LondonHouse Chicago, Curio Collection by Hilton — Hotel in Chicago

My last stay at this hilton hotel was the final confirmation I needed to never stay here again.

For starters: the front desk staff have always been respectful. But the room is so awkwardly laid out, you can't really fit an actual bag in there, opened ready to pick out of.

The elevator system is extremely frustrating. The 2 free waters (for diamond members, $3 for everyone else) is, for lack of a better term, pathetic. Even best westerns offer free water. I've stayed in more than a few hilton hotels of various rankings. Although I know hilton encourages squeezing every penny out of their guests, I also know that individual owners have some say in it.

Valet is sweet, but oh so understaffed. You'd think for the location they would actually have enough manpower at the valet. Nope.

By the way this is not my first time staying here, all the same issues over and over again. But the cherry on top was the horrendous rooftop restaurant.

If you really want a disrespectful, mismanaged, overhyped experience, look no further.

The first time I visited here the hosts were short but also clearly mismanaged / overwhelmed. Which I don't think is their fault, good management could avoid this. We ended up touring the area and leaving. YOU WILL WAIT OVER 15 MINUTES FOR THE ELEVATOR TO GET OUT. EVERY. TIME.

This second time though...their unprofessionalism deserves and award. Some so-called security guard felt the need to harass and interrogate not just me, but my entire party of nine people.

According to my party, I was the lucky one who got the brunt of his attitude. This man spoke to me as if I was a child wandering around causing trouble. I was saying hello to my friends.

He clenched his "b from the block" attitude at me and would not let go. So I left. I was so shocked that I went to my room instead of finding the manager and ensuring the situation was at their attention.

So I tried to call the hotel management immediately, but alas, this overpriced roadside motel in disguise couldn't possibly bother with a working phone.

So I called them on my cell. Actually since I had the option I called the restaurant hoping for a manager. No one picked up. Left a message, no response. It's been four weeks.

I was there for a conference and I was a speaker. I was far too inundated to hunt down someone who might care about how guests are being treated here. My partner offered to handle it for me, they saw the encounter. When my partner finally found someone, it was a so-called head of security or something, Allen.

My partner informed me that Allen had a very "what am I supposed to do about it" attitude. After breaking it down over and over again, Allen finally told my partner that he knew the perpetrator, that this was a common complaint about said person, and that he would take measures to ensure it didn't happen again.

Sounds good right? Wrong. I waited near the elevators to not disturb their conversation that was coming to and end, I knew my partner could handle it. When they finished, Allen walked to the elevators, waited in front of one right near me with another gentleman...and MOCKED MY PARTNER. They didn't know I was with my partner and that my partner was telling them my story.

They don't take customer compliants seriously AT ALL.

"The restaurant is a different business!" Yes, as is the norm. But LondonHouse and the restaurant both benefit from each others name and reputation, they should be ready to answer for each other too. Hilton can't get away with the abomination they have on their rooftop under the guise of "different business, different management". Is this what they want their image tied to?

I am a Chi native and visit often. I'm looking forward to staying literally...

Highly recommend this hotel, however one big thing you should be aware of is the noise at night. I stayed on the 14th floor and it was loud all night long. The windows are not particularly well insulated and I did not get a good nights sleep. Recommend earplugs.

If you look at the reviews about noise, there’s a lot of comments thanking guests for their feedback, but it doesn’t seem to be a high priority for them. The hotel opened in 2016 and in 2024, it doesn’t seem like much has been accomplished in terms of noise control.

Overall, this is a great hotel. From the moment I checked in, to the moment I left, I felt very welcomed. The bell team was super helpful and delivered my bags to my room while I was out.

The rooms themselves are quite small as other reviewers have mentioned. High quality linens, towels and amenities in the rooms. They use Malin and Goetz bath products which is A++ in my book.

The only downside to my stay was the following:

Rooftop restaurant did not have any reservations available throughout the duration of my stay. They did claim I had priority by showing my room key, but both times I checked, the wait time exceeded an hour on both attempts. Had I known I needed to make a reservation to visit the rooftop, I would have done that weeks ago as I booked quite some time beforehand. Not sure why this isn’t mentioned in the “We can’t wait for your arrival” email. Would strongly recommend looking on Tock and booking several days/weeks before your arrival, otherwise you could be looking at a significant wait.

Secondly, the $18/day/pp dining credit for Gold and Diamond members is confusing. You can either utilize the credit at the downstairs restaurant (Land and Lake) which is not very good OR the 2nd floor bar and In-Room Dining. I am not sure why the credit doesn’t work property wide, as I’m guessing Hilton likely leases and or operates Land and Lake Restaurant.

After a long day of travel, I had a hard time making up my mind about where to use the credits. They should just make them work property wide. I have stayed in many Hilton hotels and have been able to use the entire credit on property with few exceptions.

Note: You can apparently switch credits from venue to venue, however it requires a trip to the Front Desk to do so.

Elevator operating system with the screen is a bit weird. Sometimes it requires multiple presses to make your selection. Also, there was no “key” requirement to access the guest floors. I am used to having to scan or use my phone to unlock the elevator. Would have liked to see a bit more security in that aspect, but overall the hotel felt safe.

Lastly, highly recommend skipping the Land and Lake restaurant and either use the 2nd floor dining room and/or room service. The burger that I ordered was awful and the reviews of Land and Lake suggest this is not a good place. I am not sure if this restaurant is affiliated with Hilton but I would absolutely recommend skipping this. I ended up ordering room service which was quite good. Fresh fruits, eggs and potatoes with an orange juice was $65 with tip, tax and fees. This was just for one person by the way.

I will definitely return, though next time with a set...

I booked this hotel because I was on a month long work project and wanted someplace near the water. The location was wonderful and the room was very spacious and very clean, but the service here was very much less than I expected for a this hotel. Each week they found a new way to completely inconvenience my stay.

The first Saturday I was in town I went to several different places to check them out and spent the day walking, taking the car or trains around to see local sites. The next day I was understandably tired so I put up my Do Not Disturb sign. I had already been at the location a week and they cleaned every day so with the break I thought it would be nice and relaxing. That was very wrong, they called my room 4 times for no reason. I was fully stocked on towels and everything else.

The second week I was there I had a friend coming into town while I would be at work. That morning I went to the front desk and asked for an envelope. I wrote both our names on it and left the extra room key inside and left it so I could focus on work and my friend could check in. At 2:30 when he got to the hotel I received a phone call instead. The front desk had lost the room key that I had left and I now had to call guest services and talk to some snooty operator that made it seem like it was his inconvenience to help me. When I gave my address for the rewards program they told me it was wrong despite already telling them the billing zip code for my card. Finally after minutes of his terrible attitude I was able to get my friend check in with his own room keys. They didn't even address that there was a lost key that had the room number with it either.

On the third week I kept noticing activity on my card. Apparently the hotel was charging me the nightly rate every single night. When I asked the front desk what was going on they said they would charge me just the amount of time I had stayed and that should fix the problem. What to they do instead? They charge me the entire stay when there is still more than a week to my stay. When I asked them about it a few days later the front desk clerk went to the back to talk to a supervisor, who didn't have the decently to explain it in person and sent the clerk back just to relay the message.

On my last week in the hotel they changed the software on the door key so I was essentially locked out of the room when I left for work that morning. I had to talk to the front desk again to get new keys for the room. They went from the sleek black London House to the generic purple Hilton room cards. I also put up the Do Not Disturb sign again and they called, but this time it was only once. They had also removed the bathrobe I had only used for 3 days and didn't replace it either. It wasn't even in the bathroom but on the desk chair so I could bundle up after work.

Either way I thought this hotel would be a great experience and I was not happy with problems that happened here. Luckily I was able to warn my other coworkers about this hotel and how the service was. There have been 4 people go since I left last month and each one I tell them to find...