if you mean the exec lounge, i believe they put the wine away after a certain time, they will have a fridge there with waters, cokes and beers i believe but not sure about the brand. best bet will be the bar.

Could someone with the GM's email address at this property PM it to me? I'd appreciate it!

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.

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 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.

With the Club Carlson card, you'd pay 1/3 of that points rate for a regular room. A friend of mine upgraded after he got there for lounge access for $40 for 2 nights. Well worth it if you have two people having the breakfast.

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.

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).

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!

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?

The higher floor you should get free. Usually I get a reasonably large high floor corner room, though on my most recent stay it was a smaller room on the lowest floor until we asked to switch. The smallish room was still an upgrade as it had a balcony.

The suite is not something you can expect as a CC upgrade, so if you want it then be prepared to pay.

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!

Man dies in fall from 56th floor of Radisson Blu building, where there are residences:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/08/...ua-skyscraper/

Unfortunately, due to the number of room categories at this property, the base level "City View" rooms (which are the ones available for standard awards) do tend to book up quickly. If you're willing to spend the extra points for a Business Class award room, I will say that the lounge at this property is pretty nice.

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

As a gold member I have never received that level of upgrade. Got corner rooms, balconies... never once got lounge access either (6 stays)