Cambria Hotel Chicago Loop - Theatre District — Hotel in Chicago

First off, let me say that I appreciate the reasonability and cost associated with this booking. I booked through a third-party agency and I think that’s why the cost was so reasonable. Chicago is my favorite city, and we had never stayed at Cambria hotels before.

Pros were that we arrived early and was able to check in into our room as soon as we arrived. This is was appreciated so much because I was traveling with a child and we were in town for the Beyoncé concert. This courtesy gave us the time we needed to relax and also shower and have a little bit of fun before going to the concert. The ladies at the front desk were also so kind with helping us navigate the parking situation, because the parking garage was confusing. I called three times to confirm that we were parking in the right parking place and each time the ladies were so kind.

Now let’s get to the room. First off, the rooms are nice size, because when you are on a vacation, you don’t spend your time in the room- so the size didn’t matter. Hotel is nice. Lobby is nice. Everything is good, but I believe that they skimped on our hotel room and cleaning particularly. Not sure if this is why our room was ready early, but I would have preferred to wait until it was cleaned. As I said, this is not something that you take lightly and especially because I was traveling with a child. Upon getting settled, sitting down, washing hands and watching TV, I got up to shower and I noticed the floor was not swept. I called and requested a housekeeping come. The housekeeper came and took some pictures. She left to get us some sheets because the sheets also had stains and she was gone for about 40 mins. I went to her cart outside and started sweeping myself because we had to get ready for the concert. This is something I should not have had to do and something I can say I have never had to do at a hotel before and we travel quite often.

Upon taking a shower I noticed it didn’t drain. This is so nasty to have to stand in water and unhygienic. We had to wet our bodies, turn it off so we didn’t have to stand in water and then turn it on to wash the soap off our bodies. The bedding and mattress also had a lot of blood on it. This needs to be reported because this is horrible and unrealistic. We travel with disposable sheets, otherwise I would have asked for a manager to come up. This is not how customers should be treated, because I know your families would not be staying in a hotel with these many issues.

Also, the cost of parking was reasonable, because we had in and out privileges, but the parking was not connected to the hotel. This becomes a huge inconvenience when you’re traveling with luggage, bags, etc. Also one night we went down to the lobby to buy food and there was no one manning the station. So I had to take the drink up to my room and call down to let them know to charge it to our room. What if I would’ve tried to steal it? Would no one have noticed. Also, we tried to get dinner/food that night and the girl in the restaurant said oh we just closed but wasn’t able to provide any type of alternative meals. This is a huge inconvenience and just was very impersonal. Honestly I just didn’t like how she said it, she appeared to be working alone and I feel as if another order would have added to much to her plate. There were people there without food or drinks, so I’m not sure if she just didn’t wanna take our order or what.

I’ve reported this to customer service and told them I would be doing a review to inform the customers specifically about...

There are a few reasons and I might have rated higher than someone else would have based on a couple of things personal to me and my decision regarding housekeeping upon check-in, so some of this could maybe have been resolved had we had housekeeping:

1. there was only one trash can in the entire room and it was in the bathroom, which was not a huge deal, but we were almost overflowing for trash the morning we left, just surprised there wasn’t one in the main sleeping area or living room area.
2. we reserved the room for 5 people and only were given 4 big towels. I had to request an extra towel. Again, not a huge deal at all.
3. Upon check in I was asked if I wanted housekeeping…initially I said no, she told me if I changed my mind they needed a 24-hr notice. Initially I was thinking we could turn our own beds down, but I wasn’t thinking about the towels needing to be picked up and new ones dropped off for the next day. When I went to the desk same day we came to check in to change my mind about housekeeping just so we could get fresh towels and remove the other used ones, Maria told me I would need to call Housekeeping because we didn’t set up for housekeeping the next day and it would be a special request I could handle with them. Not a big deal. I thought there would be information about how to contact housekeeping somewhere in the room. There was no welcome packet that I could find. I looked at the phone to see if there was a number to dial for housekeeping. We couldn’t find one, but there was a number for the theater. I called the main number at the top of the phone. Option 2 said Housekeeping & Lost and Found. I called at three different times and a message came on that the mailbox was full each time. I went back down to the desk and got five towels and washcloths for the next day from Maria. Again, not a huge deal.
4. The product used on the floor to clean it was either very sticky or not rinsed off the floors very well because our shoes and feet kind of stuck to it. We noticed a lot of areas just kind of missed during the cleaning of the room, but the room smelled clean, so it wasn’t the end of the world. It didn’t ruin our stay. The bedding was good. Clean.
5. the staff was friendly, so I rated the stay an 8 mostly for that. The beds were comfortable and the soaps and shampoo/conditioner in the bathroom smelled very nice. The water was hot for each of us to shower. That was also really nice.

I think for the price, it could maybe have just been a little cleaner. There were some marks on different things in the room and in the bathroom and big scored marks on the floor next to the front door. The Keurig was kind of dirty looking. Some hairs on a blanket in the closet which I pulled off of an extra blanket but overall the room was nice and very well air conditioned and comfortable. We had to turn it down several times because it was actually too cold in the room.

All the things we wanted to do were very close to our hotel, within walking distance of 30 minutes or close to transit. We had a parking garage very close to the hotel. Proximity to everything was very good for us. The hotel was quiet and the other occupants of the hotel were friendly. The majority of our vacation was not in the hotel, so I think the overall cost and the moderate cleanliness of the hotel room was offset by the reason why we came to Chicago. We enjoyed our stay in Chicago and our stay at the Cambria!

I believe we would stay here...

I recently booked a stay at Cambria Hotels Chicago Loop - Theatre District for the weekend of 07/05 - 07/08. I was not able to make it to the hotel until late Saturday evening after being involved in a serious car wreck. Upon arrival, I felt confident that I’d be able to rest and enjoy my stay. I was mistaken. Upon arrival, I waited outside on the sidewalk with 3 other guests because the keycard system used for entry was not working. The front desk had been notified and someone opened the doors after some time. I took the elevator to the lobby and went to the front desk. Here, I was met by a very nasty woman, Jenate. Without greeting me, I introduced myself to her and gave her my information for my reservation. There was an issue recorded in the notes and when prompted for more information on the problem, she failed to provide adequate information. She did not even try to resolve the issue. She continued to sit there being rude. Her tone of voice and mannerisms were not at all appropriate to be dealing with guests especially one who had just been involved in a serious wreck. Because my head and body ached badly, I politely let her know that I would be open to resolving the issue in the morning with someone else. She proceeded to roll her eyes and snatch things from me. This left a horrible first impression of the service I should expect during my stay. So much, so that I considered canceling the reservation and going elsewhere.

The next day, I was contacted by a higher-up who was able to resolve the issue and provide the reasoning. He did not do it with a condescending or demeaning attitude as Jenate previously had. He politely informed me of the issue and now, having an understanding of the situation, I was able to resolve the issue on my end.

Later that day, I ventured downstairs to have another keycard made as Jenate had only made it for one day (despite the booking being for 3 nights…lol great way to say you do not want me staying there). While I was waiting in line, I observed the interactions that other agents had with guests and truly realized how inappropriate Jenate’s behavior was the night before. Other guests were greeted with smiles and warm welcomes, meanwhile, I was given the cold shoulder as if I did not belong there. Other guests were informed of the amenities and various things that the Cambria Hotel and surrounding areas offered. I was not given such pleasantries.

It takes nothing to show people kindness, especially in the hospitality industry. Jenate’s actions and behavior do not reflect any of that. If this behavior is okay, I will have to look elsewhere for my stay in Chicago as this was not the treatment I wanted...