I spent a night earlier this week at the Hyatt Chicago Magnificent Mile, since it was the location of a happy hour that Hyatt Gold Passport sponsored for Milepoint frequent flyer community members.
Overall I found:
- The public spaces to be gorgeous, a real thumbs up for that renovation.
- The breakfast buffet (complimentary for Gold Passport Diamonds) to be fantastic, high quality
- The rooms to be functional.
The ground floor entrance to the hotel has a Starbucks, and an elevator you have to take up to get to reception.
That’s when you’re struck by how attractively redone the lobby, the bar off the lobby, and other public spaces are.
I was given a room on the 14th floor, a code for complimentary wireless internet, and a breakfast coupon. It was explained to me that Diamonds give their coupon in the restaurant on the lobby level in exchange for complimentary buffet.
(Not valid for In Room ‘Dinning’)
I headed upstairs to the room, which was a standard King. It was small by many standards but fairly average size for downtown in a major city.
The bathroom was large enough, and water pressure in the shower good. Toileteries were limited — shampoo, conditioner, and lotion and a bar of soap each for the sink and for the shower. No bath gel, and no toothpaste (although the latter will be returning to Hyatt hotels no later than March 31). There were no bath robes and the bath towels were thin, and not soft.
The desk was functional with a couple of power outlets, I need more than two though so I bring my own compact power strip. There were also outlets on one of the night stands by the bed which is a thoughtful touch.
The view was of city buildings. I would have liked more glass to bring more light into the room, but there were ample lamps and the room wasn’t dark.
Overall I had a good night’s sleep which is all I was after.
Breakfast in the morning was a highlight. I went downstairs to the restaurant. Oddly it struck me on the way that the elevator design reminded me of a Hyatt Place.
Once in the restaurant the waitress brought a menu but took it away when she saw my buffet coupon.
She brought coffee (and left the pot, which is appreciated) and water and offered juice.
In addition to the hot and cold buffet, with much higher quality items than I’m used to at similar caliber hotel breakfasts, they offer made to order omelettes which you order from your server and not from an omelette station.
Breakfast was good, leave your coupon, there’s no bill to sign.
The hotel has a large gym with plenty of equipment, and an indoor pool with hot tub.
I didn’t take a picture of the hot tub because there were two people in there who seemed a bit inebriated and more than a bit amorous.
The Hyatt Chicago Magnificent Mile isn’t a property I would seek out or inconvenience myself for, but I would definitely stay here again if the location were perfect or the price was right.
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Bravo on the introduction…tight and to the point. I don’t know that I need pictures of closed food containers (the blue ones). Not sure what purpose some of the pictures serve (I trust there was food in the containers)…but, whatever. Good post.
I just re-looked at the picture. Not sure if the point of the picture with closed blue containers was to highlight the silver spoons or pretty backsplash? Regardless, odd (non-value add) picture.
It represented that there was hot food, too. As always, not every picture will add value to every reader. I include what seems meaningful to me at the time and as always YMMV.
I like the blue containers. Thanks Gary.
Out of curiosity: do you tip the servers when the breakfast is free? I tend to slip $5 especially when there’s no coupon or bill to sign.
Hmm…okay. Well, I guess if a picture is worth 1,000 words (and in your case probably 5,000 words), I guess the picture is a win-win. 😉
Yes, I tip servers. Servers depend on tips. No brainer.
I have a two night stay coming up in a few weeks, looking forward to it.
Great write up! As always, I love all your pictures and appreciate your work. Even the one with the blue food containers. I’m just disappointed you didn’t post a pic of a people in the hot tub. Sounds salacious… Perhaps they were filming The Bachelor?
Last year about this time I was hunting for a hotel for New Year and this property had a AAA rate of $89/nt for the 4 nights (12/28-12/31) I wanted. AND it was for any kind of room. I immediately booked a Executive Suite and called my girlfriend and she booked one as well. The rooms were massive and amazing.
My sense is that they hadn’t gotten around to updating their rates given that they were still going through renovation. No such luck this year as the last I checked the average room rate was $284 for this room for the same dates.
One additional note in case anyone is considering this property for New Years. The AAA rate is $449/nt for a King room if you book 1-3 nights BUT if you book 4 nights (i.e. 12/28-1/1) it is $134/nt for the AAA rate. I have to say that it was in a great location for shopping and restaurants and is a beautiful property.
Can’t beat NoMI.
Another vote for all the pictures. This has become my go-to property in Chicago; the property routinely upgrades me on check in to an executive suite (without need to burn up a confirmed Diamond suite u/g). Terrific rooms (suites), location, and breakfast.
What is it with comments about blue containers – I had to go back and re-read to see what all of the fuss was about.
Of greater interest on the picture front is Gary’s “selfie” in the first of the gym pictures! It would appear that you were not attired for a workout Gary having done the hard part of entering the place the least you could have done was jump on a treadmill 😉
Spelling errors drive me batty and “dinning” is a complete pet peeve. That a major corporation let that slip through is really bad.