DoubleTree Hotel Chicago - Magnificent Mile

Just Blocks From the Magnificent Mile

When I began planning for the Chicago VT Meeting during a weekend in June, 2011 I decided it would be best for Sue and I to stay in the city rather then do the back and forth commute to Naperville, about 30 miles away where we live. So as I usually do when I stay at a named brand hotel I looked at the points I had in my Marriott and Hilton accounts and since we had used a lot of the Marriott points back in October/November 2010 for our trip to California and San Francisco I turned to my Hilton points for our 2 night stay. I just then had to decide which one of the downtown Hilton hotels was most convenient to our planned activities.

I actually arrived early on Friday morning to drop off our one bag of luggage (most of which was filled by my wife's clothes, etc) and a box of VT material that was being given away at the meeting. I pulled up outside and had the valet guide me to the bellman who then stored by 2 pieces and gave me tickets to pick up when we arrived later that night (almost midnight by the time we got back after the VT Friday evening events.

When we got back to the hotel on Friday night here is what we saw and my impressions.

Check In - We officially checked in and got 2 hot chocolate chip cookies. Already a good sign. The lobby is not overly spacious put has some areas to relax if you want and is the only spot in the hotel with Free WiFi access. You have to pay extra in your room which I always think is a little crazy if you are a Hilton member which I am. We then received our keys and went up to Room 2011 (how very appropriate). The 20th and 21st floors are reserved for Hilton members and were very quiet which was a good thing as we encountered a few drunken wedding guests just outside the hotel that evening. I don't do very well with noisy obnoxious people in a hotel.

The Room - Our room consisted of 2 Queen Size Beds which were very comfortable. On the Second night we actually decided to sleep in separate beds since I wanted to get up early the next morning and take some early Sunday morning (6:00 a.m.) pictures of Chicago. I'm the early morning person while Sue likes to sleep in on her days off. The room also had a medium size desk and chair, an LG Flat Screen TV, a bench area to sit by the window which was great for putting on my hiking shoes. The furnishings were a little dated, but I really don't care about that as long as the beds are comfortable which they were.

The room also had a mini fridge and snacks above the mini fridge which we were warned by the check in staff were very sensitive and to let them know if we were charged accidentally. I personally wish they would get rid of those mini fridges with the stuff in them, but I understand the business economics of them. Maybe they could designate rooms that didn't have them.

The bathroom was nothing spectacular, but again I shower, shave, brush my teeth and do my bodily functions there and really don't need much else. The towels were to my liking being about 5 feet long. They were of average softness. The soap and shampoo were very nice smelling.

Unique Quality: This is the first hotel that I have stayed in that had garbage cans in the room that were divided into waste and recycling (2 smaller bins inside a large one). I'm sure most people could care less unfortunately, but being a huge recycler myself I really appreciated it. I hope the hotel does indeed recycle. Sometimes when housekeeping staffs and cleaning crews come in they dump everything together anyway. I probably should check that out and quiz the hotel as to their procedure.

The outdoor roof pool on the 5th floor looked very nice and I took a picture of it from the 20th. They also had a gift shop and workout room which we did not use.

They also had a full service restaurant and Einstein Bros Bagel restaurant attached.

• Opinion of Price: about average
• Related to: Architecture, Photography, Business Travel
• Written June 21, 2011

DoubleTree Hotel Chicago - Magnificent Mile Photo: Entrance on Ohio Street

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