Chicago Area Hotels 2007 on [Master Thread]
 

FYI - the City Center W is right in the loop - a couple blocks from the Federal Reserve. Everything shuts down by 5-6pm at night. Unless you have business down there, try and stay elsewhere.

My preferred properties.
1. Westin River North - great location, service, rooms, upgrades (in my experience anyhow). I have NEVER had a bad stay here - ever.
2. Sheraton H&T - rooms are OK, upgrades are pretty good (IME), Good location.
3. Westin Michigan Ave - if you are shopping/dining - this is a great place to be. The rooms might be a little smaller, but the location is key for walking to shops/restaurants. Have a drink atop the Hancock Building - get a spot on the glass if you can.
4. I am not a fan of the W Lakeshore. I guess that I am not 'trendy' enough to think that their lack of customer service is 'cool'. Then again, I haven't been there in a couple years. Their rooms were too small for me - lobby was packed with people trying to get to the sky bar, too many hotel employees wearing black and 'managing' the elevators for my taste.

I need some help with an O'hare hotel from anyone with experience. I am thinking about a 2-3 night stay for some pre-vacation time with kids. We need a nice indoor pool for the little ones and some nearby restaurants (nothing fancy). I DO need to be able to park&fly though. I want to leave my car at the hotel for FREE and take a shuttle to the airport. Advice?

Dunno if it's posted, but the W Lakeshore is renovating itself. foady and I got rooms on the renovated floors (31 and 32) first weekend in Feb. No more rocks, more Grey colors, etc in the hallways (brighter, as described by the front desk manager). He swears his suite looked the same, but I think they might have changed one of the wallpapers. My regular lake facing room looked similar but updated.

I've probably stayed at the W Lakeshore more than any other W (which incl. Seattle, Westwood, SF, SV, and the Court), and have had fabulous service everytime I've been there. I haven't gotten a suite everytime, but I don't spend THAT much time in the hotel to care.

Sure the rate is low during the weekend, because neither of the Sheraton or Westin O'Hare has a club lounge.

The rates are also usually low at these properties on the weekends since they're empty - business people aren't travelling (have gone home for the weekend). Personally I think the Sheraton Suites are wonderful; have always had good service there.

Ditto. Had good service at the Sheraton Suites. Had to "ask" to get a "corner" suite instead of "normal" suite...and would definitely recommend doing this. Since the place is all suites, it's not like there's much they can upgrade you to. So, sometimes they just "upgrade" you to a higher floor, or to a bigger bed, etc. BUT, the corner suites don't have the huge "window on the hall" that the rest of the rooms have. The staff seemed a lot more customer-centered than the Westin's.

Stayed at most of the Sheraton and Points in the Chicago area in the past few months, so I'll chime in on a couple:

1. Sheraton Chicago Heights in Arlington - the new waterpark is huge. Was there on business, but took a walk through it and would definitely recommend for families staying wtih kids. Only downside is that it is ~15 miles from downtown.

2. Four Points Michigan has great rates and nice/new rooms. Close walk/cab to almost everything. Beware the junior suite rooms if you book online - they aren't suites, but are deluxe rooms. There is no separate room, just a sitting area next to the bed. After emailing mgmt about the issue, they said they were aware of this and were working with IT to get the description changed - no points and not much of an apology - but for ~$125 in downtown Chicago, I can't complain much.

3. Sheraton Towers chicago - while the rooms aren't as new as the Four Points, I've found the desk staff and their "CEO - Chief Experience Officer" very responsive and focused on customer service - upgrades with out asking (no full suites) to club level and choice of views. Also, had one issue with a reservation mix up (long story) and they credited 1,500 spg for the mix up - which was more than generous considering the mix up was partially my fault! While others have dogged on the Sheraton Towers - I'd like to see all SPG properties have the same level of customer service!

Hi all,
I have reservations at the Westin Michigan Avenue on an award stay this weekend and have two questions...

(1)
I just called the hotel to check on parking rates and they're an incredible $42/night. I asked if there were other garages in the area, but they lady wasn't much help. Does anyone know of a parking garage nearby (say 1-2 blocks max) that would be significantly cheaper? If it's a marginal savings, it's probably not worth the hassle. I won't need my car all weekend, just going to park it and leave it until I check out.

(2)
I'm SPG Plat and am hoping for a nice upgrade for this special weekend with my special lady. What type of room upgrade should I hope for (or specifically request)?

I've stayed at the Sheraton Towers many times (closer to my office), but thought I'd try this property for it's location to shopping/dining, etc. Hoping for a nice experience.

Thanks!

Convenient to the Drake?
 

Which Starwood property is most convenient to the Drake? And is the "most convenient" one you'd most want to stay in? I'm fairly unfamiliar with Chicago, and have a 4 night stay coming up, and the Drake is the conference hotel.

@Eastbay1K: the Westin Michigan is one block due south of the Drake

@msp_flier: parking is at an extreme premium around the Westin Michigan. The nearest "cheap" parking would be about a mile away, notably at the Millennium Park garage but also at any number of pay lots to the west.

Club Lounges?
 

Which Chicago Starwoods have Club lounges?

Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers has one. I haven't stayed at any of the other downtown properties, so I'm not sure about them.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Sheraton Towers
Westin North Shore
Supposedly the Westin in Itasca (the new one that opened where Shula's NW is)

Hello all!I will be making my first trip EVER to Chicago and I am very excited.
I will be going with a dear friend whoalso has never been-and he is excited also.
I do have a few questions re. the starwood properties that are in the 'burbs of Chicagos downtown.The suburban locations are MUCH cheaper then the city locations and thus are attractive to me-if they are on a public transit route.
So which of these are on a train/subway line with a direct shot into downtown?
1)Westin Chicago North Shore
2)Sheraton Chicago Northwest(Euclid ave.)
3)The new Westin Lombard http://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefer...ropertyID=1526

I think the Westin CNS seems to be the prefered property amongst plats here-but I am open to suggestions.
Thanks in advance for the feedback.

None of the above. The Sheraton in Arlington Hts is the closest to Metra (commuter rail), but it's still a very long walk around a large racetrack facility. The O'Hare area hotels will either be a shuttle ride (all) or a short walk (e.g., Westin in Rosemont) from the "L," our not-so-rapid transit system -- but they're bland airport hotels and quite inconvenient to North Side attractions.

Chicago's hotels are centralized to a truly remarkable extent for a good reason: you really want to stay downtown.