gfowler-ord-1k

"gave us"!!!!!! They assigned a 110 sq ft room to more than one person?? 110 sq ft seems about the right size for an adjoining W Pet Room .

And I hope you paid less than $725.87.

curl

yeah, it was nearly midnight on a Friday night when we checked in and we walked in this room.... seriously, i think it used to be a broom closet that was converted into a room!! i mean it was furnished nicely as most W's are, but it was just really really really small.

we went back downstairs and got moved to another room - luckily a bit bigger! our friends got a similar nano-sized room, asked for another, then got a smoking room, then asked for another, and then got a fairly spacious room that unfortunately was quite close to the El tracks that run along the side of the W City Center. overall, it wasn't a great experience and i don't think we'd go back.

we paid about 279 or 289 for that nano room - it was marathon weekend so all prices were high (that was the **special** marathon rate).

gfowler-ord-1k

William:

I found other occurrences, e.g 11/12/2007And for all the rooms it is the same rate for Prepaid or BAR. I think this hotel need to audit it's rate structure. Or maybe I should be quiet, they may "correct" the rates upward.

gfowler-ord-1k

duplicate

gfowler-ord-1k

In the comments section of the reservation I put a note asking for an upgrade since it was the 6th anniversary with my partner. I also emailed similar text to the GM, his email address was listed in the reservation confirmation email which stated.When I checked in I was told that they had a surprise for me. I was upgraded to their WoW Suite -- the best room in the house that normally goes for about $2K++/night.The room had a 42" plasma TV in the bedroom and a 32" in LCD in the living room. The living room TV had HD on some channels, e.g. HBO. There were a 4 complementary bottles of Voss water. The Jacuzzi tub had 3 large candles around it but there were not matches in the room and I had to get some from the concierge. There is a 15"?? TV in the bathroom which can be viewed from the oversized tub. The shower is small, even a little cramped for 1 person. There were lots of towels, did not count all of them, and of course Bliss amenities. There was also a half bath off the living room.

I have seen some bad reviews of this property in this thread and tripadvisor and it seems to me that there were improvements in service. It does not even seem that these reviews are talking about the same property. I am sure some of the good service was because of the room I was in but most of the good service occurred even people did not know who I was. There was one case however where one person greeted me in the lobby. I never had met her before but she knew me by name and wanted to know how my stay was. I talked to her for a few minutes and asked what her position was at the hotel. I think she said her title was a "Wonderer", her job was to greet guests and make sure everything is OK.

We had dinner Saturday evening at the ristorante we and had the "tuscan tasting" ($45++ each) -- a 5 course tasting which all added up to be a good sized meal. It can be served with 4 matching wines $24++, but on Saturdays the wines are complimentary. Breakfast was very good -- figure on $25-30 person all in. I used the promo I mentioned in post 89 to get 1000 extra points for dinner and 500 for breakfast. I was surprised that in both cases the server had never seen the promo coupon before.

WoW suite living and dinning room pics here . Click on the thumbnails right of center to see larger size pics. Bedroom with large grape on bed .

The points and stay credit posted in less than 24 hours after checkout. I expect the 1500 points for breakfast and dinner to take a little longer.

This hotel really shows the excellent service that Starwood is capable. I have been very critical, in most cases constructive, of the new spg.com. I just wish the web site could be so good.

curl

WOW - that does sound awesome!!

i am probably one of those not-so-great review people. i just felt like they were trying to stick us in the tiniest/least desirable room they had..... well, what I have learned from flyertalk (hee hee ) is that you should always check to see if there's a better room, a better seat on the plane, etc. etc. or maybe i'm just getting old and crabby.

we were there on a weekend with very high occupancy - when we asked for another room, they had to pull out the floormaps and start looking at them to find another room for us. But if the second room was available all along, wonder why we got the crappy room the first time.

i have to say that the concierge was great there - we ate at several great restaurants, even at midnight when we got there (they directed us to some great walkable late-night pizza).

aussiechris

Let me make my position very clear, W Hotel Lakeshore is my favourite hotel.
I have stayed many times and it never ceases to amaze me.

My first visit was on a Friday night for 7 days and I arrived late ( from Australia) as my flight from LA was delayed. They upgraded me (I had no SPG status then) to a Lake view room on a high floor.The reception/bar area was jumping and I enjoyed winding down for an hour before retiring.

A few months back I got the "Summer of WUV" promotion emailed to me with special summer rates and promotional gear. I forwarded this email to the Hotel Manager stating that I was envious as it was winter in Australia and I could do with a "Summer of Wuv" cheer up.
A week later I received a Fedex box with all the promotional items in it (Purple W Hotel towel etc) and a hand written note from her stating that they hoped to see me soon.

This sort of thank you is priceless. It made my day and I recommend this Hotel to you all.

DownUnderFlyer

I have a stay at the W Lakeshore coming up at a rate of $249 and since it will be my first visit I am very excited. It will be a Platinum by then but because of many conferences in Chicago at this time I don't expect to get any upgrade. But who knows, I might be lucky....

tmagnani

I gotta say, I love this hotel as well. I'm usually here every week. However, after about 15 - 20 weeks of staying here (as a platinum), I've NEVER been upgraded to a suite. However, the staff are very friendly and the normal rooms are fairly large. The 42" LCD TVs rock as well. But.....you'd have a better chance of being struck by lightning than getting an upgrade....

DownUnderFlyer

I think you won't like this: I am here now and it is my first stay as a Platinum and I got upgraded to a suite.....

Keith009

I can't remember whether I've responded to this thread () but I just wanted to add my experience at the W Chicago lakeshore for info purposes on the master thread.

For a leisure traveller, the W Chicago Lakeshore is awesome! I had a very fun stay here.
- Great service from all members of staff - everyone was super friendly and took great care to made sure my stay was memorable. The concierge desk was superb at what they do - giving directions, food recommendations, getting tix to sold out concerts/tables at sold out restaurants etc.
- Nice rooms. People usually bag out the rooms here on the basis that the hotel has been converted from a Days Inn but I had no problems.
- Very hopping Living Room, both on weekdays and weeknights
- Whiskey Sky was nice to chill out at on a weeknight - fun crowd.
- The restaurant was overpriced... the food was just ok but the price was a rip off so don't eat there.
- As a Gold I was given late check out before I even opened my mouth; I merely had to scale it back to 1pm as I didn't need that late a check out. Room was on a reasonably high floor. Got exactly what I booked (most other hotels in the US gave me one cat upgrades or club rooms) then again the hotel seemed small and was reasonably sold out.
- Love the decor! The colour scheme of the bathroom was especially cool. The dim lighting was awesome and enhanced the W nightclub-esque 'feel.'

Highly recommended.

aussiechris

Hi QF009, I disagree on the restaurant.When I have arrived early/late evening , I have always got good value and great service.When you have been travelling from Australia you are less inclined to go out on your first night. But as you will know there are lots of good places nearby or a short cab ride away. Sometimes the cold weather can keep you in the Hotel

gfowler-ord-1k

I waited a month for the points to post and called the Platinum Concierge. She had never heard of the promo and I emailed a copy. No promo code listed on it. I am sure it will be taken care of, the Platinum Concierge always does.

boston aa flyer

While any time before today i would have said LakeShore... i have to now say that i am very very sad to report that the Lakeshore has fallen from grace.

Feel free to look up my stellar reviews of the W Chicago Lakeshore from a few years ago... but last night... i checked in... not even a "how was your flight mr. molavi", no upgrade to lake view, and one of the slowest check in ever.

I asked the concierge if "Altitude" the top floor bar was open and he nastily replied... "No, Whisky Sky is open" for chirssakes... there next to each other, get a grip

Jay who used to manage the two chicago W properties clearly is gone... i wonder how the westins are.....

clover

Wow. Hopefully, that visit was only an aberration. I'm planning my first visit to the W Lakeshore next month and chose it because of the glowing reviews (including yours!).

Are there any other recent experiences that would support aa flyer's comments...or hopefully had a better experience?