Hilton Garden Inn Chicago North Shore/Evanston — Hotel in Evanston Township

I truly regret my decision to check in here on March 19 because I ended up have several of my favorite antique rings stolen by housekeeping. Now for the details. I'm a Hilton honors member but I booked through a 3rd party site because the rates were astronomical. I wish I had chosen the Orrington instead 😪 ||I check in and told front desk staff I'm a Hilton honors member and they took my email address and phone number upon check in. When up see my room it's bland, unimpressive, even depressing but it was large. Shabby furniture and no one offered me waters which are you're supposed to receive if you're a Hilton member. Early in the morning the fire alarm goes off waking all the guests up at 7 AM. Turns out it happens t often and the fire department was irate and just as tired as the guests. Next morning the same thing happens and I'm jolted awake ⏰ at around 9 AM.||When the rates got even higher I chose to check out and was so sleep deprived I forgot 2 rabbit fur pouches of my rings. I had to take multiple trips going from my room with my belongings to the lobby and I was exhausted and tired from the fire alarm incidents.||Staff knew I was only going to be 10 minutes away and had my phone number and email address and no one told me I accidentally left my rings behind. Five days later I'm going through my belongings and realized my pouches had been left behind. I called the front desk guy at 3 AM and said my rings had been left behind in my room and he dais he doesn't have permission to go in the safe and to call back at 8AM. I call at 8 AM and the manager gave me great news! My pouches were there so I was so excited! I pick them up and when I return to my space u realized my favorite otsby barton 10K gold red glass titanic ring 💍 was missing, my topaz rings missing, a pearl ring missing and my emerald gold seed ring stolen. I was so hurt and upset so I filed a police report in Evanston to investigate 🔎 the housekeeper who helped herself to my rings. You know I spent years working hard to be able to buy these rings for myself and they're one of a kind and irreplaceable.||Eric the manager said he'd investigate it on his end but then he sent me an email stating the hotel isn't responsible. I also called the Magma Hospitality group who owns Hilton Garden Inn and the woman snickered over the phone as I gave her the details.||I am enclosing an email from the General Manager.||I advise guests to use the safe in their room and upon check out go through every part of your room carefully because the policy here at this hotel protects the staff and not the personal belongings of the guests. I will never forgive the person who stole my sentimental items. The rooms here are depressing and overpriced. I don't recommend this location...

The hotel itself was really nice, but our check-in experience made the start of our trip super stressful. I booked this hotel because I’m a photographer and had a wedding in Chicago the next day.

We fully paid ahead of time—about $600 for two nights. We arrived around 2am after a long drive with my three nieces, only to be told the hotel was overbooked and they had no room for us. The front desk guy told me that if Expedia didn’t send a room number, then we didn’t actually have a reservation. Expedia never sends room numbers, so that response felt completely dismissive and didn’t make sense. I asked why no one had called us if they knew they were overbooked, and he just said there was nothing he could do.

I went to the car to call Expedia, and a few minutes later he came outside and said he might be able to figure something out—but he wasn’t sure if he could honor our original rate. Thankfully, he did end up getting us into a room at the same rate, which I appreciated. But honestly, even saying that might not be possible felt unnecessary and frustrating. We had already paid in full—this wasn’t a mistake on our end, it was theirs, paying extra isn't an issue but seemed far fetched since it wasn't my fault. When he was getting us the room, he said it was a king, and I mentioned that I had booked something that sleeps four because we had kids in the car and I wanted to make sure it had a pullout couch too, like we booked. He responded with, “I’m not sure, I don’t know much about the room.” Like... what? I paid $600 and was still having to ask basic and simple questions as if I was getting something for free.

The rest of the stay was great. The room was clean, the staff we saw after that was friendly, and the parking garage was super convenient—easy to get in and out, and close to the entrance. I’m not sure if it’s always free, but ours was. There’s also a nice little snack area in the lobby, which we bought a lot from, good options. Very quiet, heard no other people our entire stay. Only other small thing was the elevators being extremely janky and scary to be in and the shower did leak in our room, not huge deals since I feel this common but worth noting for those deciding if they'd like to stay.

My only other complaint was the pool area. There were ants crawling on the walls near one of the signs and around the hot tub, dirty in many spots. We only saw one other person at the pool our entire stay, so it didn’t seem like a busy weekend thing—just not well maintained, photo/video attached. On checkout day, the hot tub was drained and out of order too.

Overall, the hotel itself is nice, but for $600 I expected better communication and upkeep. I wouldn’t rule out staying again, but I’d only book if the rate...

Picked the hotel due to proximity to NWU and positive things about city of Evanston (vs Chicago downtown) along with the great reviews here. However, my experience with check-in was the worst I've had maybe in 5 years (I read these type of reviews online and can't believe it but I guess it happens). On arrival, I asked about my Diamond benefits but instead of providing them, Al told me to check my account and figure it out myself (surprising as I know what the app says but many hotels have varying benefits). I walked over to the dining area myself to ask about my food/bev credit and the person told me I needed to ask the front desk for vouchers. I went to front desk and Al said he didn't know and then went to consult someone who told him that Diamonds didn't need the vouchers but would get an adjustment on check-out (again, not knowing the amount). ||I got a lower floor room so I asked as Diamond if I could get higher floor and he said that they were too busy and sold out (on the online check-in in the morning, I saw dozens of rooms to choose from including top floor so I think he just didn't want to bother).||I'll keep it at 2 stars instead of 1 because the hotel itself was okay - because it was low floor I also happened to have a 'connecting room' door which I try to avoid precisely for the reason that we heard our neighbors talking like they were in our bathroom, so not soundproof (understandably most of these doors have this issue so we try to avoid them, but front desk didn't even offer any choices).||Breakfast was good, though - they provided fast service and a good meal.||Parking is next door (you can self-park for $18 or go through HGI for a little bit more [$24 on their website]) --- note that Evanston has zero street parking 3-6am each night, so garages are necessary. At the same token, because they are required and it's also the hotel's garage parking, there were many cars there overnight and it felt safe to leave your vehicle...