Renaissance Hotels in Chicago

The hotel is beautiful and situated in a great location, but sadly I had a poor experience with one of the front desk representatives - Rebecca - who worked the evening shift. I was berated by this particular employee in a way that I have never before experienced in a professional customer service oriented setting. One evening, when I had approached the counter to purchase a couple of convenience staples, she was very unapproachable and asked in a very irritable manner how I was going to pay. She then took my card without saying a word and disappeared to the back room where she remained for 7 minutes or so. When she came back out, I asked her if the card machine was broken, and she flipped out - raising her voice and berating me in a nonsensical manner. I asked her what her name was, and she began saying it loudly and in a hostile manner, saying it over and over again and telling me to contact management if I had a problem. Her behavior was downright disgusting and a poor reflection of the hotel and the city of Chicago in general. She is not a good fit for the hotel and most certainly has cost this business money as anyone else she has accosted is unlikely to return, including those like myself who had spent well into the 4 figure range over the course of my stay. The next morning, I was worried that she would accost my family (my wife and toddler) as we departed early in the morning.

The hotel is very nice but I found the airport shuttle service severely lacking (see below). I booked a Park,Stay,Fly package as I had an early flights and also needed parking. The hotel itself is excellent--great two room suites, large showers with Aveda bathroom products, and a nice pool area with with sauna, whirlpool, and gym. I think the hotel needs to work a lot better to provide consistent information regarding their shuttle service. A flier or card for guests who will need a return shuttle (with times/phone numbers/etc)would have been helpful and perhaps better training of staff to give accurate and consistent information when questions are asked. I parked in the timed limited spots near the front door on arrival as it was not clear where long term parking would be. I was told when checking in to park in the lot and bring my ticket back for validation and that I would be good to go when I returned 5 days later. When I returned 10 minutes later the next clerk said I would need to stop at the front desk to have my ticket validated when I got back on the return shuttle. When I checked out, the next morning, I asked again and was told I needed to stop back at the front desk. (I was a little worried line could be long on the way back). The shuttle to the airport was great. I was dropped off at my terminal 5 and asked the driver what to do for the return shuttle. I asked if it was at the Bus/Shuttle entrance, but he said, no since you're in Terminal 5 call when you get back and they would make a T5 stop to pick me up when that shuttle came through. Upon arriving back, I called the hotel and a shuttle was just about the leave and would coming through T5 shortly. The clerk who answered did not seem confident about the exact location or even the color of the shuttle which was a little worrisome. She said if I missed it to just wait 45 minutes for the next one. The waiting area in T5 is on a narrow curb between lanes of moving traffic and it was only 50 degrees outside. It is also difficult to talk to someone when calling the number. You have to listen to a long list of options, then stay on hold and hope someone actually answers the line. The shuttle did come along but there was a massive line of people to get on this shuttle. It was very unclear whether there would be enough room for everyone and the shuttle driver did not sort that out up front but was saying he wasn't sure if all the luggage was going to fit and some of might need to wait for the next shuttle (45 minutes later!). I wish he could have just done a quick head count and let us know but he spent 20 minutes loading luggage into the back when it was unclear if everyone would even have a seat. My luggage was large and I didn't want him to have to unload everyone else's to get mine out if there wasn't going to be a seat. After waiting 5 minutes with no answer, I decided to take a cab back. However, none off the cabs from T5 would take me such a short distan