Millennium Hotel Knickerbocker Chicago — Hotel in Chicago

My pregnant wife and I booked a night here to celebrate our anniversary two weeks ago. Upon arriving all of the doors to go in the hotel were blocked by a crowd of men half dressed in leather all smoking. My wife and I had to push through them to enter in the building and smoke was blown in her face. Then, when we got into the hotel music was blaring, there were many people drinking celebrating something about “Onyx” after looking it up apparently it’s a sex positive event being celebrated for black men in the LGBTQ community. What we saw was disturbing and had we known this was happening or really any large party we absolutely would not have booked a stay here. This should have been disclosed to us. We were not able to be in the lobby or enjoy the lounge downstairs at all. Not only that, it was VERY loud, there was no security, we saw butt cheeks upon entering and a few men dressed in ways we could see their pubic hair. We felt unsafe. Then, after finding the check in counter in the back we could hardly hear the check in person. We wanted to do valet, she said that there should be valet people outside. We walked outside, again pushing past these men, for there to be NO valet people outside or any employee at all. We had to push our way back inside again through the smoke. Then we found a random counter in the middle of the place and explained to an employee we were trying to find a valet driver. He said they would call one. Never followed up with us as we stood in the lobby waiting for at least 15 minutes while this party was going on. We were extremely uncomfortable. The front desk person noticed us and asked if we needed something…we explained to her the situation and she took over our valet process thankfully. After we got in our room it was nice, our TV wasn’t working at first, turns out it was just unplugged so we just needed to plug it in. It seemed clean. We noticed we were roomed next door to some of the people included in the ongoing party which was fine except for at 2am, 3am, and 4am when they woke us up yelling several times down the halls and making odd noises. Really, extremely disturbing. Every time they opened their door it sounded like someone was trying to get into our room and would wake us up also. Then, in the morning when we went to check out we texted valet so they could get our car. After over 25 minutes valet said our car was ready. When we went to the lobby we did not see our car outside…we saw the valet person and told them and they said “yeah that’s your car right there, the Toyota right?” As she went to hand me the keys to the car. That was not our car, and they were ready to hand me the keys. We had a different make, model, and color….so they had to go get our car and we were left waiting again in the lobby for about 10 minutes. Overall, not a great experience. We feel like we wasted a lot of money for a really awful anniversary experienced. We were very bummed about this all.

We wanted to get out of that place as soon as possible and get on with our anniversary celebrations and not linger on the poor experience any longer and just celebrate our anniversary.

We booked through Airbnb so we reached out to them over the messaging app which says they typically respond in less than 22 hours, well we sent this same message to them 6 days ago after they messaged us and are left with no response or attempt to make...

Let me start by saying I actually had a good time at this hotel. Hotel is obviously not perfect but I don't think they ever claimed to be. Valet parking available on arrival. There have been times where the front desk was extremely busy checking people in that the line grew to almost a dozen people very quickly. Prime location given proximity to Michigan Avenue, allowing guests to have several options for dining/shopping/ late night activities. The lobby area has a classy gold vibe similar to Palmer House. You are expected to pay a deposit per night of your stay and according to front desk any and all incidentals will come out off that deposit. There are a couple of extra fees which were not made clear initially and they were charged to the deposit payment as well. Staff was very welcoming and will go an extra step to ensure you're satisfied. Breakfast available starting 6:30 a.m. Due to early kitchen closure, I did have to order several meals through doordash and Uber eats instead. As classy as the lobby looks, I feel like the hallways and to a certain extent the rooms need to be renovated because the carpet does look like it's from the 1920s. There are areas where you can't tell if it's a stain or it's just wear and tear from the last 30 years but it does take away from the whole ambiance. These rooms are not the biggest, but they are comparable to other hotels in the same area. One morning morning there were loud noises coming from upstairs which made it very difficult for me to keep sleeping and upon questioning the front desk about how long it will take, they did state It will take a few hours. Obviously I communicated my displeasure. I told them I had just worked the overnight shift at the hospital and need to go again tonight which means I need my sleep. They initially offered me free breakfast while I stay in the same room and that did get me frustrated. I told them what I need is sleep and not food, so offering me breakfast will not alleviate situation. They ended up changing my room to a Junior suite which almost looked like a mini apartment and had 2 TVs/living room/adequate space to walk and move around. Overall, I'm still very glad that I ended up staying here. I originally booked only two nights but ended up staying the four nights instead and was very happy with that decision. If they're able to renovate the hallways and change the carpet, this hotel will be one of the better ones in Chicago. Lastly, since the building only has 13 floors, it is very difficult to have a good view of the city or the lake. So if that is what you're looking for, I would suggest a different hotel. Addition of a microwave would also go a long way to make guests more comfortable. When I asked where I could heat up my food or if there is a communal area where I can use a microwave, I was told that I would have to go across the street to use it which obviously I didn't do because that's ridiculous. Both TV screens are functional but clearly dated looking like they were built in early 2000s. Given everything I have mentioned above, I do still recommend staying here because this hotel does offer a lot at a relatively...

I’ve stayed at the Millennium Knickerbocker in Chicago multiple times and had previously enjoyed its charm and location. Unfortunately, this most recent visit was nothing short of traumatic.||We were in town for the Beyoncé concert and had prepaid the room via Priceline. Upon arrival, we were blindsided by unexpected fees — including a $350 incidental hold and a destination fee that had never been disclosed at booking. The front desk staff was dismissive, and when I expressed concern, the manager on duty, Manali, entered the conversation abruptly, cut me off, and condescendingly said, “What seems to be the problem?” — without introducing herself or deescalating the situation.||That alone should have been a red flag. But the real nightmare began after we returned from the concert around 1:00 AM. Despite the “Do Not Disturb” sign being on the door, we found the TV blaring, lights on, the remote moved, and most disturbing — $180 in cash was missing from my personal bag. My daughter’s laptop and ID had also been left in the open. We had only taken a few essentials to the concert, and nothing had been touched when we left around 2:42 PM. ||I immediately reported the issue to the front desk. To their credit, Victoria responded with concern and moved us to another room a suite. But when I followed up with the hotel manager George the next morning, he confirmed that there were no security cameras in the hallway and that the keycard logs showed multiple entries into our room using both guest and master keys. Yet, despite this shocking breach of security, the hotel never filed a formal incident report with me, never apologized, and never offered even a partial refund or compensation. ||Hotels are supposed to be places of rest and safety. Instead, I spent my night anxious and deeply unsettled. To make matters worse, I had to pursue my own resolution through PayPal and my bank, and the hotel has remained silent and dismissive. Im attaching the keycard logs and the exchange where they did not even apologize! I do want to point out I asked for a formal review and also requested to be escalated and nothing. So Im out of cash, they don't care and yeah don't stay here. ||If you value your privacy, safety, and dignity as a guest, I cannot in good conscience recommend staying at this hotel again. The location may be beautiful, but guest safety and accountability are not...