Zone1

I stayed here four nights for a corporate event this past week. The rooms are exceptionally small, and I had issues with the in-room wireless. The catered food for our event was awesome and much better than the Drake (where we had our event last year). It seemed like half of the odd rooms on our floor were very small based on the floor plan--we got one of these. The even rooms on the floor looked larger than the odd rooms, but YMMV. The Westin River North and the Sheraton will remain my go to hotels when staying in the city if I can't secure a suite at booking.

KENNECTED

small? What do you consider small by comparison. I stay here quite frequently and I've never been in a "small" room.

Zone1

Other than the Wonderful room at the W City Center, it was easily the smallest room out of the close to dozen hotels I've stayed at in the city.

KENNECTED

Ah, I see that you're Gold Elite. So maybe you haven't been in a larger room. I've never been in anything other than a suite at this property so hear you think the rooms are small is surprising to me.

UA-NYC

Between this and the Westin River North, with all your suite upgrades I swear you stay at different Chicago properties than the rest of us

KENNECTED

LOL. Hey I haven't been upgraded at the W Lakeshore!

CLEguy

It looks like this property is undergoing renovations. Does anyone know when they'll be complete?

MSPeconomist

Again? They ripped the hotel apart totally in about 2000 to renovate. I had the misfortune to stay there for a meeting during the mess.

CLEguy

So it seems.

KENNECTED

We'll I'm happy that there will now be an Executive Lounge! Just trying to figure out where on the 14 floor this will be?

blort

It's on the southwest corner of the 14th floor at the far end of the corridor.

If I recall correctly, the opening hours are 6am-10pm, with breakfast 6am-8am and evening hors d'oeuvre 6pm-8pm. There were about a dozen tables with chairs.

I stopped by at 6pm one night. There were mini pizzas and egg rolls; both were terrible. There was coffee on a counter, soft drinks in a mini fridge, and no alcohol. The food service area is tiny so I cannot imagine they provide many options in the way of breakfast.

gooselee

Staying here now. Not the nicest Westin I've ever been in for sure, but quite adequate for a business trip. Upgraded as a Plat to what I assume is a Jr. Suite (sitting area with couch/coffee table/armchair, but still one very big room) for the week. I would certainly stay here again, especially if it's like this week where it was substantially cheaper than Westin River North.

I was actually mildly impressed with the hors d'oeuvres and breakfast spread. Hors d'oevres included some prosciutto & salami, cheese selection, crackers, olives, nuts, fruit, as well as the mini pizzas and egg rolls. Agree that the pizzas and egg rolls weren't that great, but the cold foods were just fine for a light snack before dinner. Alcohol was available from the attentive lounge attendant and was charged to your room. Unlike some other Westins, the lounge is accessible via keycard 24 hours - useful for a late night soda/tea/water.

Breakfast included oatmeal, cereals, quite a lot of fruit, hard boiled eggs, bagels & lox, and some breads/pastries. Multiple juice options and of course coffee/tea. Again, a much better spread than others in the brand. As a nice touch, they also had the WSJ and USA Today on each table in the morning, vs. just stacks of them at the door.

AAerSTL

Just got here and wow. They don't have CNBC (in a major U.S. city at a hotel catering to business travelers) but do have Bloomberg & Fox Business with spotty picture quality. Supposed Fox would have been useful to watch the debate last week but seriously no CNBC is a outrageous. Wifi service is spotty, good thing I have a mobile hotspot. Newly "renovated" rooms are shoebox size, and hotel still has a very old feeling to it. Won't be returning in the future.

Antonio8069

There are two very weird things about this property:
- the front of the hotel & the best views are of the city - not the lake;
- the Westin Workout is tiny, and has no weight machines, no Nautilus machines!

What is up with that?

KENNECTED

Not sure what you're getting at, but consider the Drake and other office buildings are North of the hotel, how could all rooms have a lake view? Some corner rooms on the upper floors do have lake views.

The Westin Workout is small, comparatively to say the Westin Peachtree or Bonaventure, but they did previously have machines.