Hotwire Hotel: 4* Chicago (Loop) W Chicago City Center

[TammieW]

Okay dates are 3/19-3/21, one room 2 adults.

Magnificent Mile Area-Streeterville Hotel

4 Stars $69.00 (sounding like an awesome deal)

fitness, resturant, business center, internet, spa

What could this be?

North Michigan Avenue-Water Tower-Gold Coast

4 stars $79

fitness, resturant, business, internet

?

Magnificent Mil area-streeterville

4.5 stars $99

fitness, resturant, business, internet

Chicago Loop

4 stars $84

fitness, resturant, business, internet

celebrating wedding anniversary and would like a nice place, would consider a 3.5 if I knew a nicer one. Really want nice roomy room, poss view, any extras...

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding! :)

Congrats on your anniversary!

The 4* Mag Mile would likely be the Hyatt. Very nice deal, but not a very romantic property.

The 4.5* Mag Mile could possibly be the Conrad, James or Intercontinental - not a bad option in that bunch.

The 4* Loop is a possible match for the W City Center, which is a hotel that I like, but is very understandably a "love it or hate it" hotel.

4* NMA = possibly the Knickerbocker, Allerton, Westin Michigan Ave or Drake.

HOTWIRE and PRICELINE reservations are not eligible for upgrades, but one deal that I found was on Expedia for the W Lakeshore; $119 for a "Spectacular" (in other words, lake view) room, and coupon code 10WINTER takes $10 off per night on Expedia. Again, the W chain is understandably not going to be everyone's cup-of-tea, but a VERY good deal for an upgraded room at this property.

A few other notes: The Burnham, which is a gorgeous, historic Kimpton boutique property (including free wine reception) is $124 on Expedia on sale (and use coupon 10WINTER for $10 off) and the Allegro (another Kimpton that was recently renovated is $108 (and $10 off.) However, the Allegro is in the West Loop, and while the Loop can be quiet in general at night, this particular area can be particularly quiet later in the evening.

One unusual suggestion would be the Buckingham Athletic Club, which is $126 on Expedia.com (and $10 off using the coupon.) That is a high-end private Athletic Club that has rooms on the 40th floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange building. Guests can use the very extensive athletic club facilities and get free breakfast. So, this would offer free breakfast, use of the extremely nice athletic club and views. Since this property is on the 40th floor, rooms have very nice views towards the lake or of the city. The tripadvisor page for the hotel has some photos that users have taken of the views. To top it all off, the room service provider for the hotel (according to the website) is Everest, the famed restaurant from chef J. Joho, which I believe is on the same floor.

Please use the site's Expedia, Orbitz, PRICELINE or HOTWIRE links to start your purchases and searches.

[TammieW]

Thank you SOOOOO much for your tips they were AWESOME. I saw that deal for the W Lakeshore and did not know about the $10 off SUPER DEAL, THANKS :) but with the HOTWIRE one being a W hotel as well and less money I took my chances and GOT IT, YAHOO!!!!

Congratulations, you saved 15%

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see you received the hotel you were hoping for and are happy with the results.

Thank you for sharing your results with the board (maybe ask your friend to post his/her results too? :) )

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

Enjoy your stay.

[AaronJB]

In terms of the W City Center, ask for a room on the South face of the building, which should face away from the "L" and would not be one of the inward facing properties. Given that this property is in the middle of the Loop, there is not going to be a whole lot in the way of views, but if you get one of the outward facing rooms, you will see the surrounding streets.

This is one of the rare instances where I've actually ordered room service at a hotel, and it was pretty good - while there are plenty of great restaurants in the city and I'd rather recommend going out somewhere, if you get stuck in the hotel, it's not a bad option at all. Additionally, while this property has gotten some mixed reviews for service, I thought it was actually the best hotel staff I've encountered at a downtown property.

If you're coming from the airports, the hotel is quite convenient to a series of different "L" stops.

This property used to have rooms with a VERY dark feel (both in terms of light and color), but it recently underwent a pretty dramatic renovation, from the looks of it.

You can actually see the before/after and more about the renovation here:

http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/12/...ago_City_Center

[TammieW]

Okay, now I am nervous, taking the cheaper way out may have been a bad idea as I am just now reading the reviews and am VERY NERVOUS about staying at the W City Center...I am hearing that the rooms are VERY small with even SMALLER bathrooms and closets...not what I had in mind for a anniversary weekend. I am surprised "Hotwire" would list such a hotel as 4 stars with these type of reviews...quite a few are saying the same thing I just read over 150 reviews and they were consistant. I called to see if I can request the room recommended...RUDE. Ohhh nervous about this, what should I do???

[thereuare]

If you paid rack rate you might be disappointed too... but at sub-$100 for a Downtown Chicago hotel i imagine you'll receive some value for the price paid. Yes, it sounds as if the rooms are small, but go out and enjoy Chicago, and come back to one of the best beds in the hotel business.

[AaronJB]

The W is very much a "love it or hate it" property. The W Lakeshore also gets similarly mixed reviews (as do quite a few other W locations.) Additionally, as I noted earlier, this property used to have a VERY dark look and feel (like, "I think I need night vision to walk down the hall" dark - there's a hotel called the Night Hotel in NYC - this could have been called the W Night), which I think turned a lot of people off. However, the look and feel of the property was changed recently.

Additionally, the room that I had wasn't small, and was actually quite average for a major city room. If you liked the W Lakeshore, hopefully you'll feel similarly about this property.

[AaronJB]

I found someone's video tour of the hotel on Youtube: W City Center. As different as the redone rooms looked in pictures, they look very different on video and the halls are completely night-and-day redone. Lobby - which is rather interesting architecturally - is still the same. The video is about 5 minutes and goes through much of the hotel. The rooms and hall actually look rather Hotel Indigo-ish in some regards.

[TammieW]

Thank you all. I really value the video, I will go and we will see what happens...will update after visit!! THANKS AGAIN. O going to New York in April so will be looking for more help then, yahoo!!

[AaronJB]

Happy to help! I think if you liked the W Lakeshore, you'll hopefully feel similarly about this property. Reviews of hotels are greatly appreciated and can be placed in the reviews section of the board.