Intercontinental Chicago

So here’s the deal. The room looks relatively swanky. Nice amenities, up to date, and clean. That’s great, especially if all you want to do is to lie in bed and look around. The issue is that is if you have to work here or eat or unpack in here or sit and relax in here, it is completely dysfunctional. First, the AC is either on at full blast, or you need to turn it down--like 65 degrees or 80: no in-between. Second, there isn’t a closet. There is a small armoire with no drawers. There is a top shelf... okay, but it's high and only accessible for a tall man. If you aren’t convinced at how little storage space they store the extra roll of toilet paper on the top shelf of the armoire!! Third, if you note the photos there is a one-foot shelf protruding from the wall where I guess you are supposed to lay out your incidentals. Okay. But that’s it. The only chair is a stool with no back, and the only space on the shelf that is bigger than 6 inches (maybe 8 inches) is in front of the mirror. I guess that’s good for someone to do their makeup? Since I’m no beauty queen this was useless for me. I am here for work. I need at least a desk. At worst a chair. Even if I were to sit on this stool and try to put my laptop halfway off this shelf (see photos), there are no plugs close by. It looks like there is an outlet that has been covered as if to mock you. Last night I thought I might order food in the room after a long flight. But I’d have to eat it standing up. I’m not sure what that would look like especially since the food they’re selling you is from Michael Jordan’s steak house downstairs (am I going to spend $75 for a steak to stand and eat it over a roll-away table?? ). The water that came out of the shower was brown. The beds are comfortable, but I'd expect that from a hotel at this price. But come on Intercontinental. Even if you want to sell a room this sized: Put one bed in a room this small, add a reasonably sized armoire, and a desk or at least a chair with a back on it! Here's the kicker. I went downstairs to tell them: "Look, I've traveled a lot, and you guys really need to work on putting, at the very least, a chair in this room. I can put the laptop on my lap and live out of my suitcase, but I have a bad back, and a stool is a joke." What did they tell me? This whole tower is essentially the 'lower class' tower, and that if I want a desk or chair or closet, I need to book the more expensive tower. That's the answer? Then I got this lovely pop-up on my screen "our promise: love your stay or let us know. We'll always make it right." Perfect, I called them. THE NUMBER IS OUT OF SERVICE. I thought "surely I dialed wrong." NOPE. Verizon told me a couple times this number was out of service. I'm shocked. My mother is a travel agent at a big NYC travel agency, and so I have been blessed over the years at visiting and staying at some of the best hotels -- my favorite being the 5-star Hotel du Palais Biarritz. When I travel for work, I stay at 3-star Hiltons, Sheratons, etc... When I travel alone, I'm all about the 1-star Motel 6 (the one I stayed at in Indianapolis had cockroaches... but I killed them, and the room had a desk, so bonus!). So I know the range of hotels. There are hostels I've stayed at in Europe that are more equipped for someone who needs to work, relax, or eat in their room. I'd write more, but I'm sitting on this stool, and my back is killing me. I was hoping to save money and eat in, but I've got to go spend a lot of money in Chicago because bringing food in is not an option. Hey Intercontinental, figure this out! And please, don't say you want to "make it right" and then offer a phone number that is out of service. Don't make promises you can't keep: my mommy told me that when I was young. Sheesh. Read less

I am specifically reviewing a room in the Grand Tower. I was first given a room in the Executive Tower. It smelled like mildew, there was actual black mold behind the toilet and the room looked very tired. I have environmental allergies and I asked to be moved to a renovated room. The front desk staff was nice about accommodating me, but charged me an additional $125 to move me into a room that did not smell. The Grand Tower room was large, well decorated and clean, but pretty expensive for what you get considering the upcharge. I would never stay in the Executive Tower. It is not to the standard I would expect from an Intercontinental Hotel. It desperately needs a full gut renovation. Read less

Normally I wouldn’t complain about our stay, but why am I being charged for amenities fees/taxes of over $30 which I believe is for a single can of coke we did use from the mini bar area. We were charged $9.75 for the can as well (which I understand and except even though that’s a ridiculous amount). But in essence, I am paying over $40 for a can of coke??? And to add to our issues with our stay, the bed was in poor condition, obviously old and overused collapsing in the center, for my wife and I. Additionally, the shower/tub had a very restricted drain causing you to stand in 2-3 inches of used water by the time you were exiting the shower. The main restaurant experience was no better unfortunately. We waited over 40 minutes for our meal (2 people) when it wasn’t busy and we observed people seated well after us getting their meals in a timely manner. Our waiter was very pleasant but the reasoning of the problem made no sense - one meal was overcooked (but when it finally came out, it was still overcooked and the other was cold) Read less

Our hotel stay was perfect. The service was very quick, the hotel receptionist was really helpful. The rooms were really spacious and the bathroom was extremely clean. The location is perfect, a lot of places are walking distance with many shops around the corner like Pandora and countless others. This is our second time staying at this hotel, we stayed here last year and are coming back to stay at this hotel in a few days. One of the best locations in chicago. Read less