Hilton Garden Inn Chicago/Oakbrook Terrace — Hotel in Oakbrook Terrace

Since last weekend was my last stay at this “hotel”, I might as well write my often-requested review of this place. I stay at this hotel at least twice a month for the last year and have recently found out that Hilton Inc. has lost my previous stays, even though I showed receipts, and refused to credit me these stays to my honors account. My unbiased and honest review of the Hilton Garden Inn, Oakbrook Terrace, IL: Parking: This Hilton shares a parking lot with the Drury Theatre of Oakbrook, which has 4 theatre times a day during the weekends. Once the plays begin, it’s a free for all for parking spots. There are signs along the first two rows of the parking lot indicating that the parking spots are, “For Hotel Guests Only, All Others Will Be Towed”. This is vehemently ignored by theatre patrons who fill up the spots per showing without any kind of policing by hotel security. This leaves paying hotel guests to either, break the law and park in the red fire truck zones, or to park in the conveniently designated & shared parking garage 500 to 700 feet away from the hotel entrance. Being a disabled Military Veteran, I am usually forced to drag my two trips worth of luggage down the parking garage levels and across the busy street and lot to the front lobby. Breakfast: To me, the reason this place was always a gem was because you could choose, when booking through the Hilton Hotel app or website, the Bed and Breakfast rate, which included the normal run-of-the-mill everyman’s hotel breakfast…but with made-to-order eggs\omelet. I was just informed this last stay that the made-to-order option was no longer available on weekends, leaving only the continental breakfast fare offered by any other hotel in the area for free but here, they charge you $13 just because there is a waitress to bring you hot coffee. When I complained, it was explained to me that I could have the eggs for an extra charge even though I payed extra for the breakfast option. The management would not refund me my breakfast fee they charged when I booked the hotel because “I should have stayed up with the new policy enacted a week before my stay!!” really? There is nothing special about this breakfast that any other hotel, including the Super 8, Hampton Inn, the Red Roof Inn, the La Quinta, etc., doesn’t offer without the made-to-order eggs. So for the free offerings at any other budget hotel, the Hilton will charge you $13 for eggs, sausage or bacon, hash browns, the classic waffle maker, and fruit or yogurt. You can pay an extra fee if you would like a 2 egg omelet or eggs over easy. There is a great Denny’s 5 blocks away that will give you everything you want for $9. The bathrooms in the hotel have no exhaust fan. When you or your significant other take a shower, don’t bother trying to use the mirror to get ready/shave/put on makeup, because it will be fogged up for at east an hour or more. None of the bathrooms have an exhaust fan which can also be extremely embarrassing for anyone with flatulence or anyone going number 2. If you are trying to impress a loved one or relative, poop in a public space before going to the hotel. No Pet Policy: I read this week on the Hilton website that ALL Hilton hotels are transitioning to a pet friendly policy, even if it means charging a $75 fee. The message from the Hilton Corporation about pets is actually really inspiring and cool…all about family and the changing social norms regarding pets. You can book the much more luxurious Hilton Resort Hotel a few miles away in Oakbrook for the same price as this outdated lodge. As I mentioned at the beginning of this review…I am missing 4 stays on my Hilton Rewards account, even though I booked through the Honors app or website. Disappeared on their records, but still solid on my Citi credit card acct. No adult swim for the pool. If you stay on a weekend and you don’t have children or a family, don’t bring your swimsuit. 90% of great 2 to 3 star hotels I have stayed at in the last 3 years have an adult...

We stayed here for a dance competition, the hotel where the workshop was help was booked solid so we really didn’t have much of a choice to stay here but we said it should be nice! When we arrived we were greeted nicely, when done checking in the man told us with our room we had complimentary breakfast from 7-11 and after 11 it would be $14 a person, ok nice! We had to be at our location by 7:45 so we went down to breakfast heading out, we were rudely stopped by a kitchen employee who stopped my grand daughter from getting her dry cereal because she had not paid for it yet, when I explained to her that we were told we had been told we had complimentary breakfast at check in she told us to go verify at the front desk , when I went to verify the lady told me the gentleman who told me that must have been confused, so ok fine, I said I would pay for the 1/2 cup of dry cereal and 2 bananas for my grand daughter , she rang me up and was charged almost $9 for this, so we leave and then come back to get our things to check out, Later as I was checking my checking account I noticed a charge for $77 for property damage , as you can imagine I was stunned , I called the hotel to inquire about the charges, They explained that one of the towels had red hair color on it and that was what the charges were for, So HILTON CHARGED ME $77 and my $25 Security deposit for a towel with some red hair color, I asked if it was reasonable to be charged $102 for a towel , she explained that there was nothing they could do about it, I asked to speak to the manger and they explained she does not work on Sundays , I then called customer service and they opened a case for me , I asked for the hotel not to contact me that I would rather speak to someone else where , what did they do they had the hotel call me and had to speak to the same RUDE MANAGER, I then called customer service again and they said my case was closed!! That was one EXPENSIVE TOWEL $102 Wow...

I've been to many Hilton hotels in my travels and due to the condition of this one I decided to post what I have seen. This Hilton has lost sight of what they are supposed to stand for. Everything at this location is a total cash grab. Want to park your car at the hotel, 6 dollars a night. I know that isn't a terrible price but it's a forced cash grab since it's your only option. Want continental breakfast, most other Hiltons had it included, here it's 13 dollars a day. You want basic kuregg coffee, by all means go for it, only 3 dollars a cup. My room wasn't as clean as expected, pictured are the details, in addition to the few pictures I posted, the fridge door was open upon my arrival and thus not cold and black hair was on the sink, shower, and night stand, mind you I'm dirty blonde with much shorter hair. I'm paying over 320 dollars for 2 nights and you can't even keep my room in order. Additionally I called the front desk earlier to let them know there was a dog crying a few doors down hoping to get it resolved. I was placed on hold for 5 minutes before I gave up. It's very disappointing because the attention to taking care of guest has been over shadowed by wanting to get every penny they can. I truly can not recommend this location to anyone and management needs to take a close look at what they've decided to put in place as normal policy. I'm staying because I've already booked and paid so I can't do much now but on my next few visits to this area I will not be coming again. It's unfortunate because I've used many Hilton locations for work before and they were very good but this one has fully fell short of...