Arlo Chicago — Hotel in Chicago

I had decided I was going to rate this place 3 stars, until the last hour of our stay here...

Similar to what some of the other reviews have said, I also think they opened earlier than they should have.

Our first night here, we asked for cups because we didn't have any in our room and it took them a good 15-20 minutes to send someone up there with cups. Only mildly annoying if this was the only thing that happened, but it was just the first of many. Also, our first room didn't have a toilet paper holder. Just an observation to support my opinion that they opened earlier than they should have.

Our room was pretty warm. My husband and I like to sleep in really cold temperatures, so I understand we might have expectations that exceed their capabilities. However, the room should be cold enough to where we aren't waking up sweating in the middle of the night... They moved us to a different room thinking there might be an issue with the air in our room, but the second room was pretty much just as warm.

On our second day, we decided to use the fitness center. There were men still working right outside the fitness center as well as tools and equipment left inside the fitness center. In addition, there was no water at all in the fitness center, which I thought was bizarre - not even a water fountain! Also there aren't any water bottles in the rooms. So bring your own water bottle if you want to work out.

Each room is supposed to have a steamer in it, but the room we got moved to was missing one. My husband and I were getting ready to head out and he needed to steam his shirt. We called the front desk and it took 25 minutes for someone to come up with a steamer. While we were waiting, housekeeping had knocked on our door twice because they were waiting for us to leave so they could clean our room. We were trying to leave but were delayed because it took so long for them to send us the steamer that should have been there in the first place. Pretty annoying.

We went down to the bar to have a couple of drinks and the bartender definitely had a chip on his shoulder. We had amazing bar and restaurant service everywhere we went in Chicago - except for this hotel.

Our stay here doesn't seem TOO bad so far, but we had the last straw the day we left. We told the front desk we wanted a late check out (which costs extra by the way). While we were getting ready to pack up and head out, we had someone knock on our door aggressively THREE times within 30 minutes telling us to check out because someone else was checking in soon... My husband and I were pretty furious. We've never encountered anything like that at any other hotel. When we checked out, we told the same front desk person we had spoken to earlier about what happened. She apologized, but still charged us the extra $25 to check out late... I didn't feel as though she was taking our complaint seriously enough so I repeated the story when the manager came nearby.

Overall, the location of the hotel was great, some of the staff was really nice, the hotel interior and the rooms were really nice, but we wouldn't stay here again. We really wanted to love it! :(

Update

Changing this to 1 star because of Hotel Julian's response... I'm not even sure they actually read my review or maybe they didn't understand it. I wasn't upset about being charged extra for checking out... I understand there is a fee and we were more than happy to pay for it. I was unhappy with the service we received throughout our stay. It was unlike any hotel experience we've ever had, and not in a good way. Word of advice to Hotel Julian - you should not be defending your staff when they are treating your...

I would give negative stars, but the lowest you can go is one. If you are considering this hotel, think twice. I would rather go to a bed-bug-filled hotel than to Arlo.

What happened is that the hotel staff gave my suitcase to another guest.

This happened in early April, and the hotel manager assured me that I didn't have to worry as they would reimburse me for my loss and extra expenses incurred due to their negligence. I went home, trusting they were telling the truth.

However, this happened two months ago, and I am appalled at the lack of transparency and willingness to solve this issue.

At first, it sounded like the hotel was diligently solving this situation. They identified the guest and said they were in touch with this person. I trusted what the hotel manager told me: that they had reached out to the guest and that he was a traveling artist and difficult to reach, but that they were already generating the labels to send to this guest and would send the suitcase shortly. Then they said the issue was that, since I was in Canada, they had to list all the items in the suitcase due to customs. Ok, that makes sense, and I kept trusting that the hotel was proactively working to solve this issue. I told them I would be in Chicago again in May (about a month after this incident) and requested that they ask the other guest to send the suitcase to the hotel, so I could pick it up myself and avoid any further delays. When I was about to leave for Chicago, they said they had heard back from the guest only once, and then they never got ahold of them again. At this point, I went to the police to report this. Only then the hotel informed me that a police report was needed to move forward with their insurance process (which I thought was already moving to reimburse me for extra expenses incurred).

Mistakes happen - even serious mistakes. What gets me, though, is the lack of transparency and attention regarding this matter. I am the one calling the hotel frequently, and even when they say they will call back or send an email, they rarely do. I only heard from them through emails after I mentioned I would go to the police. I requested that they send me the info for their insurance claim so that I can confirm that they are doing their part and stay in the loop. They promised to send it but never did. Recently, the management staff is never there when I call. They seem impossible to reach.

So far, the only thing the hotel did was to tell me that they fired the person who handed the suitcase to the wrong guest. That does not solve any of my issues, nor change the fact that the suitcase was under the hotel's responsibility.

They keep brushing me off, possibly hoping that I give up. Meanwhile, we are missing work equipment that we need which is expensive to acquire, and we have not yet been reimbursed for any expenses incurred due to their negligence.

My most headachy and expensive hotel stay ever. Worse than bed bugs, for sure. At least when the problem is bed bugs, you leave with more than you had. In this case, I left with less, except for the extra headaches.

Update 2023-06-21: Still no contact from the hotel even after they’ve posted that they would get in...

Had the pleasure of staying on their opening night, October 1st. They were clearly feeling rushed as there were still boxes in the hallway of the 14th floor upon check-in and the air vent in my room was not completely attached to the wall. Check-in itself was a little disorganized and lengthy, however I was offered complimentary champagne so that made the wait tolerable. When I inquired if they had a hotel car, I was directed to their Valet service... so that's different.

When I asked about seating in the restaurant area, they were quick to tell me that they were open for service... mm okay, there are other ways to deliver that message.

The room itself was pretty standard size for a hotel in prime real-estate, some might find it small and unfortunately I was looking into a wall. Again, I realize they had just opened but it is as-if no one had done a final walk-through, the air vent was disconnected from the wall. The pillows were limp and marshmallows (in a bad way). The elevators seem slow for a smaller hotel, as I was waiting a long time for a completely full elevator on all my departures. The saving grace is that it is a new property and for the price, it is a great place to stay.

Check-out: I took advantage of the Bag check upon Check Out and when I came back to retrieve my bag, it was around 4:30pm, so I understand they were trying to check Guests in. However, instead of anticipating this, they had multiple people at the front desk but only one person running to get bags. Since multiple people were trying to re-claim their luggage, I waited almost a half hour for my bags. Not only was there a line of people (clustering and crowding their small waiting area, making it seem even more congested and small) but to even hand off my ticket to the correct employee took longer than anticipated. What if I had a flight and had to leave for the airport right away? This was incredibly disappointing, as one would think the hotel would try to expedite Guests exit. I should not have to wait a half hour for my bags. Lastly, because there was a delay in the check-in, the group next to me was apparently offered to have their rooms comp'd. I was disappointed that the Manager just offered this within earshot. Admittedly, I did not say anything about the condition of my room but I feel like the condition of my room should be offered a grievance of some kind.

Overall, I would return for the location and the price, I booked the room at under $200/night which is an outstanding deal.

UPDATE Stayed again in JAN and the hot water took no exaggeration 10 minutes to run. Luckily the building engineer came immediately after calling and was able to fix. I was impressed by the response and how he went out of his way to...