Just completed another three night stay at the hotel.

It remains a wonderful place. Unfortunately, Chicago has a great hotel market with plenty of choices for a city vacation. I chose the Ritz as I've been spending a lot of time at Four Seasons properties lately and wanted to reciprocate some of the nice upgrades I've gotten with my repeat business. Having said that, I would probably have stayed at the newly-renovated Park Hyatt with all things being equal. I went over for a drink and NoMi and the bar look great. Service, as you might expect, was not quite in the same league.

Room

On a very last minute booking, I was upgraded from a superior to premier room upon request. The hotel appears to grasp the fact that many of their rooms are not up to par with the competition due to the very small bathrooms, and have granted this upgrade without discussion. I further negotiated an upgrade to a premier executive suite for a very nominal fee--the south facing premier rooms are perfectly fine for the solo traveler, but the north-facing one they had available is the only room on the floor with a poor view, being squared up with the Hancock tower. Nevertheless, I ended up in 3019. The room is laid out in standard two-room suite fashion, with a living space comprised of a work desk, loveseat and coffee table, and window breakfast table for two.

Service

Service in Deca was predictably top-notch. Despite some complaints that the restaurant is unfitting of such a high-end hotel, I love the accessible menu and reasonable prices. I struggled to utilize the $85 food credit for one.

Spa

The steam room in the spa was malfunctioning but the hotel arranged for me to use the spa at the Four Seasons. This was done seamlessly. Concierge service was, as always, a pleasure. My few special requests were handled promptly and professionally.

Overall

I have very few negative complaints. I wish turn-down service was a bit more than literally turning-down the bed--no music, no shades drawn, no slippers by the bed. Even a bottle of water would have been nice. Perhaps this was just an oversight, but it was a bit surprising.

The hotel has recently reorganized the entrance so that cars pull into the little driveway under WT place, and this is a big improvement, especially in bad weather or rush hour.