Le Méridien Essex Chicago — Hotel in Chicago

My experience at Le Meridien Essex Chicago left me with mixed feelings, so let me break it down for you. First, the location was spot-on, right across from the park and close to restaurants, and the subway. Walkability was a breeze, which was exactly what I needed during my stay.

The hotel's esthetic was on point, with a modern and clean design. You could tell it had been recently renovated while still maintaining a classy vibe. The restaurant attached to the hotel added a nice touch, making it feel like a 4-star establishment.

Now, let's talk about the rooms. They were clean and well-kept, although on the smaller side. I must say, I loved the blue tile showers and sliding doors. The complimentary shower products were of high quality, and let's not forget about the Marriott bathroom mirrors—I swear, they have some sort of magical allure. However, the sound quality from the Bluetooth mirror left much to be desired. Stick to playing music from your phone. The beds were plush and comfortable, making it easy to relax and get a good night's rest. Plus, the complimentary slippers and robe added a touch of luxury. Overall, the room exuded a 5-star vibe. The only letdown was the terrible room coffee, but hey, at least it was a nice feature. The TV was clear, and navigating between channels was a breeze.

Now, let's talk about the view. I had a city view room, but unfortunately, the immediate view was directly into another building. However, if you peeked to the far right, the skyline was absolutely gorgeous! Being on the 14th floor helped reduce the noise, but be warned—the windows were thin, so you could hear EVERYTHING!

Ah, now we come to my favorite topic—service! The staff, unfortunately, had a serious case of "unfriendliness." From the moment I walked into the lobby for check-in, only one of the two women at the front desk bothered to greet me. My upbeat and energetic demeanor was met with robotic monotony. The information provided was minimal, and I had to inquire about parking accommodations. Even later, when I called to ask about the location of amenities like the fitness center and microwave. Throughout my two-night stay, my interaction with the front desk staff remained limited due to this initial impression. I didn't feel welcomed, which is quite disappointing considering the price I paid. Upon check-out, the same black lady who checked me in completely ignored me and wouldn't even make eye contact. Thankfully, a black gentleman called me over and completed my check-out, but he too was monotone and provided the bare minimum. The whole front desk vibe felt negative, as if nobody was happy to be at work. On the bright side, the housekeepers were a breath of fresh air. When I asked for an additional washcloth, one of them promised to bring it to my room and even gave me two with a big smile! If only the front desk staff could imitate this level of customer service.

Let's move on to parking. Valet was a whopping $75 per day, and street parking was a no-go. However, there was an option to pay $35 per day for garage parking two blocks away using a QR code at the front desk.

To sum it up, here are the pros and cons. The location was fantastic, the beds were comfy, and the modern esthetic and amenities were high-end. On the downside, the views weren't the best, parking is expensive, breakfast wasn't included, and the front desk staff's customer service needs immediate improvement.

Now, the million-dollar question: Will I be back? Honestly, no. During my stay in Chicago, I noticed several other hotels that were comparably esthetic, well-located, priced, and amenities. I might check them out next time. The main reason for my decision is the severely lacking customer service, which is quite surprising for a Marriott brand—it was almost the worst I've experienced.

Please note: This review is based on my personal experience and stay at Le Meridien Essex Chicago. Your...

The hotel has a charming lobby. The check-in was quick and some of the receptionists were friendly (but not all). The bellman was very indifferent and without a smile or even a hi. And if you are using an Marriott app, don't try to text them because the reply is super slow.

The room was very small, but with a smart design, it didn't feel that small. There were slippers, bathrobe, coffee machine but no kettle. Overall, the room was not bad for a 4-star in Chicago. (No water bottle provided in room, however you can always go to the reception and ask for it)

Breakfast was not bad. You pay around $15-19 to get an egg dish.

However, an incident happened after we check-out. I am really unhappy about how the hotel handled it. When we checked out, my 9-year-old daughter left her ipad in the safe. We only realized it 4 hours later, when we were very close to the airport (at the near by shopping mall) I phoned the hotel immediately (around 6pm). The first lady who I spoke with on the phone was friendly and patient, however she told me nothing was found. There was not a note or anything from the housekeeping of the day showing that there was anything found in my room. Even if they had found it, since the housekeeping supervisor was off from work, and they didn't have the person's mobile number, they could only ask the supervisor about this tomorrow. And the room had been occupied by other guests so there was nothing they could do at that point. I explained that we were flying at midnight, so if I needed to know if they had found it, so I could go back to the hotel and retrieve it. However she insisted that I could only phone back the next day. I was 100% certain that the ipad was left in the hotel, as we didn't go anywhere else after we left the hotel room, but directly to the airport. So I used the "find" function on my iphone, and confirmed that the ipad was still located in the hotel. It seemed that someone had found the ipad but didn't want to return it to us. So I called the hotel back, and told the receptionist lady (who I spoke with initially) that I had the proof that the ipad was in the hotel. She insisted that i could only call back the next day. Then I hanged up and tried to play the alert noise from my find function, and locked the ipad too. And I called the hotel again. It took me several calls to finally able to speak with someone. This time the phone was answered by another lady, who was not friendly nor patient at all. She still insisted that they didn't have anything and if i leave an US number, they would try to contact me later. I didn't have an US number, so I had to hang up and ask a friend for help. I then tried to call back, and it took me several attempts to reach the reception again. (Either they were busy or they didn't want to answer the call) After a long negotiation, the same unfriendly lady put the phone on hold, for a long while, and finally she told me that they had found my ipad, and I could go back to get it. This whole process of trying to get my ipad back, took 1.5 hours and numerous calls. I'm glad that eventually I got it back. As a person who spent 1/3 of her time travelling and staying at hotels, my hunch is that someone found the ipad, but didn't want to give it back to me, until i locked it. (Thanks to Apple with this very smart system) If this was not what happened, then it just showed that the housekeeping wasn't professional enough. They should have checked every drawer and the safe after the clients left. And the hotel lacks of internal communication or some kind of management. If valuable things are left behind, some hotels do reach out to the guest to tell them that they forgot something, based on my past experience. (A lot of hotels nowadays can call foreign numbers with internet phones. The fact that they insisted they could only contact me if I have an US number seemed pretty outdated and aloof to...

Initially we were really impressed by this hotel. The room is modern, we received a cute bag with M&Ms upon check in and the toiletry products provided are from a high end brand that I really like. We stayed 5 days and slowly the service got pretty rough to the point where it kind of ruined our stay.

Firstly, this is a dog friendly hotel (which we love because we have two small dogs- neither of which joined us mind you) however on our second night a dog in a neighboring room barked incessantly for hours. We waited before calling reception but once it got to an hour we called. They said they already knew but that they are a dog friendly hotel and there was nothing more they could do. The dog was clearly in distress but they wouldn’t call the owners.

The next thing that happened (and this is minor but just weird) is we bought a bottle of wine not thinking we didn’t have a corkscrew. We called down for one and when I asked if they had one, the front desk simply stated no. I’ve never stayed at a hotel that didn’t have a corkscrew. We went and bought one for our stay that we couldn’t bring home because we had carry on bags. They also said they couldn’t bring up wine glasses as they had no one to bring them up (we only had paper in our room).

We were supposed to have our room cleaned on the third day. We tidied our space so that the cleaners could move around a little easier but no one came. I really only wanted the coffee restocked (we were provided two coffees for the five days) but we didn’t get them because they didn’t come. There was only a couple pumps of shampoo when we arrived so between the two of us we ran out of shampoo pretty quickly too. I called down the following morning asking for a couple more coffees for the remainder of our stay, they said someone would be right up but no one came.

One other note about no cleaner, we would bring food back with us while eating out and because the garbage was not taken from our room during our stay, slowly the room started to smell bad (these garbage's are not meant for food as they are all open). Also, due to no dehumidification, the humidity and the empty food containers slowly became a bad mix.

They provide the $15/day resort fee back to you via credit to the connected restaurant but you have to get it everyday from reception. In general, pretty much everyone we dealt with at the front desk seemed annoyed we were there. I like to think generally we’re easy people to deal with but I constantly felt like an inconvenience to them.

One positive is the cleaning staff, when we ran into them in the hallway were always really sweet. And the location is great. I still don’t think we would stay at this hotel...