Best Western Plus Hawthorne Terrace Hotel — Hotel in Lake View Township

I would not recommend staying at the Best Western Hawthorn Terrace at all. When I first arrived I waited 30 minutes to check in and there was only one person in front of me. I then asked if there was any places they would recommend to go get dinner around the hotel. The response I got was very rude and he said “Honey, you are in Chicago and there are tons of places to go to”. This was no help to me and I thought it was very rude. When I got into the hotel room, I noticed there was a whole front piece of the bath tub just falling off. I did not want to be picky but I thought this was very odd. I then a little later when to take a bath in said tub, and only maybe 2 of the jets that were in it were working properly. This is unacceptable considering the price that I was paying to stay in this room for one night. I then continued my night and went to see my family and go shopping. Then to my surprise, I had lost my car and house keys. This was very upsetting to me, as it was the one thing that I needed to be able to leave the hotel when the time came. Then here I am the next morning upon checkout. I am searching high and low for my keys and could not find them. I did what I needed to do and got all of my stuff out of the room. I told the front desk staff the situation that I was in and they were very rude AGAIN and failed to accommodate any needs that I had. I then got to my car that I could not get into. I put my luggage underneath my car so that I could go and find food somewhere and get my bearings on everything that was happening. I even retraced my steps of everywhere I had been the night before and unfortunately I was unable to locate my keys. I then go back to the hotel and told them the predicament that I was in. I asked several times if someone had turned in or found any keys. Every time that I asked them, I was looked at as if I was a crazy person. This is when I started to get very upset and panicky. I could not believe that anyone would not have compassion or offerings for more accommodations that I was willing to pay for. I even had mentioned that I may need to get a room for another night. This opportunity they had was completely ignored. I spent 7 hours after that trying to figure out what I could do, calling locksmiths or anyone that could help me get my car running. I then noticed while I was in my car that the same front desk people were coming out to check for people that had proper parking paperwork in their cars. I just had a feeling that this was bad. In the end, I had a good friend of mine that was coming to drive my spare keys to me from over 3 hours away. I had to wait an entire 9 hours by my car in that parking lot, and throughout the day going to different stores of businesses just to get food, go to the bathroom etc. I can’t believe I was not even offered to be able to sit in the lobby, use the bathroom, offered a room that I WOULD have paid for. I paid $363 for the room through Expeidia, which I thought was high, but was willing to pay this because it seemed like such a nice place and location wise worked well for me. After I returned home (FINALLY) and checked my bank account online, I was VERY upset to see additional charges form the hotel. Charges that I was NOT notified about or have any receipt for. All in all, I would NOT EVER recommend this hotel based on all of the above, but most of all the customer service (or evidently lack thereof). If I was to put myself in their shoes and had someone desperately looking for help, I would NEVER treat anyone that way. I hope this hotel, their management and their staff learn from this. I hope no one ever has to be treated this way when they are in an unfamiliar place, especially such a big city. The WORST experience with Best Western Hawthorne Terrace. I am still so very sick to my stomach writing this today but am so happy I was able to get through this thanks to my friend/family. To be clear, do not think anyone at this hotel cares about you or your stay while you are with them, very...

I stayed here for 6 nights in November (still here) and experienced a warm greeting from Chase upon my arrival. I booked this hotel upon the recommendation from my client and did not not rent a car during this trip to save my client the expense. I experienced a few issues with my room that were overall corrected very quickly.

Pros: Staff, location, layout. My room had a mini fridge, coffee maker, microwave and wood floors, which make me much less squeamish due to concerns for cleanliness and germs.

Very warm and welcoming surroundind with nice outside terrace. The breakfast options we're pretty detailed including hot cereal, cold cereal, Bagels muffins and toast. Hot options included waffles and eggs and sausage. The only downside was that it was the same overdone (brown) eggs and sausage link or patties in the morning so there's not much variety in that part. I don't know what kind of waffle batter they use but it was very very good. I added it fresh berries, nuts and whipped cream to it,which was awesome. The water runs very hot. I requested a room on the first floor as I had an injury prior to my arrival and that was easily accommodated. I was even given recommendations and coupons to eateries in the area which were all pretty good. This location is steps from Starbucks and pretty good restaurants where you can get a decent meal under 15 bucks. The gentleman at the front desk even offered to pick my dinner up for me as he was on his way to the same place to get dinner and my ankle was sprained. The Wi-Fi signal was also pretty good so I was able to get work done after leaving my client office.

Cons: based on where you fall the hotel is pet-friendly. For a person with allergies the cleaning process has to be extremely detailed for me especially regarding linens as a few nights I felt like I was being eaten alive by fire ants at the result. Many people are comfortable putting their pets in the bed with them so I presume that it was the cause as I had experienced it before when contacting pet hair. The AC / heating unit was Extremely Loud and I had to turn it off a couple of nights just to go to sleep. The wall thermostat did not communicate with the unit but this was easily corrected by me turning it off at the unit. The hallways aren't vacuumed every day. If you stay on the first floor understand the walls are thin and there is an alley next to your window where you will hear trash cans roll throughout the night. Parking is $40 for a 24 hour. This far exceeds the cost of the rental car in most cases.

I will definitely stay here again but would not do it on the first floor and would bring a pet hair roller to remove any hidden hairs from the bed linens...

Disappointed, Disrespected, and Questioning My Treatment

I genuinely wish this review could be more positive, but my experience at the Best Western Plus Hawthorne Terrace left me deeply disappointed and questioning whether I was truly welcome as a Black guest.

After working an overnight shift with no sleep, I arrived in Chicago early and hoped to check in or at least rest in the lobby. I politely asked the front desk staff if there were any rooms available. She checked the system and said no — that my room wouldn't be ready until around 2pm. Fair enough. I asked if I could stay in the lobby to wait, and she said sure.

But here's where it gets hard to ignore how different my treatment felt. About 30 minutes later, I witnessed another guest — a white man — walk up and ask if he could check in early. Without hesitation, she said yes and began checking him in. No mention of fees, no attitude, no resistance.

I was confused but gave her the benefit of the doubt. I approached her again, asked the same question, and was denied — again. Later, I made a friendly gesture by asking for brochures to lighten the mood, and then she suddenly brought up the option to upgrade my “queen room” for $85 — plus $40 for early check-in. I was stunned.

First, none of this was mentioned to the guest she helped before me. Second, I had already paid nearly $40 more than the average price for this "cheap" room through a third-party site. When I pointed this out, she dismissively told me she couldn’t see what I paid because it was a third-party booking. She could have asked to see my confirmation, but chose not to. The message was clear: I wasn't worth the effort.

Later that evening, I returned around 7:30pm to finally check in. The second staff member was cold and dismissive. She handed me a room on the first floor. I simply asked if a higher floor was available. She didn’t check, didn’t pause — just said "No" flatly, with no explanation or professionalism. I left feeling unwelcome again.

This experience left me hurt, confused, and honestly, humiliated. I don’t like jumping to conclusions, but when I see others treated with courtesy and flexibility while I receive cold indifference, it’s hard not to wonder if race played a role. I sincerely hope that’s not the case, but four separate disappointments in a single stay make it difficult to ignore.

I will never spend my money at this hotel again. The "Plus" in this hotel's name seems to mean plus if...