Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel, Chicago — Hotel in Chicago

We booked the presidential suite. Sounds amazing, doesn't it? Honestly, for the money, it is a complete joke. Do not get me wrong. There are some positives.

The living room TV is a good size and has surround sound. It did take a bit to get used to and figure out which remote controls the TV, which one controls the sound, and which controls the channels.

I did not sleep on the bed so I cannot judge that aspect of the room. I slept in a rollaway which served its purpose just fine. My mom did in the bed and she had a good night sleep.

That said, everything else is a thumbs down. Cleanliness? What cleanliness? The flooring has tons of skid marks. One couch had a used tissue underneath it. The windows are incredibly grimy, therefore ruining the view of the city.

Maintenance is also questionable. The bedroom door did not lock. The shower wand does not work. The balcony, which has no furniture, has mold that caused my mom to sneeze throughout various points of our stay. And to top it off, the bedroom bathroom's toilet's control panel (try saying that three times fast) slipped off when my mom was trying to use it! That was fixed later on, but come on! That is traumatizing!

Speaking of bathrooms, the main bathroom is a bit of a double edged sword. The toilet seat does not stay up (the lid does, however)! Now, if I were a woman this would not be a problem, but as a guy, I have to hold the seat up with my hand for "number one." Why is this? There's a handlebar right behind the seat. I understand those are there for ADA compliance, so that's fine. But the bar, or the toilet, is not in a pleasing position.

Noise insulation also is not the greatest. Granted, we were at the end of the hall so it makes me wonder how much worse it is in the other rooms.

The outdoor pool is a nice touch, especially in a city like this where pools are not necessarily a priority in hotels. But the pool area needs more towels and the ones they supply are light and cheap. Granted, they get the job done. I cannot complain a whole ton.

There is a game room with a gambling table and a pool table. The pool table comes with two cues. So if you're playing with three people, start with two and have the third person play the winner. Also, when we were in the room, there was no chalk. It's really hard to hit the ball where you're aiming without it and it likely made the game go longer than it should have.

Also, the staff... I do want to be careful with what I say because for all I know this might not be the best place to work or hiring might be an issue, plus, these are human beings and everyone makes mistakes... But some of the people who are on staff sound like they do not want to be there. If she was dealing with other problems at the time, I apologize, but Geraldine might be the most impolite person I ever talked to behind a hotel check-in desk. She literally sighed at mom and I at one point! We were simply asking if our room was ready. She said it wasn't. That is fine. Check-in is at 3 and we asked somewhere between 12 to 1. Whatever, never hurts to ask though. But we asked her if we could get a call or text when it was ready. Apparently she said no, just come back at 3 o'clock. Excuse me? How hard is it to pick up the phone and text or call somebody? Also, our room was not ready at 3. It was ready somewhere between 4:45 to 5pm. I want to be understanding because it is one of the larger rooms on the property so it does take longer to clean, but it makes you wonder how many housekeepers are on staff and when the cleaning of this room actually began. We did get the first night half off due to our wait, but mom and I will never get the time back.

Here's the real kicker I really do not understand at all. There is no fridge in the room! So that leftover pizza you had? Forget about keeping it in reasonable place! Unless you want to use the mini bar fridge full of paid items! Yes, the room has a decent amount of paid items available on standby. But if you are not lazy, there is a CVS literally down the street! Why pay an arm and a leg for Pringles when you can get the same ones just outside the hotel for cheaper? There is a microwave in the room... So if you want to heat up that leftover pizza that you couldn't put in a fridge, that device is there for your convenience. Apparently, I read in other reviews you can request a mini fridge but we did not end up doing that. We ended up storing our drinks in a cooler we bought outside the hotel.

I ordered room service once and it was actually not bad. I had a delicious vanilla gelato. Talk about a gold nugget stuck between a rock and a hard place.

We paid nearly a thousand dollars a night to not have our room ready, find cleanliness issues, look at dirty windows, and find various placement and maintenance issues in the restrooms. The building is fun to look at from the outside, but it is a haunted house inside. This is my first time in Chicago and I wish it were not sullied by the utter lunacy that is this hotel. Do not stay here. You'll...

Overall, our one night stay at the Radisson Blu Aqua was very "meh". This was a belated anniversary stay for my wife and I. We booked what appeared to be a higher end room that would be slightly upscale and maybe even a touch romantic, but that really wasn't the case.

Our room was not ready upon arrival which was fine because we were 4 minutes early. We were told it would be ready in a few minutes, that it just needed to be "inspected". We were told to have a seat or leave our bags if we'd like and we'd receive a text when the room was ready. Well, we had 5:00 dinner reservations and needed access to the room to get ready. I peeked back around the corner at the reception area a few times once 3:00 had come and gone. I observed the girl who originally greeted us on her cellphone in what appeared to be a heated conversation. She did all she could to not make eye contact with me. Weird. From there, another 15-20 minutes or so passed and nothing was said to us. Finally, I asked about getting access to the room (this time, I asked a gentleman whom we had not previously dealt with). Again, we had 5:00 reservations and needed ample time to get ready and then jaunt across town. Only when I checked in again were we told it was in fact ready. I'm fairly certain if I hadn't asked we'd have continued to wait until I did. Nothing was offered for the inconvenience, but I didn't mind since it was only a little later than expected. None the less, not a great first impression.

Had that been the only misstep, it would have been a higher rating, but it wasn't. The room we were issued was also beaten beyond belief and I'm not sure who did this so-called "inspection" we were waiting for, but I don't think that was something that actually took place. The room was dirty and covered in dust. Every crack and crevice was filled with what looked like a few years worth of grossness.

One of the biggest eyesores in the room was the condition of the floor. It literally looked like someone went ice skating in our room. For the price point that hotels are charging these days, these rooms should really be in much better shape.

The layout of the rooms leave something to be desired. We had a "King Corner w/ Balcony" and it was not good for those who might feel claustrophobic. It was hard to get a feel for how oddly designed and shut off the rooms were during the online booking process. Also, there were just many things that didn't make sense. For example, the design of the showers makes it to where you can't turn on the shower without getting doused by cold water. It has a waterfall type shower head, but a control valve that is all the way on the opposite side of the entrance. I suppose if you brought a broom handle with or a go-go-gadget arm extension, you could pull it off. Oh and hot water? Yeah, that's not really available at this hotel. If luke-warm is what you're after, then you're in good hands.

Given the vast number of choices in Chicago, I wouldn't return to this property. It's always been a hotel I found to be an interesting design and was on my list of to-try properties, so when the opportunity for an overnight getaway came up, it seemed like an apt time to give it a go. That was a mistake. Again, if the room were 30-40% less than what we paid, then maybe that wouldn't be an issue, but for the cost, it just was not up to snuff.

As for the bright spots, the hotel is in a decent location and does have on-site parking (though the garage was a joke since half of it was being repainted/striped making finding a spot an ordeal that took in excess of 20 minutes). The lobby area is nice and there's a nice bar as well, though we did not make use of it.

I feel like this is a hotel that was once a shining jewel, but is now on its way to a dilapidated demise. If you're looking for something upscale, clean and polished, I'd keep searching. If mediocrity is your thing, then you might be okay with staying here, but I'd definitely try to negotiate a discount as this place isn't...

I’m very upset with my experience at this establishment! I paid for Valet service with my reservation but couldn’t even use it because the entrance was so hard to find & I had to pay for parking 3 times just trying to find it. My kids & I ended up carrying all our own luggage walking through a maze of halls & doors & elevators to finally find the desk to check in. I was barely acknowledged at check in… took my name & payment & gave me a key… no other information about services or policies or even any help with our bags! When I asked about valet included in my rate he pointed to a valet man who was walking out the door to park another car. It was 95 degrees outside & we were exhausted from dragging all our luggage around & just needed to get to our room. We were on the 17th floor & the room was as expected with a balcony & great view. I had booked the room as an experience for my family & the rooftop pool & jacuzzi were a big factor in why I chose this hotel, but when we went to swim there were no staff around to ask any directions & when we did find the pool it was on the 3rd floor… not rooftop… and was freezing… not heated as advertised. I had called prior to arrival to make sure all the facilities were operating properly & was told everything was working fine. I was very disappointed to find the jacuzzi was colder than baby bath water & definitely not working! I made my kids get out of the pool & sit on the side while I went to the front desk. We couldn’t find any towels around the pool area either so they just sat dripping wet while I went to the desk where I was barely acknowledged again. When I explained the issue with the hot tub I was told he would let someone know & I could use the indoor pool & jacuzzi instead then he answered a call & never looked up at me again. Went back to my kids & moved all our stuff inside to a small 2 lane pool and a hot tub that was completely empty! Are you kidding me? The staff had to be advised it was out of service but apparently not concerned enough to relay that to guests! The indoor pool was cold as well & I was so upset I began looking around for any staff or at least find towels which I did finally but no employees were found! We ordered food delivery because I didn’t wanna have to pay $40 to park for the 3rd time if I couldn’t find valet parking again because there was no obvious signage showing where the front entrance is on the outside… it’s underneath a bridge intersection that Google & Apple Maps couldn’t pinpoint either. When our food came the delivered to the front desk & I called several times to have it brought up to our room but kept getting no answer! When I went to pick up our food there was a woman on the phone but not talking & looked up at me avoiding eye contact, just holding the phone. I saw our food & grabbed it myself. I am in awe as to how poorly I was treated/ ignored by the staff, I am angry about the conditions of the pool especially after calling before arrival to confirm their availability! The final disappointment was after getting the kids to bed I looked forward to a relaxing shower with the waterfall shower head & hand held massage water wand…but of course the wand did not work at all either! For the class of hotel & the $400 I paid for 1 night stay I am disappointed & angry because it ruined the whole experience I was trying to give my kids! I will not return to this hotel & I don’t recommend it to anyone else either. I would however like to be contacted by management to further discuss my concerns. I have called several times & put on hold long enough to realize I’m not considered a priority so maybe this review will prompt...