Spent some time recently at the Swissotel in Chicago for a work conference. I have mixed feelings about this hotel. My initial experience was not pleasant, thanks to the nasty attitude of the front desk clerk. My co-worker and I arrived very early for the conference, as she had an early meeting and I had to get the booth set up. We tried to check in early. I did not have a lot of hope the room would be ready early, but the Marriott always seems to accommodate us, so I tried.
The front desk woman said “you are early, check in isn’t until 4. Your room won’t be ready until then”. My co-worker however got Mr. Nice Guy Front desk clerk. His response “I am so sorry, your room isn’t ready, but we will work hard to get it ready. We will text you just as soon as it is.”
The luggage situation was crazy and unorganized. We were told we had to valet (a mere $40/day). The valet took my luggage, the booth materials and Erin’s luggage and put them all on the same cart, and gave us one “tag”. When they realized they had multiple rooms on one cart, they seemed very confused, switching tags and giving us back just one. They took the booth materials to our booth and put our luggage in a room behind check in.
Erin headed to her meeting and I set off to set the booth up. We met up after and grabbed some lunch. I have to say, the small bar in the lobby had a pretty darn good sandwich. It was a grilled beef short rib and cheese sandwich, on a hearty sourdough bread. They cheese was gooey and short rib was tender and succulent. The sandwich was actually reasonably priced and so filling. It was about 1 p.m. when she got her text that her room was ready. Mr. Nice Guy was there to get her all checked in. I went back to Ms. Mean Lady and she asked “did you get a text saying your room was ready?” I said no, but my co-worker did who checked in after me, and she replied “if you didn’t get a text, your room isn’t ready”. Well, how rude and how incredibly dumb of me.
When Erin went to get her luggage, sans tag, they acted like she was a criminal. Accused us of losing the tag, because God forbid, they made a mistake at valet. After quite a but of arguing, they finally relinquished her bag, but only after a stern lecture on the importance of not losing your tag.
Erin’s room was like on the 42 floor. We decided to go to her room, drop our bags and walk around Chicago to work off our lunch. When we got off the elevator and walked into her room, the view was so scary for me, who is incredibly afraid of heights. When we headed back down, I went to Mr. Nice Guy and requested they put my room on a low level. He assured me my room would be on the 8th floor. Whew! We headed off for our walk on an incredibly hot day, making our way through the shopping district, back to the Navy Pier and back again to our hotel, Hot, sweaty and in desperate need of a shower. Luckily, I FINALLY got my room ready text at 4:05!
I went to check in with a third check in person now. Both Ms. Nasty and the Nice guy were no where in sight. He told me my room wasn’t ready by 4, so they “upgraded me” to a suite in the 35th floor, and the great news? The rooms was 2 complete walls of glass. The bathroom was all glass as well, giving you a lovely view of the 35th floor drop.
So to reward me, the person with the incredible fear of heights, upgraded me to a high floor, all glass. They told me the 8th floor room wouldn’t be ready for a couple more hours. As I needed a shower, I couldn’t wait. I do have to say though, I adjusted quickly, and my fear dissipated, and the room was pretty nice. The room was ok, nothing fancy, the bed was comfortable, but needed more covers. The bathroom was laid out weird, and since the entire wall was glass, I think everyone across the way all saw me naked, but all in all it was ok.
The only other food I ate at the hotel was conference food. My co-workers thought was good, I however thought was just mediocre. It was an incredibly long walk from the conference to my room, so it made “pooping up” to the room difficult.
All in all, it was an OK experience, but honestly, don’t think I would stay there again. There are so many hotels in Chicago clamoring for your business, why stay somewhere that the customer service is so poor?