Introduction
We had a 1 night layover in Chicago in the summer of July 2018, and we sorta splurged and booked the Gwen. I chose SPG just because I was trying to re-qualify for Platinum and these were the options I had at the time. The value of 3+ cpp was sort of a no-brainer to me. Looking back, I’m surprised it’s not a 16K a night hotel.
Getting to hotel
We took the blue line down to downtown Chicago. It was HOT that day, and after stopping by a 7-11, the wife said, “We make money. We can Uber to the hotel vs walking the 15+ minutes in the heat with our carry-ons.” I wasn’t going to win that battle.
Checkin
I had an issue at checkin whereby a) I had to wait a bit too long (I know 5 minutes sounds like nothing, but after a while, you sort of wonder why this fancy hotel can’t have more reps to help people check-in.) And that’s what happened after 5 minutes, a 3rd person came from the back and helped check me in. As she was doing this, the rep next to me asked her guests if they would like some champagne. That’s when I noticed the champagne bottle and a dozen glasses behind the check-in desk. I assumed all guests were offered this; or even if it was only Platinum guests, I’d be offered this too. I wasn’t offered it. After that, the person never even explained to me all the hotel amenities or even my Platinum benefits. It seemed she just wanted to process my check-in as fast as possible and get back to the back again.
Also because the hotel was sold out, my suite night award wasn’t processed, so we just got a regular room. Or maybe we got upgraded to a better view; I don’t know – the agent didn’t tell me anything. I took the issue up with the GM afterwards with the help of a reader.
Wifi
It was fine; no big issues.
Room
The room was fine although I could hear some rowdy people walking back to the their room at night. Surprisingly, I couldn’t hear anyone the next morning; that could be because we woke up at around 9AM or so.
Breakfast
As a Platinum member, I chose the breakfast amenity, which I believe was $14 worth of dining credit per guest. This was the menu when we went.
Conclusion
Besides the check-in issue, I think the hotel’s location is great. It’s right on Michigan ave. It’s connected to a mall with a Nordstrom’s. Uno’s pizza is about a ~5 minute walk away. Portillo’s is about ~15 minutes. I do think the hotel thinks it’s too fancy to GAF (I won’t get into those details,) so as long as nothing goes wrong on your stay, it’s a great hotel.
Pictures
My wife and I recently stayed there in the same situation, an overnight prior to an international flight, and my impression was essentially identical to yours. Nice rooms and a decent location, but there is no way I’d pay to stay at this hotel. I’m glad I was able to use a free night certificate.
For us, we got a $13 credit per person for breakfast and our server disappeared for so long that I eventually got up and grabbed us more coffee myself from the caraffe at the wait station .
Eh, SPG has free night certs?
But yes, the service there is very lacking. Not like they weren’t helpful; like they just didn’t care.
Yeah, SPG offered two Category 1-5 free night certificates through a promotion I participated in earlier this year (book two stays through the mobile app and earn one free night for each stay).