zacktravel

Anyone know what is happening to this property? The website has a one liner: "As of November 22, 2013, Marriott will not operate or be affiliated with Marriott Chicago Oak Brook Hills Resort. Marriott Gift Cards will not be accepted and Marriott Rewards Points will not be earned as of that date."

SkiAdcock

Being re-branded IIRC - can't remember which chain (LeMeridien comes to mind, but not sure). But next week is the end for it as a Marriott.

Cheers.

Horace

After November 22, 2013, the Marriott Chicago Oak Brook Hills Resort will be an independent, unbranded hotel under the ownership of Destination Hotels & Resorts (http://www.destinationhotels.com).

A few miles away, the former Renaissance Oak Brook Hotel (on the Oakbrook Center mall parking lot) is slated to reopen as Le Méridien Chicago – Oakbrook Center in March 2014.

DawgmanOH

Good luck being an independent hotel. I think the only reason anybody stayed there was because it was Marriott branded.

It's not a bad hotel, but rooms need some updating, no concierge lounge and a bit out of the way for most business.

Wonder what prompted them to leave (or did Marriott ask them to)?

Horace

The main reason anybody stays there is to attend a conference, business meeting, or wedding. It was built as a conference center and suburban golf resort. It's actually located in Westmont, Illinois, not Oak Brook, Illinois, despite its name and mailing address (but it's adjacent to Oak Brook).

It has only been the Chicago Oak Brook Hills Marriott Resort since 2005. As a resort, it did not have to provide a concierge lounge or alternate breakfast benefit to elite Marriott Rewards guests.

It was built in 1987 as the Oak Brook Hills Hotel & Conference Center. It's had a number of ownership changes over the years. Before being Marriott-branded, it had no major brand affiliation (unless you consider CPS or Dolce to be major).

If it remains unbranded, its success will depend on how well its sales department books conferences and rooms for attendees. Perhaps not having to pay a percentage to a hotel chain is good business under these circumstances. But I have to believe the Marriott brand helped in marketing to meeting planners and individual guests.

So now Marriott has lost two of its three full-service Oak Brook properties, leaving only the Chicago Marriott Oak Brook Hotel, across 22nd Street from the Oakbrook Center shopping mall.

zacktravel

I have done a few MR there, but would not stay if it was not a Marriott. Seems most times I was there, almost everyone checking in was a Marriott Elite member. Good luck to them, I doubt this is a good move.

Horace

The former Chicago Oak Brook Hills Marriott Resort now has a website. It's now the Oak Brook Hills Resort-Chicago, a Destination Resort.

http://www.oakbrookhillsresortchicago.com

The Destination Resort brand just doesn't have the name recognition of the Marriott brand.

Horace

The former Chicago Oak Brook Hills Marriott Resort, which left Marriott November 22, 2013, officially became the Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills Resort & Conference Center today.

Hospitality Net news: http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/1...0/4066570.html

On the Hilton website: http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/ill...HHH/index.html

Hilton is now very well represented in the Oak Brook - Westmont area, with the reflagged property joining Oak Brook's DoubleTree by Hilton, Hilton Suites, and Hilton Garden Inn

After losing the Renaissance (now a Le Méridien) and the Oak Brook Hills Resort, Marriott is no longer well represented with full-service hotels in that area.

SkiAdcock

There are 4 Marriott brands in Oakbrook area: Marriott, Courtyard, Residence Inn, Marriott Suites. I'd say it's almost 1-1 to what Hilton has based on what you've written.

Cheers.

Horace

If you go all the way west to the Marriott Suites in the Downers Grove / Lombard area, then you need to add two more full-service hotels to the Hilton column -- the Embassy Suites in Lombard and the DoubleTree Suites in Downers Grove. They're both quite close to the Marriott Suites.

I'll be interested to see what branding The Drake Oak Brook Hotel gets when it finally reopens this year after being closed for five years. (It was the Wyndham Drake Hotel when it closed). It's being refurbished, apparently back to its 1961 glory. If they do a good job, it would make a perfect addition to The Autograph Collection by Marriott.

Press release: http://identitypr.com/pressrelease/i...otel-illinois/

SkiAdcock

And you can extend Marriott to Oakbrook/Elmhurst & add another CY & a SHS. They're about even for the most part. Shrug.

BTW - I've never regarded ES or HGI as FS properties, just as I don't regard CY & SHS as FS properties.

From the press release it appears that the Drake Oak Brook will be named that/operate as an independent property, not associated with a chain.

Cheers.

Horace

Yes, the press release has nothing about affiliating with a chain.

However, given that the Drake Oak Brook Hotel will primarily serve business travelers, it's likely the hotel would benefit from the marketing, website presence, and loyalty program of a major chain.

I've stayed at the Drake Oak Brook. It's a one-of-a-kind boutique hotel (notwithstanding sharing the name with Chicago's Drake Hotel) that would fit better with a "soft brand" -- such as The Autograph Collection by Marriott or Hilton's Curio -- than with a traditional signature brand like Marriott, Westin, or Hilton.

If there's no affiliation when the hotel reopens this Fall, I predict that will change within 12 months. Of course, I could be wrong.

I hope it will join The Autograph Collection by Marriott.