HomeTowne Studios Chicago - Waukegan — Hotel in Waukegan

I will try to be as objective as possible while describing our experience at the hotel:

Upon check in, the room keys issued did not work on the door. I took the card keys back and they were re-issued. They still did not work. After taking them back a 2nd time, one of the receptionists came up to try them on the door and they still did not work. They took the key cards and said they would return shortly after rewriting them. We waited outside our room for 30 minutes and no one came to the room. After I went back a 3rd time, they issued us a manager key for the room and said that a manager would not be present until the following day. We finally got into the room.

There were no pillows in our room,so I went down a 4th time to request pillows they said they would let housekeeping know to bring us some pillows. They never followed up with us.

The room appeared to be missing a television which looks like it had been ripped out the wall. The floors were very dirty and even the parts that were "clean" looked like construction dust was finished over in the floor without even cleaning up. There were stains on the ceiling. I had wiped up the counters with some tissue because the room just was not clean.There was a night stand which was missing a bottom drawer---and the best part of this train wreck was there was a pair of used panties stuffed into where the missing drawer was along with a funeral service brochure for a deceased woman,which made it all the more unsettling.

The girls were very unhappy with the room and so I went down to request a different room. I was told there were no vacancies available and that would not be possible (still no pillows). However, the room 2 doors down from us was vacant and remained vacant all night (that room had pillows!). On the way back to the room, I could spot several hotel rooms that had blood stains on the curtains and several rooms where screen windows were warped and appear to have been attempted to be ripped out.

We had been told previously that we could cancel our 2nd night that we had reserved if we checked out and canceled by 11am. My girlfriend quickly went to work securing a room for us at our trusty Motel 6 in Waukegan (whom we cheated on with this place because it was $30 cheaper for the 2 nights). We contacted the front desk in the morning prior to checkout to request a refund for the next night and no manager could be reached. Since we had booked the room through a 3rd party, they were contacted and asked us for photos of the issues we complained about, which we were all too happy to send. They tried reaching a manager all day with little luck. It is now 4 days later and so far we haven't heard anything about our refund yet.

The only thing we liked about the room was that it had a full sized refridgerator and a small stove and cabinet, should be have decided to make food there (no microwave). The room is better suited for an extended stay family on a limited budget who may (for example) be visiting the nearby military base and just needs a bare-bones place to stay.

I do not reccomend this hotel/motel to anyone in town on vacation visiting the theme park nearby. Motel 6 is closer to the park anyway and is much cleaner and provides better service than what we experienced here. I understand the hotel was understaffed as we were told: I can turn a blind eye to much, but the deal breaker for me was the lack of service in bringing us pillows and lying about having no vacancies. Had they brought us pillows or given us the other room we would have been fine. But lying to guests and neglecting to follow up with simple requests for service....well, there is no excuse for...

First and foremost, i could have opened 12 lawsuits and won them all against this property.

Prior to my 40 day stay here, my last visit was April of 2018 before the management shift. Total night and day difference.

Essence, the hotel manager, SHOULDN'T EVEN HOLD THAT TITLE. She is about as personable as a screws being driven through your toes with a beehive on your head. She HUMILIATES guests in front of other guests and at times she will do the same to her employees. DO NOT FILE A COMPLAINT WITH CORPORATE UNTIL AFTER YOU LEAVE! SHE WILL GET A COPY OF IT ON HER DESK AND WILL MAKE THE DURATION OF YOUR STAY A NIGHTMARE. She also lives (for free) on site (#320) So beware. She has a mental problem that is not being addressed and takes it out on unsuspecting guests and employees. She needs medication.

THINGS RED ROOF NEEDS TO DO: FIRE THE CURRENT MANAGER AND HIRE ONE THAT DOES NOT LIVE ON SIGHT AND BULLY THE GUESTS. SHE WORKS FOR THE GUESTS! IT IS NOT HER CASTLE OF MISERY! 9/10 PEOPLE WHO LOVE HOMETOWNE STUDIOS WILL NOT BE BACK DUE TO A DECISIVE, VINDICTIVE MANAGER. TRAINING - THE NEW MANAGER NEEDS TO TRAIN THE ASSOCIATES. SOME OF THE ONES ARE GOOD, BUT THERES ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT WHEN IT COMES TO BEING POLITE AND MORE ACCOMADATING. HIRE AN ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER - CLEARLY ESSENCE HAS PROVEN IT TAKES MORE THAN ONE HEAD TO RUN THAT PLACE SEEING HOW UNFIT SHE IS AS A MANAGER AND CANT KEEP UP WITH BUILDING MAINTENANCE. HIRE MORE ABLE BODIED HOUSE KEEPING AND MAINTENANCE STAFF - THE MAINTENANCE MAN IS ABOUT RETIREMENT AGE AND CANT DO IT ALL. THEY NEED TO PLACE AND TRAIN HIM WORKING FRONT DESK FROM 11-7AM. THERE NEEDS TO BE 2 HOUSEKEEPERS TO A FLOOR (SUNDAY 3 TO A FLOOR WITH 1 OR 2 ABLE BODIED MALE ROOM STRIPPERS AND RUNNERS AND CART REPLENISHERS) AND ROOMS SHOULD BE DONE IN 35 MINUTES MAXIMUM TIME. EACH WEEK ON EACH FLOOR THEY NEED TO TEST THE HOUSEKEEPERS TO MAKE SURE THEIR CLEANING SKILLS ARE UP TO PAR FOR EXAMPLE PLACING A $20 DOLLAR BILL UNDER A FITTED MATTRESS SHEET TO SEE IF THE SHEETS ARE BEING CHANGED. MIDWEEK STAFF MEETINGS WOULD BENEFIT THE WHOLE FACILITY AND THEN SOME. ALSO. THROW OUT ANY CURRENT LINNENS AND TOWELS PILLOWS AS WELL AND START FRESH. OBVIOUS QUEEN BEE ESSENCE CANT BE BOTHERED TO STOP WITH THE MILKSHAKES AND EATING BON BONS AT HER DESK FOR 2 SECONDS TO RUN OUT TO THE STORE AND GRAB SOME BLEACH LET ALONE MAKING SURE THE PLACE IS RUNNING SMOOTHLY. SHE DOESNT CARE. AFTER ALL. US GUESTS ARE JUST A...

My spouse and I stayed here for over a year and a half when I was having some terrible difficulties and tragedy in my life.

For a while, the only good things you could say about the place was that Jorge and Essence were fairly laid back.

They let me take my cats with me, which is nice because I doubt a couple of cats are going to do anything to this place that hasn't been done.

Pretty much all the fixtures are ruined, the place is heavily populated by homeless the state puts up and folks down on their luck. Not all are bad, but many are throwing used condoms and drug needles everywhere.

The favored pastime of the crackheads is to play steal the Walmart shopping cart and throw it into the retention pond. One person said he lifted the sheets and looked at the mattress. I recommend not doing that, as this is also a cheap hotel that people use for....well, you know.

A problem is that almost none of the cooktops work and people go around when they think there's nobody in the room and break out the windows to sneak in and swipe your stuff. While I was there, someone threw a trash can over the rail and into someone's windshield.

The more recent pictures show that the motel appears to have stopped washing the sidewalks and you can see how gross things are. Not that they were great. They let trash pile up sky high and there was vermin everywhere.

The reason we stayed was lack of alternatives and the fact that they were only charging ~$1,000 a month with all utilities.

The HVAC was just an air conditioner. Ours smelled like someone set fire to a dog when we turned the heat on. I had to get space heaters. It got very cold in the winter because the air would just blow straight through the door.

When the state started using this flophouse to shelter the homeless, the management increased the rate by ~33% and we found an apartment.

This place is rough. As soon as we left I canceled my debit card because I've read about people who continued to get charged past their stay.

Years back the city was out there (actually the police are there every day) writing deficiencies for safety, fire hazards, garbage all over the place. Maybe they "came to an arrangement with the inspector" because it was never fixed as far as I know.

Whenever we're looking to book a hotel I always use Red Roof and Hometowne Studios for the "LULZ".

If you dare stay at this place, my only advice is to LITERALLY...