Homewood Suites by Hilton Chicago-Downtown {US-IL}

Tried and failed to rotate

Just finished a 3-night stay here with our kids (Memorial Day weekend).

(1) Rates for this hotel were shockingly low - we paid $78/nt. I was watching rates closely in the 3 weeks leading up to the stay. While there were good weekend rates all over Chicago for the holiday weekend, this hotel was a solid $40/nt below everything else. (I think Palmer House and the nearby HGI were next-cheapest.)

(2) Shockingly low rates attract a different clientele than your typical Hilton stay. Just something to be aware of.

(3) I actually phoned the hotel the day prior to ask a question about the rooms. The FDC specifically said "Don't OLCI yet - if you do, we cannot upgrade you. You're Diamond, we'll move you to a Premium Suite tomorrow, then you can OLCI." I thought it was refreshing for an FDC to tell me directly what I always suspected: OLCI kills your upgrade chance. Sure enough, at 10AM the morning of my stay, I rechecked and saw my reservation had been changed to Premium Suite.

(4) That said, a Premium Suite is only *slightly* larger than a regular suite. It's not a huge upgrade, but with 4 people in the room every square foot is appreciated. The Premium Suite also includes a small snack tray and upgraded coffee. It's not an upgrade I'd personally pay for, but if you like those Keurig machines, it might be worth it.

(5) There's also a "City View" option which, frankly, I can't figure out. The hotel is on Grand, with no possible views of the river or lake. All 4 directions face other buildings, with most rooms facing north or south. North, you get a view of the Hancock Tower and lots of other buildings. South, you get a view of the Wrigley Building and lots of other buildings. My Premium Suite OLCI had options on both sides of the building. IMHO, neither is worth anything extra over the other. Also, I had the "Corner Room" upgrade on a prior stay. Nice to have the extra lighting, but room size is essentially the same as other suites.

(6) Elevators at this hotel can be very slow. Only 2 elevators for the whole building. We picked a room on the top floor (19). On the way down, the elevator would often by full by floor 15 or so. People on the middle floors probably walked a lot of stairs. At least with 19, you always have an empty elevator. I would definitely select the top floor - or maybe 17-18 - if you can get it. Otherwise, I'd probably pick the 7th floor. (The lobby is on 6.)

(7) Room itself was very nice. Wifi, shower, and A/C performed well. No need for "VIP mode" to get the room cool. Lots of power outlets wherever you need them.

(8) Breakfast area was kind of a cluster as one would expect on a holiday weekend with crazy cheap rates. But the staff was working hard to keep stuff restocked. I often feel like these breakfast areas weren't designed with maximum flow of people through the area in mind, but I'll certainly give credit to the staff for doing the best they could. Offerings themselves were pretty brand-standard...if you're at a $78/nt. Homewood, you know you're not getting caviar.

(9) Small indoor pool that was about 4 feet deep. No hot tub. Small fitness area. All of this on the 19th floor.

Overall, good place for a family trip. Hordes. Of. Kids. If your kids are noisy and chaotic, they'll fit right in here. For a solo trip or one with spouse, I'd *probably* look elsewhere...didn't have to go far up the chain price-wise to get to some HGI's and full-service Hiltons.

They supposedly did a "wifi upgrade" after June 5. Anyone test it out yet?

I didn't speed-test it when I was there just prior to June 5th, but I didn't have any troubles with the signal then, nor did I notice any painfully slow speeds.

If they upgraded it, that's awesome...but at least it wasn't coming from an awful place to begin with.

Thanks.... There had been quite a few mentions about speed on TA, but good to know, as noted in your review, you did not have a problem and it's probably even faster now.

I should provide the disclaimer: I didn't actually try to download anything bandwidth-intensive. I checked emails/weather, summoned Lyfts, checked in for flights, etc.

Someone trying to stream a movie might have a totally different opinion than I do!

It's cool. Thanks!

Any stays here recently? TA is showing some horrible reviews lately, including bed bugs. I know people tend to have a tendency to exaggerate... so just checking in to see if this property is acceptable for a 4 night leisure stay with the wife. We prefer a bit of space and a little kitchenette - and this property ticks those boxes. However, we like quiet, and this property seems to have absurdly thin walls.

I stayed in mid January and was fine still friendly staff and rooms were all fine and clean. Only comment I would make is that in the rooms where the carpet joins the wooden floor in the kitchen / living area it was starting to fray slightly - apart from that all fine.
Remember there are 2 Homewoods downtown - this one is at 40 Grand - the other is just off the mag mile on Huron.