Hotel Riu Plaza Chicago — Hotel in Chicago

The room itself was spacious, well-appointed, and featured a nice-sized window. It would have been a perfectly pleasant room were it not for one critical flaw: the uncontrollable temperature.

Upon entering, the room temperature was 74°F and remained stubbornly fixed there. After multiple attempts to adjust the thermostat, we contacted the front desk. We were informed that the hotel's climate control system was set to "heat only" for the winter season and that the only option was to turn off the unit entirely. An engineer was dispatched, and we explained that 74°F was far too warm for comfortable sleep. We requested a fan or portable AC unit, but the engineer said he would check and never followed up.

The following day, we returned to the front desk, reiterating our request and expressing our disappointment at the lack of communication from the engineer. We were promised a call from the manager within 15 minutes. After 30 minutes passed with no contact, we went back to the desk and finally spoke with the manager, who assured us engineering would investigate. Upon returning to our room later that day, the temperature remained at 74°F. Another trip to the front desk revealed that engineering had supposedly been in the room, run a fan for several hours, and then removed it. When we requested the fan back, they initially agreed, sending up a large, high-velocity construction fan. However, we were then informed that we could not keep it overnight due to fire hazard concerns, rendering it essentially useless.

The engineer who delivered the fan offered some explanation, stating that the building uses a water-based heating system. Due to unseasonably warm weather (low 50s and low 40s), the water temperature was running above the intended 68°F, exceeding 70°F. Because the system was in "heat only" mode for the winter, there was no way to cool the rooms. He suggested the situation might improve as the weather cooled. As I write this, the room is now 75°F, and we have four more nights here. We are now forced to purchase our own fans to ensure a comfortable sleep.

In short, if you require a sleeping temperature below 74°F, I strongly advise against booking this hotel. This is a significant issue that severely impacted our stay.

Other observations: The fitness room is of average size for a hotel, but all the weights are in kilograms, and the equipment displays are in Spanish, which was inconvenient. We also experienced some difficulty finding English-proficient staff at times.

On a positive note, the included breakfast was surprisingly impressive, with a wide variety of high-quality options. If not for the persistent temperature issue, this could be a very nice hotel. However, the inability to control the room temperature is a major, unacceptable flaw.

Update: They left us with the fan overnight. However, contrary to the the engineer's assurances that the system would work properly and room temperature would drop when out door temperatures dropped, the room temperatures continued to rise as the outdoor temperatures dropped. Last night and this morning, temperatures were in the low 30's outside but rose to 77 in the room and finally 79. We went to the front desk once again and decided it was best to move to another hotel. After two miserable nights and a lot of wasted time, the hotel only offered to refund the unused nights. Highly disappointed in our...

If you're considering staying at the RIU Hotel in Chicago, I strongly urge you to reconsider. My recent experience was not just disappointing—it was infuriating and frankly unethical. This hotel is a shocking example of how corporate greed and incompetent customer service can ruin what should have been a simple family stay.

I booked a Deluxe Family Suite—as the name suggests, a room meant for a family. Upon arriving at 10 PM with my wife and our two young boys (ages 8 and 10), the first thing the front desk asked me to do was write down the names and birthdates of my children. It was an odd and invasive request that immediately set off alarm bells.

Then came the real slap in the face: I was told that my reservation only included two adults and that my children were not listed on the reservation (is this even a thing!?), despite booking a Family Suite. To "allow" my kids to stay in the room I had already paid for, I would need to cough up an extra $88. Let me be crystal clear: they refused to check me in unless I paid the extra fee—even though the room I booked was clearly intended for families.

This was nothing short of extortion. I was told my options were to either pay up or let my children sleep on the street. When I explained that this fee was never disclosed and that it made no logical sense given the room type, the front desk staff were unapologetically rigid, repeating over and over that they "had no power" to do anything about it.

When I told them I’d prefer to stay elsewhere and requested a refund, they flatly refused (I had prepaid over 6 months ago). I asked to speak to a manager and was told none were available. Eventually, after 20 frustrating minutes, they called a remote call center. I was forced to explain my situation to someone in India—who promptly hung up on me.

They called again, and this time the front desk employee sneakily turned the phone volume all the way down, making it nearly impossible for me to hear what was happening. I caught a few words, enough to realize the call center person wanted to talk to the front desk directly. Then came another agonizing 30 minutes of fake troubleshooting, clearly just to wear me down for daring to stand my ground.

Finally, after staring the staff down, telling them I was going to post this on social media, and refusing to leave, they begrudgingly issued a refund.

Let me be clear: this hotel tried to extort money by leveraging my children, violated their privacy by demanding personal information, and then proceeded to waste over an hour of my life with blatant stall tactics and performative customer service.

RIU Hotel Chicago should be ashamed. This is a disgraceful way to treat paying guests, especially families. If you're planning a stay in Chicago, avoid this hotel at all costs. There are far better options that respect their guests and don't hide behind deceptive policies and...

New hotel in downtown Chicago. Great location! Being that they've only been open for about 4 weeks, they're still working out the kinks. The revolving door is annoying as anything. It's automatic, but will speed up, slow down and sometimes stop without notice. Definitely something that needs to be addressed! The lobby is nice and offers a lot of seating options. The bar is only open until about 11pm, (closing seemed to vary each night we were there) which is a shame because many people were being turned away as they were looking for a night-cap when arriving back at the hotel. They're definitely missing out on a serious revenue stream and are disappointing their customers. The elevators can take a while to get to you (27 floors). The hallways have no carpet and the doors are very heavy and shut VERY LOUDLY, so we were woken up late at night and early morning when people were coming and going...so that was a bit annoying! The rooms, of course, are new and fresh. We were there for 4 nights and there is an option for them to make up your room daily by hanging a placard on your door. That's a nice option. They did not appear to sweep/mop floor when they serviced the room...which I would have loved to see! (No carpet in room.) The bathroom has soap, lotion, shampoo and conditioner in squeeze bottles. Quality was okay. Towels were soft, but had to ask for extra towels each day. Room was only prepared with two sets...which is probably fine - but it was so hot and humid, that we were showering 2x a day. Wish the front desk staff could just give us the towels - instead we had to wait for someone to bring them up. Shower didn't drain properly and had to contact front desk 3 times about that. "Fixed" for one shower and then backed up again. Bed and bedding were fine. Air conditioning only goes on when you're in the room - and it ran the whole time we were in the room and never got to the temperature we wanted, but it wasn't too bad as some reported. The breakfast was amazing each morning! So many delicious options!! They were very good at flipping tables so any wait was short. You were not, however, permitted to take food back to your room. (Was not a concern for us, but I know some people were upset they couldn't.) My only complaint was that the clean drinking glasses all had a gross gritty feeling. All of them! Every day! I told myself it was just soap particles so I could drink something with my meal, but that needs to be fixed ASAP!! Overall, our stay was pleasant. The location was key. This a noted as a four-star hotel, but honestly felt like a nice, new modern Hampton Inn type of hotel. To make it a four-star feeling: a designated concierge is needed. (The front desk staff were nice, but always busy.) Nice / artisan bathroom soaps and lotions. The rooftop bar is coming soon...but that by itself wouldn't elevate it to that four-star feeling people...