I have now completed my reports on four luxury hotels in Chicago. I thought I would start a separate thread whereby I can compare the four I stayed in. There are other recent threads on Chicago hotels so I will place links to all of them here for easy reference:

Trump Chicago http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...p-chicago.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...p-chicago.html
RC Chicago http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...ons-hotel.html
PH Chicago http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...t-chicago.html
FS Chicago http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...s-chicago.html
Elysian http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...g-mid-nov.html

And one on dining:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chica...staurants.html

I don't know what happened to this post so I am reconstructing it.

Thanks for all your efforts on this series of reviews. I expect to be in Chicago in mid to late summer. Our last stay was at the RC and we were planning to try the Pen next time. Your reviews will be a great help.

Here are some of my rankings of the four hotels:

Overall
Ritz Carlton
Four Seasons
Peninsula
Park Hyatt

Service
Ritz Carlton
Peninsula
Four Seasons
Park Hyatt

F&B
Ritz Carlton
Four Seasons
Peninsula
Park Hyatt

Room Decor
Ritz Carlton
Four Seasons
Peninsula
Park Hyatt

Thank you Luxury for helping the uneducated on this. It helps to make a decision before forking over a bundle of cash. ^

I must be missing something about the RC...Haven't stayed at the FS recently, so can't comment on it, but have stayed at the other three. Agree that the PH should be at the bottom of the list, except for that great Richter painting they have in the lobby.

I'm with you. I stay that PH all the time b/c the price is right..FREE , but have stayed at the RC and the FS. The RC is my least favorite by a mile. The service is equal to the other two, but the decor and the overall feel of the hotel is like a retirement home! I guess at 39 I'm still a bit too young for that place!

Luxury,
Thank you so much for your reviews, your effort is truly appreciated!

I think this is what is so fascinating about this board -- the diversity of views is remarkable. But the variance in opinions allow each of us to see a more complete picture of a particular property.

I was, based upon what I read here, surprised to find myself liking the RC the most. I thought that I would like the Pen and FS better; it was not the case.

I will continue to write up my thoughts on these properties -- I think they all have their merits and weaknesses.

Too bad Shangri-La canned it's hotel in Chicago. I wonder if the Mandarin Oriental is still moving along with its plans.

Didn't the RC update its decor recently (to a less "retirement home" look)?

Its very sad to see what has happened with Shangri-La, the skeleton of the building sits blowing in the wind.

I have to agree with your review of NOMI. I had an awful meal there.

Yes, all of the guest rooms and suites (except for 2, the Presidential and the State Suite, both bi-level suites) have been renovated. The public areas, including the Lobby and one of the two suites will be renovated starting in late December. The room decor at the RC and FS are way superior to the Pen -- it is time they renovated and added a little panache to their rooms.

I thought I would talk about the strengths of each hotel I stayed at in a comparative manner in this post.

Peninsula
They had, by far, the best arrival experience of all four Chicago hotels I stayed at. I would also put it amongst the top of all the hotels I stayed at worldwide. The room was comfortable but the overall d�cor was truly generic-international-luxury-hotel-boring. The service was good with Front Desk staff friendly and caring.

Ritz Carlton
I liked this hotel the most and I actually liked the 70s Grand Hotel d�cor in the Lobby. Perhaps I grew up in that kind of environment (Chartwell, the now closed restaurant at the FS Vancouver was, at times, like my own dining room -- I practically grew up in there) so perhaps it is a bit of nostalgia but more likely the grand open space with the water feature -- I LOVE water features. However, I also loved the new spiffier rooms upstairs and it was the most comfortable (as in "home away from home").

The service all around was the warmest and we were very well taken care of throughout the stay. The F&B was, for me, the strongest of the four hotels and probably the tops of all luxury hotels I have stayed at (and I haven't stayed at them all) in North America.

One small highlight was the AgroMontana honey and preserves the hotel uses -- it appears to be an italian company out of Monaco and the quality of their preserves, and especially the honey, was incredible. We had a case of the honey shipped home directly from the hotel and it appears one cannot purchase that exact honey on-line either.

The shower was the most powerful of all the hotels and left you feeling invigorated afterwards. It may not be the most environmentally sensitive showerhead but I felt great afterwards.

The RC had the best mattress -- the bespoke FS Stearns and Foster unit.

Park Hyatt
Ummmm....... hmmmm...... let me think about this one.... actually, I really liked the complimentary house car service the hotel offers. It is the only saving grace for this hotel and I wished the other hotels would offer this service as well.

Four Seasons
The FS had the most polished staff in the Restaurant and their Meinl coffee is just fantastic. The room decor is really great as well.

Each hotel is commended for providing me with a humidifier in the room as per my pre-arrival requests. The FS provided me with one in the living room and another in the bedroom which was a very nice touch. Complimentary in-room internet access at each hotel is ^ and the speed at the RC and FS were very good to excellent. Both the RC and Pen had the friendliest Concierges.

Thank you very much! This is great.

Planning 2 trips to ORD in July and October and I'm trying to finalize my reservations now.

My wife and I will be traveling together, so it would be nice to have a double vanity and separate shower/tub. I see both RC and FS are somewhat limited in this regard, unless we opt for a suite that has a powder room/shower combo.

Luxury has made it abundantly clear Ritz Carlton is his "A#1 best hotel ever" in Chicago, though I would like to get additional opinions. I thoroughly enjoy and respect Luxury's posts...though with the "special arrangements" Luxury has, I feel his point of view may be unfairly influenced.

I have just read a couple of reports that are steering me in another direction. First is my Virtuoso agent, who, based on both STARS reports and her personal experience, seems to rank the hotels as:

1. Four Seasons/Park Hyatt (tie for first - claim both feature exceptional hard product and best-in-class service)

3. Trump (she says the hard product is the best in town - maybe best in the USA - and the staff are really trying even though they may not be as polished as FS/PH)

4. Ritz Carlton - STARS review says the service is quirky and not as refined as the choices above. Also says the rooms are in need of renovation, but I believe that was done already.

5. Peninsula - Supposedly worst service of the bunch (though not "bad" per se). Ho-hum decor.

Other review sources:

I take everything I read on TripAdvisor with a grain of salt, but here is the TA ranking based on "Would recommend to a friend":
1. Trump - 91% (tie)
1. Park Hyatt - 91% (tie)
3. Peninsula - 87%
4. Four Seasons - 85%
5. RC - 81%

Travel & Leisure Rankings
1. Peninsula - 88.35
2. Four Seasons - 87.06
3. Ritz Carlton - 86.35
Trump & PH not ranked

CN Traveler Rankings
1. Peninsula - 96 (!)
2. Ritz Carlton - 92.5
3. Four Seasons - 92.2
4. Park Hyatt - 89.4
Trump - not ranked

Gayot
1. Four Seasons - 5 "golden keys"
1. Park Hyatt - 5 "golden keys"
1. Peninsula - 5 "golden keys"
RC & Trump - 4 "golden keys"

My Virtuoso agent has never steered me wrong, and on the 2 occasions I failed to listen to her advice I wound up regretting my hotel choices (those bad choices were the Kahala on Oahu vs. her recommendation of Halekulani and One & Only Capetown vs. her recommendation of Cape Grace). It is curious, though, that nearly everyone on FT thinks PH is the worst in the luxury category whereas she ranks it as tied for first! Any additional feedback?

I should also add that my wife and I are early 30's and prefer either a soft-modern feel (ie. not ultramodern) or a really old 18th century feel...we're not so keen on the 70's / 80's look.

My wife also swims so a good lap pool would be great...