Radisson Blu Chicago - Master thread
#78
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Berlin
Programs: BA Gold; Accor Plat; IHG Diamond-Amb; Meliá & HH & Marriott Gold
Posts: 5,450
Following up post-stay (and answering my own lounge questions from above):
We arrived a little earlier than expected for our three night stay and went up to the lounge just after 9:00pm. There were a few snacks (there would have been more earlier in the evening, as we saw on subsequent days), soft drinks and juice, coffee (Nespresso machine), wine (generic-looking: a Prosecco plus red and white options from Argentina) and beer (reasonable selection: Peroni, Stella, Guinness and an enjoyable local brew, Argus's Holsteiner).
Breakfast in the lounge was limited but good. Decent bread rolls, bagels and bread for toasting, pastries, oatmeal, cream cheese, jam/marmalade and fresh fruit. Small amounts of fresh cheese were occasionally put out as well.
Check-in was the only real weak spot: the man who checked us in refused to answer any questions about wifi or newspapers ("you can look that stuff up on the TV in your room") and gave me incorrect times for breakfast in the lounge. On one occasion housekeeping forgot to replenish the coffee supplies in our room.
Everything else was very good. Our room (a Park suite) was extremely comfortable without being OTT "luxurious". Only one wash basin, which was fine for us but might present a challenge for those who need serious mirror time before heading out. There was a customised iPad in the room, but I couldn't find anything interesting on it.
Toiletries were by "This Works" rather than Anne Semonin. They seemed to be of good quality.
Gold benefits: high floor and a small bowl of Maltesers. There were also two glass bottles of water in addition to the two plastic bottles of water everyone gets, but both seem pretty pointless in a city with perfectly drinkable tap water.
We paid less for our suite than we would have paid for the cheapest available rooms at the Conrad, Intercontinental or Waldorf-Astoria on our dates. That, plus the lounge access, made this a very good deal. We'll be back.
We arrived a little earlier than expected for our three night stay and went up to the lounge just after 9:00pm. There were a few snacks (there would have been more earlier in the evening, as we saw on subsequent days), soft drinks and juice, coffee (Nespresso machine), wine (generic-looking: a Prosecco plus red and white options from Argentina) and beer (reasonable selection: Peroni, Stella, Guinness and an enjoyable local brew, Argus's Holsteiner).
Breakfast in the lounge was limited but good. Decent bread rolls, bagels and bread for toasting, pastries, oatmeal, cream cheese, jam/marmalade and fresh fruit. Small amounts of fresh cheese were occasionally put out as well.
Check-in was the only real weak spot: the man who checked us in refused to answer any questions about wifi or newspapers ("you can look that stuff up on the TV in your room") and gave me incorrect times for breakfast in the lounge. On one occasion housekeeping forgot to replenish the coffee supplies in our room.
Everything else was very good. Our room (a Park suite) was extremely comfortable without being OTT "luxurious". Only one wash basin, which was fine for us but might present a challenge for those who need serious mirror time before heading out. There was a customised iPad in the room, but I couldn't find anything interesting on it.
Toiletries were by "This Works" rather than Anne Semonin. They seemed to be of good quality.
Gold benefits: high floor and a small bowl of Maltesers. There were also two glass bottles of water in addition to the two plastic bottles of water everyone gets, but both seem pretty pointless in a city with perfectly drinkable tap water.
We paid less for our suite than we would have paid for the cheapest available rooms at the Conrad, Intercontinental or Waldorf-Astoria on our dates. That, plus the lounge access, made this a very good deal. We'll be back.
#79
Join Date: May 2009
Location: SEA
Programs: AA EXP (2.5MM), Hilton Gold, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 4,859
My Fiancé and I are headed to Chicago for the 4th of July weekend. I have no status with Carlson.
I'm debating between using 150k points for 2 nights in a "Premium Award-Business-King Room" or booking 2 nights at the Marriott Magnificent Mile and hoping my Marriott Plat status gets me a nice upgrade.
Seeing as the rooms are going for $269/night, I suspect the 150k points is a good value, but can anyone confirm? I had attained them through 2 total stays back in 2012 during a promo so this helps use them and not have to worry about expiration. I don't know anything about typical value for points though so wondering if ~$0.004/pt is a good value or not. Are there better redemptions out there?
Just wondering if anyone can compare this property to the Marriott.
I'm debating between using 150k points for 2 nights in a "Premium Award-Business-King Room" or booking 2 nights at the Marriott Magnificent Mile and hoping my Marriott Plat status gets me a nice upgrade.
Seeing as the rooms are going for $269/night, I suspect the 150k points is a good value, but can anyone confirm? I had attained them through 2 total stays back in 2012 during a promo so this helps use them and not have to worry about expiration. I don't know anything about typical value for points though so wondering if ~$0.004/pt is a good value or not. Are there better redemptions out there?
Just wondering if anyone can compare this property to the Marriott.
#80
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Chicagoland, IL, USA
Programs: WN CP, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 14,192
My Fiancé and I are headed to Chicago for the 4th of July weekend. I have no status with Carlson.
I'm debating between using 150k points for 2 nights in a "Premium Award-Business-King Room" or booking 2 nights at the Marriott Magnificent Mile and hoping my Marriott Plat status gets me a nice upgrade.
Seeing as the rooms are going for $269/night, I suspect the 150k points is a good value, but can anyone confirm? I had attained them through 2 total stays back in 2012 during a promo so this helps use them and not have to worry about expiration. I don't know anything about typical value for points though so wondering if ~$0.004/pt is a good value or not. Are there better redemptions out there?
Just wondering if anyone can compare this property to the Marriott.
I'm debating between using 150k points for 2 nights in a "Premium Award-Business-King Room" or booking 2 nights at the Marriott Magnificent Mile and hoping my Marriott Plat status gets me a nice upgrade.
Seeing as the rooms are going for $269/night, I suspect the 150k points is a good value, but can anyone confirm? I had attained them through 2 total stays back in 2012 during a promo so this helps use them and not have to worry about expiration. I don't know anything about typical value for points though so wondering if ~$0.004/pt is a good value or not. Are there better redemptions out there?
Just wondering if anyone can compare this property to the Marriott.
If you get the Club Carlson credit card, the last night on a multiple night redemption is free. Highly recommended and works great; with 5x on all spend, it's my #1 card now.
So only 75K for 2 nights. That is a decent deal for Blu Chicago.
Might look at Hotwire, though. My brother once got the Sheraton (on the river) surprisingly cheap on July 4. With websites like www.biddingfortravel.com you can often uniquely ID the hotel.
#81
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 405
My Fiancé and I are headed to Chicago for the 4th of July weekend. I have no status with Carlson.
I'm debating between using 150k points for 2 nights in a "Premium Award-Business-King Room" or booking 2 nights at the Marriott Magnificent Mile and hoping my Marriott Plat status gets me a nice upgrade.
Seeing as the rooms are going for $269/night, I suspect the 150k points is a good value, but can anyone confirm? I had attained them through 2 total stays back in 2012 during a promo so this helps use them and not have to worry about expiration. I don't know anything about typical value for points though so wondering if ~$0.004/pt is a good value or not. Are there better redemptions out there?
Just wondering if anyone can compare this property to the Marriott.
I'm debating between using 150k points for 2 nights in a "Premium Award-Business-King Room" or booking 2 nights at the Marriott Magnificent Mile and hoping my Marriott Plat status gets me a nice upgrade.
Seeing as the rooms are going for $269/night, I suspect the 150k points is a good value, but can anyone confirm? I had attained them through 2 total stays back in 2012 during a promo so this helps use them and not have to worry about expiration. I don't know anything about typical value for points though so wondering if ~$0.004/pt is a good value or not. Are there better redemptions out there?
Just wondering if anyone can compare this property to the Marriott.
#82
Join Date: May 2009
Location: SEA
Programs: AA EXP (2.5MM), Hilton Gold, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 4,859
I would not consider .4 cents a good value for CC points.
If you get the Club Carlson credit card, the last night on a multiple night redemption is free. Highly recommended and works great; with 5x on all spend, it's my #1 card now.
So only 75K for 2 nights. That is a decent deal for Blu Chicago.
Might look at Hotwire, though. My brother once got the Sheraton (on the river) surprisingly cheap on July 4. With websites like www.biddingfortravel.com you can often uniquely ID the hotel.
If you get the Club Carlson credit card, the last night on a multiple night redemption is free. Highly recommended and works great; with 5x on all spend, it's my #1 card now.
So only 75K for 2 nights. That is a decent deal for Blu Chicago.
Might look at Hotwire, though. My brother once got the Sheraton (on the river) surprisingly cheap on July 4. With websites like www.biddingfortravel.com you can often uniquely ID the hotel.
For the Radisson Blu, its 75k points/night, so 150k points for 2 nights. Price of the property for those two nights is $275/night so thats how I got the 0.4CPM calculation.
I'm thinking I'll just book a Marriott property for the 4th weekend and do what I can to string along my Carlson points until I can book a Radisson Blu in Paris (or similar aspirational redemption).
#83
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: San Diego
Programs: Anything that gives nice sign up bonuses
Posts: 120
Thanks for the info & suggestion. A new credit card isn't in the sights for us since this is the first time in 4 years that I'm looking at booking a Club Carlson property. Other than doing 2 bookings 2 years ago just to get points, I've never really preferred or looked for Carlson properties. So we wouldn't get much use out of the CC other than this one stay.
... to string along my Carlson points until I can book a Radisson Blu in Paris (or similar aspirational redemption).
... to string along my Carlson points until I can book a Radisson Blu in Paris (or similar aspirational redemption).
Please double check into this card. With the 2 for 1 nights it is the best credit card out there right now, provides you with gold (not a great benefit), and provides you with plenty of points...including for the Rad Blu in Paris. Don't waste 75k points by booking a room for two nights that you could have paid only one night for!
#84
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 877
I am a CC holder and redeemed 2 nights for a short trip to Chicago. I received an email with 'customized' upgrades I can request ahead of time for a price... Including $107/night extra to upgrade to a Park Suite or $17/night for a higher floor.
What's the point of having 'status' if they'll try to sell you the upgrades?
What's the point of having 'status' if they'll try to sell you the upgrades?
#85
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: MKE
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, AA Plat Pro, MR LTP, others from cards
Posts: 890
I am a CC holder and redeemed 2 nights for a short trip to Chicago. I received an email with 'customized' upgrades I can request ahead of time for a price... Including $107/night extra to upgrade to a Park Suite or $17/night for a higher floor.
What's the point of having 'status' if they'll try to sell you the upgrades?
What's the point of having 'status' if they'll try to sell you the upgrades?
The suite is not something you can expect as a CC upgrade, so if you want it then be prepared to pay.
#86
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Michigan
Programs: Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 503
My wife and I were hoping to stay here for 2 nights for our anniversary weekend in September on an award stay. They only show standard room availability for one of the two nights, I don't know if that means it's definitively booked solid, or if there's just no award availability. Is there any way to request that the hotel opens up availability for us on that 2nd night? I know I've been able to do that with Hyatt before, just curious if I have any options with Club Carlson... TIA!
#87
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Chicagoland, IL, USA
Programs: WN CP, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 14,192
Man dies in fall from 56th floor of Radisson Blu building, where there are residences:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/08/...ua-skyscraper/
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/08/...ua-skyscraper/
#88
Join Date: Jun 1999
Location: NYC/LA
Programs: DL Plat, AA Plat Pro, Marriott Titanium, IHG Diamond Amb
Posts: 7,487
My wife and I were hoping to stay here for 2 nights for our anniversary weekend in September on an award stay. They only show standard room availability for one of the two nights, I don't know if that means it's definitively booked solid, or if there's just no award availability. Is there any way to request that the hotel opens up availability for us on that 2nd night? I know I've been able to do that with Hyatt before, just curious if I have any options with Club Carlson... TIA!
#89
Join Date: May 2011
Location: LAS,LAX,SEA
Programs: AA,UA/CO, SPG50, Hilton Gold
Posts: 430
Upgrade?
I plan on staying here during Christmas for a little staycation. Not surprisingly, the hotel is slow during this period. I was planning on booking a business-class room 75k for two nights, but it seems that Gold Members get upgraded to a Park Suite with lounge access during slow season. Is this still the case? If so, I'd rather save 25k and book a regular room.
Thanks
Thanks
#90
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 112
I plan on staying here during Christmas for a little staycation. Not surprisingly, the hotel is slow during this period. I was planning on booking a business-class room 75k for two nights, but it seems that Gold Members get upgraded to a Park Suite with lounge access during slow season. Is this still the case? If so, I'd rather save 25k and book a regular room.
Thanks
Thanks