Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile

Excellent location If you are in Chicago to do touristy things, you cannot ask for a more convenient location. 2 blocks from Grand subway station, walking distance to Hancock building, Riverwalk, Navy Pier, etc. Cruises and bus tours generally will have a stop nearby at the river. Dozens of great restaurant options within a block or two (we loved Hampton Social and Goddess and the Baker). Rooms appeared to be recently updated. Extra towels, when requested, were provided very quickly. Cheery, helpful staff -- in the elevator, a bellman that was bringing up someone else's luggage welcomed us and gave us some tourist "must-do's". Elevator was so fast my ears popped. Downsides - check in is ALWAYS busy. Sliding bathroom doors provided privacy in terms of vision only -- you can hear everything going on in there. Limited restaurant service. Skip the buffet breakfast, available only on weekends. It is mediocre and overpriced -- I was shocked when I got my bill, but should have checked first. Go across the street to Stan's Donuts instead, or try The Goddess and the Baker in the other direction.

Great location This Marriott is right smack in the middle of everything. The bus stop that takes you down to Millenium Park is right outside it. Metro station is two blocks away. Shops and restaurants are close by. It’s a 10-minute walk to the dock where they launch the river cruises. The hotel itself is ok. The room furnishing looks new-ish. Lobby needs a bit of an upgrade, though the bar area looks redone. Service is so-so. We didn’t get an upgrade despite having Elite status. Housekeeping is pretty fast at delivering requests, though! Overall, an ok stay. Will explore other hotels next time.

Skip this place Hotel is notorious for not caring about elite benefits. Was literally given nothing for my stay - no recognition of status, no room upgrade, etc. When I asked about the lounge they just curtly said ‘it’s closed’. As of July 1 Marriott clearly told franchisees to adhere to brand standards. This hotel is a joke.

Poorly run Marriott banking on its location Booked 2 nights stay for 3 over Independence Day weekend. Hotel website said no valet but when we called the hotel the receptionist said there would be. Decided on self parking anyway because we didn’t want to wait for valet. Hotel’s sign in the front for self-parking address was wrong so had to call hotel again to get the correct address. Receptionist on phone was helpful. Check in late Saturday night: long line. Elite check in line was unmanned and there was no sign saying so; instead a front desk personnel walking past brusquely told us to go to the other line. So much for Elite membership. Did get a complimentary upgrade to a higher floor - appreciate it. Upon getting into room, first thing to greet us was a small piece of food (dried pizza crust?) on the floor. Aircon worked quite well, thankfully, given how hot it was. Tub (for shower) drained extremely slowly; we called it in, “at your service” said they would send someone up in 20 minutes to “plunge it out”. 20 minutes later we called and suggested doing so tomorrow as it was late and was told to call anytime we want it done. Sunday morning about 10: Called and let “at your service” know they could send the engineer up to clear the tub drain. Came back to room at 11:30 am with pizza to find that all 3 room keys and the mobile key were not working. Called hotel to be told to restart phone. Still not working. Went down to front desk - long line again - to get new keys. Asked “why” and was told indifferently “don’t know - system says it’s working”. Went up to find that the new keys still didn’t work. Suspected that the room door sensor was out of battery so requested that an engineer be sent. Engineer confirmed our diagnosis and said had to drill open the door. He went to get tools and proceeded to do so. Only guy who cared and who apologized for the inconvenience - appreciate it. In the meantime I went down to the front desk and asked to speak to the manager to provide feedback. Manager’s response was along the lines of “only thing I could do is to give you some points”. Told her I did not want any comps or points - I have lifetime titanium elite status and over 700,000 points , and still paid for this stay; I’m giving this feedback in case they care - which obviously they don’t - having seen all these “please reach out to management” responses, and having to wait to get into the room while our pizzas were getting cold anyway. Obviously the front desk staff couldn’t care less. Fortunately there are other choices, especially since I also have Hilton Diamond status. Obviously we won’t be back as I don’t believe in patronizing businesses that don’t care about service, but I’m sure there are lots of others who would still stay here because of its location. Oh and the tub still doesn’t drain - nobody came.

Overall nice stay. We stayed at the hotel 3 nights. The room was on 31st floor with two double beds and had an amazing city view. However the housekeeping department should clean the room more properly before check-in. The bottom of the window, lamp, and the top of the beds were dusty. The AC in the room was so loud that we did not sleep for the first ight. Engineering was able to fix it but the sound came back. Was impressed with Guest services department. Everything that we needed was done immediately. Everybody was very polite and attentive. Overall was very nice stay and we are glad to come back.