DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Chicago - Oak Brook — Hotel in Oak Brook

This review is sent on behalf of my family. and the disappointing stay we experienced at this property. My family reunion was hosted 6-20 thru 6-22. I checked in on 6-19. I called customer service for a receipt copy of final charges that I still hadn't received until 6/27.

I'm not one to write reviews, or to speak bad of others, without their knowledge, so I reached out to the hotel and did include everyone in the email.

The lack of professionalism in passing me on from one event planner to the next without a soft transfer and discussion was beyond unprofessional. (A total of 4).

I’ll start by saying I’m extremely dissatisfied as well as disappointed.

If I had not made my way to the hotel property at the end of May, where would my event have ended up? I had to seek them. The fact that the 3rd planner sent an email on 5/22 (to the wrong email address) and not follow up with a phone call to confirm after 5 days is unacceptable/unsettling. The second planner did not respond to an email or return a call for 4-6 weeks!!

The leadership in this location/organization could really use a customer satisfaction training course.

I had left several voicemails, sent several emails, to them, talked to the front desk only to be sent to the second persons voicemail again, and they don’t have the decency/professionalism to return a call and say, you’ll be working with person 3 now or person 3 saying you'll be working with person 4 now? We had been passed around a few times there so to say I’m concerned would be an understatement.

I had family coming from all over the country and I could not provide answers because the Doubletree staff wouldn’t give me any.

I tried to address these things with the hotel from being ignored/unanswered for over the 6 weeks plus and I had to rush to plan a reunion in a week because of this. The medallions we originally requested that's on their menu was changed last minute to a skirt steak (which is the cheapest toughest steak out there, yet they up charged me $6 per person. (I had 120 guests)

I was told my suite would be comped. only the upgrade was. The air conditioner did not work; they brought up a standard fan to try and cool down the room. I was promised to be moved to the president suite the next day. I was then told someone booked it, so we had to just suffer the heat. I was told again by the front desk that they would try and comp a night.

Everything I addressed with person 4 was not heard as their only concern was how many fees she could add to the meeting room I booked, that we only used 1 day. I asked multiple times to remove the room for Sunday, and after the way we were treated Friday, with the back and forth of items in a gift bag was beyond insulting. The room was not used Saturday and at minimal, I requested it be taken from my bill as well as the suite that was too hot to stay in. We ended up in the lobby area.

Two of the three elevators were not working on Sunday, causing everyone to arrive late for the brunch. We had elderly people, family in wheelchairs, and the hotel had other reunions there. This was almost a disaster. The pool was open, but the whirlpool wasn't. I suggest putting a cover over it.

From the first night's arrival, Thursday the 19th, several family members had to change rooms due to leaks, molding and smell of the rooms.

The front desk staff, and maybe the assistant general manager may have been the only listening ear. Everyone else seemed to focus on making a buck.

Honestly, you need to renovate the entire property before allowing large parties to stay there.

I received a call from the executive director of sales and marketing with an apology. They did issue a refund for the suite and the non-used rooms but left the tax & gratuity on my bill.

The upcharge menu item was ignored also. They also had a bartender fee that should've been waived.

My final hotel bill for the event was over 12K, and with all of the issues, lies told and false promises, this is the thanks we get. Thank you, but...

This is a review that reflects both my stay as well as hosting my wedding here so please read if you are considering holding an event here

I held my wedding here and had met with Janane AlMaliki who was our main point of contact. Whenever my family or I had e-mailed her we rarely ever got a response and definitely never in a timely manner. Getting ahold of her by phone was impossible as she never picked up the phone. We had to meet with her numerous times in person to get things squared away for the wedding since communicating otherwise was not working.

Once we had developed a relationship with her, we were handed off to Thomas Anton at the very tail end of planning just before the day of the event.

We had discussed having accommodations for a prayer room with proper signage - which was not done. There were no signs directing guests downstairs to the proper room, the room itself was not labeled to demarcate it was a prayer room (which resulted in guests walking into random wrong rooms) and the room itself did not have the white sheets placed on the ground as was discussed. Our prayers are time sensitive and we had 100s of guests that needed to pray and some weren't able to because my sister and myself were trying to navigate people to the proper area.

During the entire night, Tom was nowhere to be found. To not have an active point person being visibly present at the event is absolutely ridiculous. We kept having to go to the front desk staff to ask for him then would have to wait until they could find him.

There were no reserved table signs on the appropriate tables. The head tables on the women's side were jutted right up against the front stage leaving no room for the photographer to be able to take staged group photos. I understand that they Doubletree had provided a diagram of the layout, but if it had been problematic from the event team then they should have informed or advised us on that matter and guided us to a better layout option.

After dinner had been served, my sister was finally introduced to Vraj, who was the only person to actually listen to our issues and offer us help and assistance. He did the best that he could to try to right the mishaps that already happened. After the event, Vraj came to check how everything went and we were very honest with him about our overall dissatisfaction with the event and how things unfolded.

Upon completion of the event I got an e-mail from Janane asking how things went and I reiterated that things went very poorly and my family and I had to run around during my wedding to make sure things that should've been handled (and weren't) were remedied. I then e-mailed the team who added Donald HIll to the e-mail who is the director of sales and marketing. He said that he would speak to the leadership team and after that I never heard back from them.

It's really a shame when you're planning the biggest day of your life and spending a lot of money to have things go smoothly and they don't. We had my brother's wedding here in the past and never had these issues.

I would highly encourage anyone looking to hold an event here to NOT do so and look at other venues.

Also, the hotel room that they provided to my wife and I was terrible to say the least. Hallways were dirty, noise was easily heard throughout the room, the phones didn't work, our thermostats would stop working in the middle of the night, and we were promised breakfast but I was never told that they were in the form of vouchers that were at the front desk (probably because when I checked in the front desk clerk was literally asleep...

I have sent this email to the hotel (twice) starting on February 27th and followed up with a phone call leaving a message with a request for a return call in case the email did not go through. I have not heard one word back. So disappointed. |Good afternoon,|I stayed at your building on Tuesday and Wednesday nights this week. When I initially got there I was greeted with a friendly smile by Sean. He explained the dinner specials and suggested I have dinner there. When I arrived in my room, I called Sean as I had foods that required refrigeration and asked if I could be moved to a room with a refrigerator. Sean stated that the room didn’t come with a refrigerator but one was “on the way”. I went to the restaurant and was greeted by Mike. Mike was absolutely wonderful and I shared my experience with Sean. I ordered dinner and took the leftovers to my room. When I arrived to my room there was no refrigerator. I called Sean who informed me they couldn’t bring one. I told him I had food and asked if I was to just let it spoil and he replied, yes. To say the least I wasn’t happy about that and I put my food on ice in the sink. The following day when I came back after work I went to my room and no refrigerator. My food was without ice by that time. I went down to dinner and again was greatly warmly by Mike. I ordered food and shared my disappointment with Mike about the refrigerator and the response from Sean. I further expressed that I would be following up with a complaint for the lack of follow-up and Sean’s overall response. After dinner I went back to my room and began packing when I received a call from Sean . He called to inquire about my method of payment at the restaurant and asked if I paid with a credit card. I really didn’t understand why he was asking and responded no I didn’t think so and why was he asking. Sean responded that my credit card didn’t go through which yes, upset me. Mike then got on the phone and went to explain and I told him this was all too much. I got dressed and went to the front desk. When I got there Mike and Sean were there. I asked Sean about the call and about the refrigerator. Mike said that they were trying to give me credit which I did not understand until he explained I had not put my room number on the ticket and mike was trying to find out what room I was in for the purpose of the bill. I was very frustrated and walked to the elevator . Mike asked me to wait so he could show me the ticket . While I waited at the elevator, Sean walked up and began explaining again about the card and then the refrigerator. He went on to say that he did not say the refrigerator was on the way and that they are given out based on availability. That was absolutely not what he told me and I let him know that. Mike showed up to show me the ticket and returned to the bare in the|Midst of this. Sean further stated I was disrespecting he and his coworker. I told him to go as I had had enough. He walked away and said we are not going to get any where with this conversation and have a good night. I retreated to my room . I, like many others, travel weekly for work and I assure you I have never been treated this way. I thought about this throughout the night and today while at work before writing to let you know. My desire is to have this handled at the location if possible. I have attached the pictures of my food as further evidence of my conversation . I look forward to hearing from you. |Sincerely,|Angelia W. Bennett| 2 Attachments| • ...