MikeFly

At the last minute, my family (wife and 2 kids) decided that we wanted to go to Chicago for Easter. One major factor in deciding on the property was that we wanted to eat at NoMis' and felt that the kids had reached an age where we could safely leave them in the hotel room while we were dining.

I first called central reservations and asked about upgrading using points to a suite. They transferred me to the "suite desk". The desk told me it was not possible as there are very limited suites at the Park Hyatt and none were available for upgrade.

I was about to give up and decided to call the property directly to see what I could arrange. The person who handled my call was the reservations manager and she was the beginning of a perfect stay at the Park Hyatt Chicago. She did say that they could not guarantee a suite 5 days out. She did offer to book a king room for my wife and me with an adjoining double room for the kids and she would personally keep an eye out for a suite.

Upon our arrival on Saturday, we were greeted immediately at the door and our luggage was unloaded.

Check-in was efficient and made very pleasant by the announcement that they had upgraded us to a Park Suite with an extra adjoining double bedroom! So now we had a corner suite with a dining area, living area, king bedroom, double bedroom and 2 1/2 baths - perfect for a family of 4!!

Later in the afternoon we callenged the concierge to find us an Easter Brunch the next day. Much to my surprise they were able to offer us three choices that met our criteria. Unfortunately, we chose the wrong one! Still the staff was excellent and even had the menus from the choices delivered to our room to help us make a decision.

Dinner at NoMis' was exactly like Zagats predicted it would be like. We had a slight problem with our table being in the wrong place for the waitstaff while they were working the tables next to us. I mentioned it to the Maitre D' on the way out as something that he should be aware of for future guests.

My wife and I stopped for a nightcap at the bar. About an hour later we headed back to our room and were most pleasantly surprised to see a very nice bottle of champagne waiting on the table. Included was a card from the Maitre D' apologizing for the incident. Totally unexpected but definitely a class act.

This stay report is getting longer than I intended. Let me just say that I am a very particular traveler, but this hotel was excellent in every way and the staff we encountered up to the time the doorman bid us farewell by name were all stars.

Ok I do have one complaint - housekeeping needed to replace the batteries on the scales in the bathrooms - wait after all the eating and drinking that weekend that was blessing in disguise

If anyone has any specific questions feel free to e-mail me.

mauld

Did your suite have a lake view? As a Diamond, whenever I've stayed there I've always requested a 'view of the lake and an upper floor'. I've been told many times that none of the suites have lake views and all are on lower floors!, so have been accomodated with regular (abit large) rooms with view of the lake.

MikeFly

Mauld,

Our room numbers were 601 and 602. Which is the floor immediately below the restaurant. We could see a sliver of the lake above the museum of modern art. Great view of the Water Tower from 602 and then a view of the side street (the one with the front entrance) from the actual Park Suite.

auh2o

Same experience. The one time I did "complain" until I got a suite I wish I did not. They did warn me that most suites were smoking so it was my punsihment to live with the smell. Glad it worked out for MikeFly though!

briansilverstein

The hotel and rooms are modern and beautiful. They also have a nice gym with a swimming pool. Great location. The service is just average - IMO really brings the place down. My wife was pregnant and I ordered room service - took them 95 min. to bring some pasta.

ar_elite

While reading reviews of the Park Hyatt Chicago on http://www.hotelreview.de.vu/, I noticed the poorer review stating “I was given room #1407, a double bedded room with views of the Water Tower and Lake Michigan beyond. This room only had a shower and no bathtub. The room that I was given was one of the smallest in the hotel but was decorated in a modern upscale hotel way. “How would I go about making sure that I don’t get stuck with the smallest room in the house? I’m platinum, staying in November on an FFN. This is a romantic get away, and not having a tub would really be disappointing! Any suggestions? 1-800-checkin? Front desk request? Thank you in advance!
ANDY

ar_elite

Don't stay in room #1407, enjoy the advice, share it with your friends... Now that you've fininshed your rant would you have any useful information for me? lol, outside of room 1407 of course!

Tummy

I would be sure to check in early, but not too early, so that you are not stuck in a crappy room. My guess is that they preassign the best rooms to Diamonds and high paying customers. Then start to give out the remaining rooms. The crappy rooms are given to the last people to check in at night.

Smile. Be friendly. use 1-800 check in.

I read that the suites there don't have very nice views and are on lower floors. Not sure if that is a concern.

bsdstone

I can offer you some advice and I won't criticize your grammar or spelling, as mine is usually pretty bad to! :-)
The best thing to do is call the day before. My wife and I stay here for many of our special occasions (anniversaries, bdays, etc.) and have only paid for a room once....usually it's points or FFN. The staff here is great and very friendly and accomodating. Let them know what is important to you....for example, we generally would take a room with a tub that opens up to the bedroom before a preferred view, that's just our preference. As for the suites being on low floors, there is a good reason for that....the hotel is all on low floors! The rest of the building is private residences, that enter separately.
If you are there for a romantic weekend, and really want to impress her, call ahead and reserve the "house" car. It is a free service they provide to their guests and showing up at your restaurant or club in a chauffer driven S430 Mercedes is usually a nice touch....they have been having trouble with the Mercedes recently and you may get "stuck" showing up in a Caddy, but it's still a nice touch. Just make sure to take care of the driver with a 10 or 20, and if they have a slower night, they'll often come pick you up....if you couldn't tell, I LOVE this hotel!

Feel free to ask more questions, I'm happy to answer....long and short, call ahead a few days and explain your situation, and they will be glad to help you out!

saimike

i was a lowly plat when i got a ffn room in park hyatt chicago this past winter. i was given a very nice room facing water tower/lake mich. there was a huge bath tub as well as shower stall and even a dvd player in the room. it was possibly the best room i've ever been in.

this leads me to believe that if they hv availability and if u ask nicely, u'll get what u want

Calvin

A very good and thorough review of this fabulous property...

http://www.epinions.com/content_106485747332

Calvin

The hotel occupies the first 18 floors of the Park Tower building. The upper levels are private residences. There are 14 rooms on each floor. Rooms ending with 01-08 face East and are labeled as Water Tower/Lake view rooms. Rooms ending with 09-14 face West and labeled as City view rooms. Room 07 is a room with 2 double beds. Adjoining rooms are rooms 07 and 08. Note that room 07 does not have the magnificent bathtub that is talked about in other threads, however is still just as spacious as the King rooms.

The Water Tower/Lake view rooms definitely have the better views. Not only that, you're looking down on Michigan Ave and can see the hustle/bustle of the street. The only caveat is that the shades/drapes don't shut out all the light, so if you're a light sleeper you may be woken up early. My 2 young kids woke up early (6:30a which is 4:30a PST!) as they couldn't sleep in with the morning sun coming through.

Regardless of what room you're in, anyone staying at this property is in for a treat!

bsdstone

I had the same comment after my first stay here about the sun light, and the room service guy showed me there is actually a "blackout mat" behind the shades that covers the entire window and keeps the room totally black!

DrivingRain

I had a quick stay here recently, so here is a quick report...

Park Hyatt's tend to ride on the cusp of being luxury hotels. Tokyo? Yes. Stanhope-NYC? No. Chicago? I say yes, and I think most agree in this forum.

The biggest disappointment is the lobby. It doesnt rival a few others in town. It is cramped and not very welcoming. An early check-in was a bt hectic. The attendant was not familiar with FHR and I wasnt sure if I was getting what I was entitled to. I was "upgraded" from the lowest category to a room facing Michigan Ave. on a lower floor. As a Hyatt top-tier member via Centurion I had no idea what I was entitled to as far as upgrades. If there is a Club there I wasnt told about it. I'm not sure if they gave me the right upgrade or not. Does anybody know?

I arrived in my room to find it met my expectations. A nice sized king bed with nice linens and modern decor including a glass desk, a dentist-style chair and ottoman, and a bench that ran the length of the window. The bathroom was large with double sinks, small flat screen TV, a seperate deep soak tub, seperate shower, and commode room. A nice touch in the bathroom was a door that led to the back of the hallway closet. It provided easy access to hanging clothes. The shared bathroom/bedroom wall had a large cut out such that the wall could be opened to peer into the bathroom.

Upon returning from meetings I was immediately asked by the doorman to join other guests in a lobby level cocktail hour. Cheeses, sushi, and other nibbles were available via waiters or sef-serve and it was all complimentary.

After the cocktail hour I met and old friend (and now business associate) for dinner at NiMo. We had the chef's tasting menu and were not disappointed. The highlight was the venison in a rich chocolate based sauce. The wine pairings were innovaitve and well matched. I have no complaints about the service either. Overall it was a very good meal.

In every measurable way except the lobby, the Park-Hyatt proved superior to the RC (which is an FS) across the street (see RC/FS Chicago report here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...hlight=chicago). The mid/high category suite I had at the RC/FS earlier in the year had lower-end furniture, no seperate shower, cheaper finishings in the bathroom, etc. The meal in the highly acclaimed Dining Room did not measure up vs. that of the PH's NiMo. Although my sampling of the two hotels is not very large, I clearly give the edge to the PH in this case. Though certainly not one of my most memorable hotel experiences, the PH might be called upon again because it offers bona-fide luxury with rates nearly 25% less than its competitors.

bsdstone

My wife and I stay here quite often for weekends in Chicago...despite one bad experience at NOMI (not Nimo :-)), we have been back over a dozen times...we tend to like the more modern/contemporary hotels vs. the FS or the Ritz (FS hotel)...both seem a little worn, tired, and stuffy. To give you an idea of the level of service we get....of all those dozen stays only one night has been paid for, the rest have been on FFN's or points, and we still get upgrades, nice wine for diamond amenities, and take the private car service to all of our dinners, parties, etc. When we had our bad experience at Nomi, I wrote a letter to the general manager, and he not only comped me a room for a return stay (we didn't pay for the original night), he also comped us dinner for two at Nomi....I offered to pay for the wine (we got one of the cheaper bottles at $62), and they said it was all on the house...we did leave quite a healthy tip for the server!
All in all, I really like this hotel, the decor, the location, and the service....