IL Chicago Millennium Knickerbocker NMA

[dada]

I stayed there four nights from 8/10 - 8/13 and bidded $55 (with $10 coupon). The grand lobby is nicely decorated with plush furniture. There's a piano placed in btw the lobby and the bar area. I arrived there early at around 11:30am and was not able to check in but stored luggages.

Went back there at 4pm and got a room #401 with 2 double beds as requested. The check in staff is nice and helpful with no mention of priceline.

The room is very small but again, nicely decorated. Beds are comfy with high quality linens. Standard room amenities: in-room coffee maker, small fridge with soda and liquors filled up (actually its really like a vending machine, you are not able to fill up your own. You have to make selections by pressing buttons which will automatically charge to your room.), daily newspaper deliver to your room, 27 inch TV, portable CD player with alarm clock, extra pillow and blanket, iron and iron board.

Standard bathroom supplies: shower cap, face and body soaps, shampoo, conditioner (which I don't think it conditions my hair good enough), and body lotion. Its a stand up shower. No bath tubs.

Room service price is reasonable but I did not try it.

The maid changed my room everyday. I think she did a really good job. Supplies are filled up and floor is vaccumed everyday as well.

The wall is not thick enough so that I can hear the cross room talking, and the noise when the maids vaccum the floor in the morning.

The nice catch is theres an ice room located at each floor.

I did not try the restaurant, Nix nor the bar.

I did not take advantage of the concierge as well. Don't know if hes helpful or not.

There are some fitness facilities but they are available for some specific guests only. Theres no swimming pool.

The location is great. Half block to NMA and 3 blocks to Oak Street beach. 4 blocks to Red line station and plenty of bus stops close by.

Overall, the service is great but the hotel is small. With only $55 a night, I will definitely stay there again. I am not sure it deserves a 4* or not, maybe 3 1/2* since it has nothing special.

[gleemonex]

dates of stay: august 24 - 27, 2003

at check-in, the deskclerk noted that i'd paid via priceline and said that the rooms they give to priceline are pretty small, offering me an upgrade for an additional $20 a night. i asked "how small?", to which he replied, "really small. this is an old historic hotel. rooms were smaller back then." i took the upgrade and was given a nice big room with a kingsize bed on the sixth floor, near an elevator, but very quiet.

there appeared to be a leak in the bathroom, and i called the front desk to alert them regarding it. they sent someone right up to fix it while i was out.

amenities and services as noted by the previous poster.

this is a nice hotel with a great location, right off michigan avenue.

a pleasant stay, but if i were choosing the hotel in the future, i'd probably go with another, like the intercontinental.

[Candilea]

Dates of stay: March 26-27

Hello,

I got this hotel for $70/night on Priceline, and was a little worried after reading reviews on Tripadvisor. I usually end up getting the Sheraton when I bid in the $80 range for NMA, and assumed I would get that again. My husband and I were going to Chicago for his birthday, so I wanted a nice hotel in a good location, with a few amenities. I'm not a horribly unreasonably picky traveler, but I am a bit fanatic about cleanliness, air quality and bugs, and I wanted somthing that was clean and in good condition, with some stuff going on in the area or the hotel itself. Happily, the Knickerbocker lived up to that.

When I arrived, I asked at the front desk if it was possible to get an upgrade. I'd never done that before, but had decided to try it. The clerk was happy to check for me, and told me which ones were available and the price, and I went with a Superior Plus room for another $40/night. I gave her a $10 tip as well, as I'd read in a post on this site that it was okay to do and would be appreciated.

Our room was on the 11th floor, and it was a non-smoking floor. The room was slightly larger than average size, with a nice sitting area with a couch, chair, table, desk and tv. The sleeping area was right next to the sitting area (there was no wall separating them), but in a sort of recessed area. The decor was fine, there were 2 tvs, and the bathroom was small but clean. There was no funky smell in the room (but we also brought 2 travel candles in case) and the floors were not dirty at all. The room was kept up well, considering its age; this is an old hotel, and it's obvious in that you can see dings and scratches in the the paint and wood of the floor runners and moldings, but the furniture was in good condition, things were painted well, and there were no bugs, dust or anything like that. And I did check!

We went to the bar both nights we were there, and it was great! It is no longer entirely smoking; the smoking area is a room at one end of the bar, away from the lobby and the main bar itself, and they have an air purification system in it. If you're in that part, you definitely know it, but we sat twice at a table just on the non-smoking side of the bar, and we couldn't smell smoke at all. The drinks were great, as was the service. The price is what you expect in Chicago. It was really enjoyable in the bar, and it was great to see people down there having a good time. Both nights there were a good number of folks there. You could order food from the restaurant and have it at the bar, but we didn't. They offer a flight of 3 slightly-smaller-than-normal martinis (you get to pick) for $15, and I highly recommend that if you like to sample. On our last time there (we went there 3 times), I wanted a grasshopper, which wasn't on the menu, but it was no problem at all, they have ice cream from the restaurant and whipped one up for me.

Overall, my husband and I really enjoyed this hotel, and for the character and location, we prefer it to staying at the new Sheraton. I'm not sure how much we would have liked our original, probably much smaller room that we'd been assigned, but I am definitely willing to stay here again even without an upgrade. The people there were friendly, the service was great, and the environment very nice.

[dmanwi]

Review for Millenium Knickerbocker - Chicago

check-in 08/27/07

check-out 8/28/07

Booked 2 weeks prior for $74+tax

2 adults, 7year old, 5year old and 2 year old.

Arrived around 4pm. Used the parking lot accross the street which was $35, no in-out, for an van, 24 hours. Other lots were difficult to find. Valet parking would have been $40.

At check in I requested 2 beds and was given them. Was asked if I wanted a higher or lower floor. Asked for higher. She also offered a Walton street view. I then asked for any larger or remodeled rooms and said none were available. She noted Priceline only to acknolege that everthing was paid for.

The pulic area and lobby were very nice. Doormen, front desk, concierge, bell services, were all very nice. The hallways were a bit smelly, musty.

The room seemed small. The large cabinet for Tv vending machine was huge and took up lots of space. Also the desk was massive and really unnessary. The beds were full's and poor-medium quaility. A/C worked well and the room was comfortable. Bathroom was very clean but older looking. Shelf space was adequate. We were only there for 1 night so the room size wasnt too bad. We fit a pack-n-play for the 2 year old AND a stoller in the room with no problem. There was also a huge closet which was never used.

Check out was quick and easy. Location was great for being on Michigan avenue. We did the American Girl shop.

[Bepo]

Knickerbocker. 11-12 December

Priceline at $77.

This is going to be mixed, as this hotel is rated as a 4*. It is a nice hotel, but it is no 4*. We arrived, (were dropped off) and wheeled a big bag and carried a garment bag down the street to the door. Only acknowledgment at the front door was one of the doormen holding the door for my wife with the wheeled bag. Went to check in, past a few employees and no ask if they could help. At check in we were third in line with one station opened, though 2 more did open quickly. I finally put the garment bag down on the desk, and no one including the desk person asked if I would like some help. After room assignment, headed by ourselves up to the room. Room was small, smaller than any I've seen in the US. That in itself isn't a problem, but no mention at desk if we would care to upgrade for a price. As we weren't going to spend that much time in the room it wasn't that big a deal to us.

As mentioned, the room itself was nice, relatively quiet, facing onto Walton street. The king bed is actually very comfortable.

The bathroom is another story. As someone mentioned, very modern. I've been in a few hotels of late with the shower like this, no bath tub, simply a walk in. But, trying to reach in and set the water temperature before stepping in to the shower is impossible. I've been real shy about standing under water before it comes on as I came real close to some serious burns in a shower in London a few years back. This morning both of us just skipped the shower and figured we'd get washed up when we got home.

As far as amenities, such as soaps, lotions, etc, I've seen more and better at much cheaper hotels. There was a generic shampoo and generic lotion. And one bar of soap for the room. And, the bathroom has an opaque glass door which is weird on many levels. When one gets up during the night to use the bathroom, the light from that room lights the whole bed area.

Lastly, when we came back to our room at 4pm yesterday, there were 2 dirty wine glasses sitting on the floor outside the room across the hall from us. They were still there this morning at 11:30am when we checked out. Apparently the wine glass picker upper was off and no one was responsible for picing them up.

Again, this isn't a bad hotel. The lobby was nice, the bar seemed okay, the room was nice enough, and I don't think I was cheated or anything, but......certainly based on service and amenities, this certainly isn't a 4* hotel. I wouldn't book it on my own, and doubt I'd recommend it to anyone.