Well that's just it. YOU were unlucky. Most of the rest of us have had fine stays at this hotel.

Count me as another who had a great stay (review several months past in this thread).

It's getting to the point where it sounds like some sort of PERSONAL vendetta for you. It's just a hotel.

Yep, that was my experience. and based on that I do not recommend the property.


Personal vendetta? No.

westin river north is far superior than W LS in terms of infrastructure and service. many rooms have a great river view. the W is fun, and the lake view is beautiful but the rooms are just a lot nicer at the westin.

in addition, the platinum perks at at the westin, upgrade, lounge, club level free shoe shine, news papers... just kills the W.

Never Again!
 

I love the W brand, and have had good experiences at many of them, but the W Lakeshore will never see me again.

My last stay, I came back after dinner to find the hotel lobby mobbed and the entry doors completely blocked with a line outside and around the corner of people waiting to get into the bar/club/whatever on the roof.

It took me twenty minutes to get to the elevators to get up to my room. :td:

The Westin River North is a much more sedate option.

reminds me of one saturday last summer, when I was leaving the hotel in the morning, the lobby was packed with groups of gorgeous young ladies :D. I think there's was a casting call.

I was a click away from booking this property for next week. I'm glad I checked here first :)

Stay on Monday, April 12th
 

Had a nice stay at W Lakeshore. When I lived in the city in early to mid 90s this was a Days Inn Hotel a buddy of mine stayed at.

I was upgraded to a suite on the 27th Floor, facing the Lake and it was very nice. I will say, if you are looking for a quiet experience, this may not be it. To me, it just seems like a hotel for younger, hipper people(which I used to be...but probably not any more). I did manage to sneak up to the Rande Gerber Bark up on 33rd Floor and it was very dark and seemed very cool but for me...just a tad much.

That said, I did have a chance to use the Acura Service for dinner and if you like to run, the path on Lake Michigan is right across Lake Shore Drive and perfect opportunity to go eihter North or South and see how amazing the city was.

Was also offered a nice gift of a bottle of red wine and cheese after getting to the room. Very nice.

I would think about this if you want to have a young, hip experience. To me, Westin is perfect, but W is just a little more fun and exciting.

TAKE CARE and travel safely. BHawk.

Stayed at the W Lakeshore over Easter weekend. As always treated very well by the front desk and the concierge desk. One of my favorite Starwood hotels in Chicago. Booked a Marvelous Suite and received my first WOW Suite upgrade. Beyond the T&Cs of the program but the FDA stated hey it's empty I'll go ahead and put you in it. Thanks W Lakeshore!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/bu...3&ref=business

"The new hotel king [former Starwood CEO Barry Sternlicht] became known for his obsession with details. He says that the “one time” he totally lost it was when he arrived at the W Hotel on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago and discovered that the foliage at the front door was dead. “I actually went over to the Smith & Hawken store and bought furniture and plants for them,” he says. “I didn’t want to wait 18 months.”

Fairly good stay
 

I had the opportunity to stay at the W Chicago back on April 22nd for one night, for business purposes. At check-in, the service was fast and I requested a higher room floor facing the lake and this was honored. Was given a room on the 22nd floor, spectacular views of Lake Michigan (my first time in Chicago, and it's hard to believe that was actually a lake as it resembles an ocean/sea). The room had actually just been prepared, and it was very clean. I tend to pay close attention in detail to little things, but the room was in great shape and all furniture in good condition.

http://i45.tinypic.com/348srx1.jpg
(Room on 22nd floor, comfortable beds and the room was in good condition. Yes, I know there are better W properties out there but this was still very good, especially for just one night)

http://i46.tinypic.com/2s10sjp.jpg
(View from the 22nd floor)

I had a couple meetings scheduled and went back and forth between the hotel and meeting location. Upon exiting the hotel for my second meeting, one of the valet people asked me to try out the Acura experience rather than taking a taxi, and I let him know that I would do that when I head off to Martini Park later that evening. And it was a great suggestion that I did not even think of despite the fact that I have stayed at W's before. I had the opportunity to try the Acura experience and it was something I enjoyed despite the fact that it was not a long drive or anything, just a quick hop to my closeby destination in a very nice car. When I returned to the hotel later that night, I did go up to Whiskey Sky on the 33rd floor for a little bit. Decent crowd, service was nothing spectacular but nothing to complain about either. Headed back to my room around 1.30 AM to call it a night, and slept like a baby on the comfortable beds.

The next day, I had a meeting in the morning before needing to check out at 2 PM (I had late check-out confirmed), and the only small issue I had was that I was charged three times for internet usage after taking a look at my folio. I called the front-desk and they corrected that immediately without any issues and that was a fairly pleasant experience. I have had the unfortunate experience of being charged twice for internet usage at another hotel chain, and getting it taken off my bill was a hassle. However, this was not the case with the Lakeshore staff and I was pleased with the promptness and professionalism displayed ("Mr. xxxxxx, I apologize for the error. I just removed the extra charge, and the billed amount will be $xxx.xx. Would you like me to e-mail you a copy of the updated folio?"). Went down to the front desk, had a very speedy check-out and off I went to Midway to catch my flight back to Orlando.

One more thing, I had the chance to stop by the W store shortly before checking out, the one person working there was very nice, very professional, and these are the little things that just add on to an overall positive experience. I thought the customer service was fairly good, the rooms were good (W San Francisco is better), and I had a pleasant stay. I understand people will have bad experiences here and there, but even with the small issue of having an incorrect bill...an issue that was corrected very quickly, this was a good stay. One thing I often find people saying is that W's are not for everyone, they cater to a younger crowd that wants to have fun. The guests that were staying at this hotel the night I was there was very diverse, ranging from families, couples, young individuals, some older people as well and even though there was a club at the top level...noise was not a concern for me at all as I slept very well. I recommend staying at this property the next time anyone is visiting Chicago, the location itself I feel is very good with everything you need being within walking distance or a short taxi ride away. Thank you W Lakeshore.

Extreme Wow
 

Does anyone have pictures of the Extreme Wow, or know if it also has a city view besides the lake?

Booked a room here on July 4th for my brother and parents while my husband and I stayed at The Wit. The only reason I booked it is because it is the hotel closest to Navy Pier and my dad can't walk very far. I had read about the shutters in the bathroom and knew my mother would complain when she saw them but oh well. My brother asked for a room near the elevator for my dad. The regular room wasn't ready so instead they were upgraded to one of the rooms in the 20s with a view of the lake. My mother was ecstatic with the view and therefore complained a little less about the shutters. It looked exactly like what stylo4444 posted.

There were two downsides to this stay. One was that none of the twenty-something staff downstairs could tell us if the fireworks would be visible from the lake view rooms or from the outside of the hotel. They kept telling everyone to go to Navy Pier. Turns out we could see the fireworks from the room and from the sidewalk out front but Chicago's fireworks pale in comparison to other cities so we won't be back for that next year. The other issue was that my friends and I came here to eat and have some drinks here while waiting for the fireworks and to meet up with my family. The maitre d' told our party of 5 that we needed a reservation well in advance but we were welcome to sit at the bar or in the lobby. She also told us to expect a wait to be served because there were only two servers and the place was quite full. We found comfy seats so I went to the bar and ordered and we served ourselves which was fine. The issue was that we sat and drank in the lobby for almost 2 hours and during that time, the middle area restaurant was pretty much empty. It's as if she had been waiting and waiting for some party of 40 who never showed up. We probably would've spent more if we had been seated at the restaurant so their loss.

I've been to the rooftop bar here a few years ago and the rooftop lounge at The Wit is a much better space and scene.

I've stayed in many of the hotels in downtown Chicago and I don't think I'll stay here again unless my mom wants the view.

I stayed here 3 weeks ago. I was extremely happy about being upgraded to a Extreme Wow suite (for the whole weekend, Rm 3106 *i think). It's not as Extreme as others I've seen, but it was a good size.

Staff was superb, room was in great condition. No complaints what so ever

Insiders Robert and Ramon took care of all my reqeusts...

Even the Acuras were available for a few trips. My past experiences here have never been so good with the availability

I still think this is solid W property