Canopy by Hilton Chicago Central Loop — Hotel in Chicago

I almost feel silly leaving a two-star review for this, but with Canopy being classified as an “upper upscale” brand by Hilton, the way the lights in the rooms are set up is infuriating and enough to tarnish the whole experience for me and to make me not want to stay here again.

My whole suite was set up with motion sensors like your garage or some sort of public restroom that turns the lights off when you don’t move. But they are on just way too short a timer and not sensitive enough. I was taking a shower when the lights went pitch black; seemingly the sensors can’t see through the shower door because the sensor for the bathroom light is in the hallway by the front door and they expect you to take three minute showers like you’re in the Navy!! Not even waving your hand outside the shower door turns them back on; you have to run out naked to the hallway and dance around. If you’re watching TV on the couch and not constantly waving around like one of those blow-up guys at a car dealership, the lights suddenly shut off EVERY FEW MINUTES. Same with the toilet: they must expect you to attend to your business in 30 seconds or engage in aerobics while nature calls, because otherwise the lights shut off. If your “upper upscale” hotel (at corresponding price point) leaves me showering in the dark to save a few pennies on electricity, I won’t be coming back. Seriously, how much money could this save??

Then to add, the light switches make zero-sense. I’m an engineer by trade and couldn’t figure these out. I ended up spending a couple minutes every morning trying to get the lights on. So far it seems like the bathroom light switch will only work if you flip a switch next to the bed first, but if you use that same bed-adjacent switch to turn off the lights, you can’t turn any of the lights in the room on again at all until you flip a switch in the entrance hallway?! Make it make sense! (Good thing you’ll keep moving while you do this, because the lights like to turn themselves off. The sensor also makes an obnoxious ticking noise.)

Some other faults: the in-room Nespresso didn’t really seem to want to work (and it took three attempts at telling the front desk for them to bring a new one, including gaslighting me once by saying the broken one was fine), there were broken hangers in the closet, the shower head just refused to stay where you put it and would always flop down at the back wall, the fridge is some weird drawer thing that gets stuck when you try to open it, there’s peeling paint and dented walls, the window blinds can’t be opened all the way, I saw room numbers that had fallen off in the halls, the TV’s HDMI cable was unplugged and showed no signal until I fixed it myself, and the location of the desk right under the TV having you staring at a wall is really poor given the suite’s large size.

A plus: the downstairs cafe for breakfast is very fairly priced compared to other Hiltons I’ve stayed at and you can actually cover breakfast with the Diamond credit. (Although they won’t let you use the credit at their sit-down restaurant and they made it a battle when it came to getting the credit applied to my last morning’s breakfast at the hotel.) Food is tasty though.

This hotel is pretending to be nice, and in some ways it is, but they are really struggling with the details; this isn’t the Confort Inn. If they fixed this stuff it could...

Checked in Tuesday march 15th 2022. Had the notification about possible upgrade for my room. I arrive no upgrade… perk of diamond status didn’t offer anything. Didn’t tell me I had to request my room to be cleaned. Room controls would not allow me to put my air conditioning on below 68 degrees. The thermostat said 69-71 the whole evening. I finally complain but engineers not available, The fan does not stay on unless the air conditioning is running. The temperature in the room was between 70-71 All night long.

Not to mention the bed was not comfortable at all. Felt like a mattress you would find at Walmart!! I Couldn’t sleep because I need a fan and I need it cool regardless of how uncomfortable the bed was. Was lucky to get 3- 4 hrs due to exhaustion of traveling and a 14 hrs work day. Day two I complain again. This time the engineer is available they say they can change the temp and put the limit to 64 and ask me when I checkout because it will revert back to 69. I tell them Monday the 22 but could be extending it to wed due to work. Ok no problem. Plus they would look for my reservation and extend my same room if I like. Night two of trying to sleep and from midnight until 2 I heard my neighbors banging against the wall or god knows what thanks paper thin walls and no fan running! . Now here we are Saturday….. well Sunday morning at 2am and my room has been a nice and warm 70 degrees with no fan!!! I go to the thermostat and check it and it will no longer go to 64. It’s quiet and a hot box and there is nothing that can be done until the morning. Oh by the way I extended my trip yesterday due to work and they tell me they will look for it and put a note in the system and the employee stated he will speak to his supervisor about giving some extra rewards points or an upgrade or something.. ok cool thanks buddy!! I go to the front desk and no notes. I have to be up in less than 6 hrs and work all day and night and I literally cannot sleep. Front desk said sorry. That’s their answer. I’ll be cancelling and I won’t be coming back take the diamond status and throw it in the trash. Nothing worse than being on your feet for 12-14 hrs a day and wanting to sleep in a cool comfortable room and being stuck in a dead quiet stuffy warm room with an uncomfortable bed!!! I stayed at Hilton hotels for more than 30’nights in 2021 and was going to be traveling more the rest of this year. Staying 8 days and this will be...

BE AWARE YOU'RE SHARING BUILDING WITH A SEPERATE HILTON HOTEL!!!!

Had a wild experience holiday weekend. Last minute hotel tonight landed at the sister hotel, Garden green or green garden or whatever marketing's calling the companion properties.

Stay on the canopy side. Once you enter the other hotel via the connecting hotel lobby, you enter a different hotel and their ecosystem. The other hotel doesn't serve alcohol and didn't think to get a liquor license to provide continuity between the properties.

I encountered "unhelpful" staff everywhere on both sides. They know there's another Hilton property in the building and it' connects but I don't think anyone at Hilton has the 2 hotels talking.

Joking with reception staff checking in at the other hotel, I asked if I guessed right and picked the "cool" side. She stiffened up and acted like it was a separate entity not really part of the same building.

I accidentally stayed at this Hilton Inceptionatrix brand of a hotel complex in the middle of a mental episode. The lack of continuity between the properties is frustrating under normal circumstances but a legit liability for anyone struggling with their reality already before checking in.

Be nice to the wait staff, it's not their fault Hilton tried to partition a huge obsolete property into 2 hotels without getting the 2 teams on the same playbook. Given it's location and footprint, it literally is 2 hotel entrances so why not. Just know the layout of the whole building is what impacts your stay at Canopy.

BE VERY CAREFUL WHICH LOBBY YOU'RE EXITING ONCE THEY LOCK THE EXTERIOR DOORS!!!!!!

I was staying at the sister property so ultimately my beef's with them. I went out after hours (LATE, like 2AM realy spooky hours) through this canopy lobby, and couldn't get back in.

Hilton should partition the building in the middle at the elevator bay as that's the nexus of their 2 hotels that are really one hotel with 2 sides. That way you know psychologically when you're entering the Narnia of the sister property.

I got so turned around it took me 90 minutes to get a phone charger all bc the outlets in canopy center island weren't working for me. Doors and elevators and increasingly alarmed and frustrated staff. It's not their fault Hilton built a fun house.

Great place if you don't think about it too hard but think enough to know why that place is...