breakfast. We had $30 diamond breakfast amenity that we used for coffee and pastries at the cafe, but they don't have a hot breakfast.

POOL
You have to make reservations for the pool because of covid capacity restrictions. However, they no longer provide floaties or toys for the pool (previously they had kickboards, pool noodles, etc.) for us to use. Also, when you check in for the pool is when they hand you towels. There are no towels in the pool area. Unfortunately for us, the thermostat was broken and the water was freezing. We asked the spa attendants if they could fix it but they said it was reported to engineering half an hour prior. It never got fixed during out pool time, and they were completely booked the other times, so we were SOL.

I called and spoke with the manager on duty. He explained that they are still working through covid related issues and they hope to slowly get back to full service soon. However, we never got the impression that it wasn't at full service. The website is vague about limited services and the only warning was that the fireplaces were not on. In comparison, the Langham sent us an email after booking describing exactly what services are open/closed, changed hours, changed capacity, etc and to reach out if there were questions. They did end up bringing us a kids' tent to use in the room, a stuffed bear and a little chocolate torte for the birthday.

CLEANSTAY:
So I don't actually know how clean the room actually was since the sticker seal was broken. I can only assume that a pet stayed in the room recently or in an adjacent room. My son and I are allergic to certain pets (some breeds of dogs). A few hours into the stay in the room and we were sneezing and coughing. We wear our KF94 masks everywhere, so I am 99% certain we didn't catch anything. We took allergy meds, drank water like it was going out of style, and was better after we left the hotel the next day.

jbandy10

My wife and I will be spending a weekend in Chicago in early December to see a show in the theatre district and maybe see a museum or two. We've been to Chicago before. Stayed at the Palmer House (awful room).

Is this property worth the 95K per night for 2 nights? Are points better spent at the Conrad (80K) or one of the many properties around 50K. Reading through this thread, it seems the Waldorf is less than amazing and stingy with Diamonds. I'm also considering a Hyatt as an alternative.

ben1233

If the point of your trip is to do a show and museums, you might be better off at one of the hotels closer to the river. There’s theWit, which has always been decent (but may be showing its age by now), the LondonHouse and then a newer HGI, too. All of these will be walkable to the theater district and let’s say the Museum of Art, the Shedd and Natural History Museum if you don’t mind a hike. But if this is December, walking at all might not be something you want to attempt!

I don’t quite get all the non-love for the WA. I stay there every single time I’m in Chicago. I don’t even give it a second thought. Staying there is an occasion itself. Pre-covid, it consistently knocked my socks off. I’m always able to get an upgrade, and when I have to pay, it’s usually a very reasonable upcharge. During covid, some of the amenities have gone to the bare side, but by December hopefully it’s back to full operations. Plus, a $20 rosé happy hour that can’t be beat. I do not think the Conrad is worth the 15k point savings per night. I hate to sound like a snob, but the place is an eyesore. Hard to look at on the inside.