It was a paid stay, got a great rate of about $100 per night so i figured I wouldn't use the FF rate. I am CC gold.

Yeah, that is a great rate. Normally it's around $200-$300. How did you
get such a discount?

I booked about three days in advance, if you watch their rates they drop them for their advance purchase rates on regular intervals. I believe i snagged it at 128 or something like that.

I am trying to decide between the Radisson Blu Chicago and the Conrad as a tourist in January. I'm CC Concierge and Hilton Gold. Any input?

Does anyone have experience with Concierge upgrades at this property?

I am CC Gold and was upgraded to a Park Suite. Just email them ahead of time. PM me if you want the GMs email address. The business level here is very nice.

I am HH Diamond and chose this over Conrad as Conrad does not have an executive level or pool.

This is a little further off the Mag Mile than the Conrad though so if you want to be in the thick of it Conrad would be the way to go.

Upgraded to a Park Suite for my last (third) night here. So much nicer than my corner room. Had an nice email from Guest Services wanting to satisfy me with my stay. Twitter works folks! Lounge opens at 4.30 pm, will continue from there ^

The lounge at this property is fantastic. I was Gold and owing to the hotel being very busy (over the Summer) when I stayed, I was offered an upgrade to the Business floor for only $40pn, well worth it. Nice to see that in the low season they are upgrading Golds to Suites with lounge access on a gratis basis.

In one of the first posts on this thread, Sweet Willie mentioned Bockwinkel's, a city-style small grocery/convenience store a block away. If you check their website, you may find a coupon. Right now it's $10 off $40 purchase (excluding alcohol). Good prices, net. We loaded up for a room picnic.

7 am-midnight, 7 days. Very useful for a quick hit, especially late.

http://www.bockwinkels.com/

Question - how many points are required to book a room here? Or have the points changed? I looked and they are asking for 75,000 points per night (have the card so would get me two), but that is a lot of points! I thought they capped out at 50k?

I guess you never saw the email and thread on devaluation of their program. Yes, used to be 50k, now 75k.

If a standard award is not available but a premium award is available, the site will show the rate for a premium award (1 1/2 times the standard award).
50k x 1 1/2 = 75k.

I noticed a lot of the upcoming nights next month aren't offering a standard award for 50k points. Does this mean they are purposely blocking them out and only offering the premium award?

I'm Concierge so was hoping to book the standard award and get upgraded. What kind of upgrade could you expect with Concierge and the 75k premium award?

The issue is that this property has four categories of non-Business Class rooms:

City View
Park View
City View Balcony
Park View Balcony

Only the City View rooms are available for standard awards, and they tend to sell out first, at which point no standard awards will be available.

Stayed here last weekend. Terrific property.

We're going to be staying here shortly and I'd be grateful for reports on late night drink offerings in the "24 hour" lounge.

We'll have eaten on the plane and it will be at least 9:30pm by the time we check in, so we're not planning to leave the hotel again the night we arrive. Will we be able to get (i) a drinkable glass of wine and (ii) a beer that isn't Bud/Coors/Miller in the lounge, or are we better off just heading straight for the bar?