Priceline Hotel: 4* Chicago Suburbs (North Shore) Renaissance North Shore

[AaronJB]

Birthday surprise part two. After the previous surprise priceline win at the Marriott Suites, got a another surprise that the stay wasn't over - only it was continuing at a different property.

This property was built in the mid-'70's and was a Sheraton for many years until being renovated a few years back and turned into a Renaissance. I think they did a mostly nice job with the changeover to a Renaissance on the inside. The outside still looks exactly the same as it has for decades. They will be doing a significant renovation to this property throughout the 2nd half of 2011 that will include refrigerators in the rooms, revamp of the hallways and a number of other features.

The one bizarre note: two absolutely giant chess pieces in the lobby, right as you walk in. Chess is wonderful, but these two huge chess pieces looming over the lobby (which sort of has a light chess theme, I guess) is a little odd right as you walk in.

The rest of the property is nice enough, with pleasant rooms, quite a few elevators (which is a huge issue at the nearby Doubletree) a reasonably clean/updated look and overall was... nice enough. There isn't much around this property aside from Barnaby's Pizza across the street, which is an institution that's been there for over 30 years - and remains wholly and completely (looks-wise; the pizza was actually better than I'd remembered) the same as it did decades ago.

The property is next to the expressway, so there is likely to be some noise for those rooms facing East, especially on lower floors. High floor rooms at this property should be able to see pretty far in the direction they're facing.

The property does offer a shuttle bus to nearby train stations, so those staying here do not need to worry about driving and finding parking at a nearby station. The Chicago Botanic Garden's walk-in entrance is also just across the highway; the shuttle may be able to drop off there.

This wasn't a bad stay and glad I did, but with the Marriott/Embassy Suites and Hyatt in the nearby Deerfield zone (which are often similarly priced), this wouldn't be my first choice for future bids in this region.

The Betterbidding PRICELINE link was used.

[thereuare]

Glad to hear the celebration continued... sorry it wasn't as enjoyable as your Marriott Suites stay, but i'm sure it beat staying at home :)

Thanks for the follow-up!