Stay Report: Crowne Plaza Chicago West Loop (Chicago - November 2019)

Stay Report: Crowne Plaza Chicago West Loop

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I was meeting friends in Chicago and were looking for a place that was walking distance to Chicago downtown.  We had originally booked an AirBnb but that fell through so about 4 days prior to my arrival I looked and found the Crowne Plaza Chicago West Loop.  The hotel had good reviews, was within walking distance to many sights and local transportation, and had two rooms available.   I had booked the two rooms together and after I booked through the app I contacted the hotel to 1) confirm all 4 names of the guests were on the reservation and 2) ensure that the rooms would be held near each other.  Two days prior to the arrival I contacted the hotel again to confirm that all 4 members of the party were on the reservation and each could check-in without having me be present.  Unfortunately, this did not happen as my friend could not check into the room 'for security reasons' even though his name was on the reservation and his ID name matched.  The hotel said that they needed to contact 'the person whose booked the reservation to confirm the credit card' and even when I did it for my friend, I had to do it again for my other friends as well; it was not a great start to the reservation.



The hotel itself is located right across one the many walkways from downtown Chicago.  The hotel is located in Greek Town and there are many shops, restaurants, and access to transportation all within a 5 minute walk of the hotel.  As far as location, the hotel is very nicely located to either walk or transport yourself to many of Chicago's destinations (we walked from the hotel to the Willis Tower and it took about 10 minutes).  The entrance is set off of the road along an entryway, and that is the only odd thing about the hotel.  As you enter the hotel, the check-in desks are on the left while there is a sitting area on the right.  The sitting area leads into the attached hotel restaurant and bar and right behind the sitting area are the elevators and stairs.  The stairs lead up to the meeting rooms and the fitness center, which are both located on the second floor.  As my friends had already checked in, the only think I needed to do was pick up the keys and put the incidentals on my credit card - it was very easy (not a lot of communication from the front desk attendant) and I received my key and went up to my room.  

The hallway itself looked clean and modern and it was fine, but it was a little short; I am 6'1 and my friend is 6'3 and we both felt like heightwise the hotel was smaller than what we had experienced in other hotels. As for the room, you enter into an entryway which has the bathroom on the right and the closet on the left, and further up the entryway leads into the bedroom area.  The bathroom was large and contained a sink, a toilet, shower, as well as bathroom toiletries.  The closet was also a decent size and contained shelves, an iron and ironing board, as well as places to hang your clothes.  In the bedroom area, this room had two queen size beds with a nightstand in the middle.  Across from the beds was a chest with drawers on the bottom and a TV on top; the chest also contained the safe and the coffee maker.  In between the bed and the entrance to the balcony was a desk, and the balcony was a nice addition as it provided a nice ambiance and outside view to the room.  The beds themselves were comfortable, large, with lots of pillows, and provided a nice sleep.  Overall, the room was comfortable and there were tons of amenities for the guests to enjoy but there was a serious lack of lighting in the room.  There was a light in the hallway, a light in the bathroom, but in the bedroom there were only reading lights and lamps that were above the bed and at night it made for a dark and dimly lit room.

The hotel is full service so there were many facilities for the guests to enjoy including wifi, a fitness center, a restaurant, meeting rooms, business center, and parking garage.  Because we were mostly walking outside I was only able to try the wifi, which was complimentary and had pretty decent speeds.  The wifi was fast enough to check email, stream videos, and do searches as well.  You could also access the internet from the 'business center' which were computers and a printer set up in one part of the lobby.

Overall, it was a nice stay at the Crowne Plaza Chicago West Loop.  The location was nice - within walking distance to restaurants, sights, and services; the amenities were plentiful for guests; and the rooms were comfortable.  The only downside was the management or lack their of and their lack of customer service towards guests and especially IHG members.  Everyone one of the management staff that we interacted with was not customer friendly, did not have a good attitude, and never acknowledged nor appreciated the IHG membership.