Loews Chicago Hotel is Trendy & Modern, But Can Take Better Care of Guests

LF Says: ★★.5

After roaming around the world for the past 15 years of your life, you come to expect a few things from your hotels. Especially luxury hotels. And when you don’t get them, you go like, “Hmm…that’s interesting.” Loews Chicago Hotel is one of those. And while we didn’t completely hate it, the experience was, well, quite confusing.

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Our booking experience, to begin with, was quite awry. We were booking their special Snowed Inn package (which is only available till April 2024) on the Loews website, and in the process when it asked us if we are a AAA member, we said yes and added our respective number. When we received the booking confirmation on email, there was nothing written about the Snowed Inn package, which got us worried.

We pleaded, got angry, requested – nothing worked. So we downgraded to a Premium Room. The start of the experience itself was amiss.

Out of our excitement of enjoying the Snowed Inn package – we called the property to confirm, and to our horrific surprise, we were told we hadn’t got the package. On further scratching, we figured out the question where it asked us to enter AAA should have been ignored. Now we were not that intuitive, and there were no instructions mentioning that either. Nevertheless, it was not our fault, so we asked them to honor our booking of the Junior Suite. But they told us to either downgrade to a Premium Room or upgrade to a Lake View Suite (which was double of what we had paid already) – because we could get the Snowed Inn package only then.

Now this package was important to us. We were doing a staycation, celebrating a birthday, and wanted the children to truly enjoy a warm time. We pleaded, got angry, requested – nothing worked. So we downgraded to a Premium Room. The start of the experience itself was amiss.

The experience

Arriving at the hotel, the valet parking, the check-in was all smooth. The hotel lobby is grand with high ceiling, high marble fireplace, beautifully carved ceiling, and a metal artwork of the Chicago skyline on one of the walls. Being a Friday evening, the lounge was buzzing with people looking for some after-work downtime. The elevator had the poem Chicago, by Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), printed all around it. There are enough references to Chicago in the hotel to make you feel special.

The room design is minimalist, very smart and sleek. A big wall-to-wall window was accented with abstract, modern artworks. The room had the usual amenities – television, Keurig coffee machine, and Julian Farel amenities in the trendy, spacious bathroom.

Food at Loews Chicago was wonderful. Their restaurant ETA serves a-la-carte breakfast with a selection of the classics and uniques. The vegetarian me found wonderful options at the restaurant. I had Vegan Enchilada one day, and Vegan Shakshouka the other day – and both were tangy and lip-smacking. I am not a fan of sweet things, so this was the perfect breakfast!

The Omelette and Classic Benedict (served over English muffins with potatoes) were both ooh-la-la! The kids portions of Pancakes, Breakfast Sandwich and French Toast were just perfect and simple enough for the kids to gobble up quickly. A special shout-out to Maria who served us the first day at ETA. She was phenomenal and extremely patient with us, considering we had two excited children with us.

So what was amiss?

When the kids and husband went swimming at the indoor pool, they realized it was not heated, which is not something you expect when it’s 30^oF outside. They came back quite quickly. On the other hand, I thought I might indulge myself in a bit of spa. But surprise, there was no spa at this 4-star luxury hotel. I was told that their spa lowered their shutters pre-COVID. They have a sizable, well-fitted gym though.

Anyways, after the entourage came back, tired and hungry, we thought we’ll do some in-room dining. Surprise! The hotel didn’t have in-room dining available between 2 to 4pm. Well, I do think that any luxury hotel worth its stars should have 24X7 in-room dining available.

The grab-and-go coffee shop also shut down at 2pm. The only thing open was the lobby lounge bar, which thankfully did have an option to serve food. The bartender – Rouow – was extremely helpful. He said he could get the food packed to-go. Or serve at the lounge. I first opted for to-go, then later changed my mind to eating at the lounge as I saw the kids arrive downstairs for their meal. Rouow was wonderful and extremely gentlemanly with my rapidly changing requests. He had the gift of talking in a concerned way, being sympathetic, while being not too intrusive. I could see the other guests at the bar pouring their heart out to him. Bartenders are, after all, partial therapists to many.

To top it, the Keurig hot cocoa was quite horrible and watery, especially when compared to the hot chocolate available in the lobby every day.

A mention of the Lion’s Mane Sandwich here. It was sweet and tangy with crispy cauliflower ‘patty’ and Asian slaw. A wonderful mix of flavours and crunch.

My pet peeves don’t end here though. The Snowed Inn package – as it sounds – is basically a chance to have a wonderful time inside when there is a blizzard outside. The program offers cookies and hot cocoa to kids, along with a tent, and an option to choose bedtime story books.

The kids did receive a cute blue and white tent which they immediately fell in love with – nicely installed by the cheery Nana. Along with the tent came pillows in the size and style of stones, logs, fire and marshmallows, to recreate a campfire scene. However, one of the log pillows had something black stuck on it – which did concern us – but the kids were too happy and we were too tired to object about it. Having said that, after the first night, we requested the reception if we could have another tent since a fight for dominion over the tent had erupted in our room, an they very happily obliged. We received another tent on the second night and two very happy children.

The hot cocoa was basically Keurig pods – which were handed to us, along with cookies, during check-in. I would have really, really loved it if the hot cocoa and cookie was more of an ‘experience’. It could have been a cocoa cart that comes to your room to serve it hot, or maybe a high-tea style experience. To top it, the Keurig hot cocoa was quite horrible and watery, especially when compared to the hot chocolate available in the lobby every day. Now that lobby version was creamy, steaming hot and deliciously comforting!

The Snowed Inn experience could have had so much more to it. It seemed incomplete, pretty much half-baked.

Picking out the bedtime story book was also not an experience. We had to trudge out of the bed in our night suits – go to the reception – and request for the rolling bookshelf to choose our books from. If you are giving children a camp style experience indoors, then it would have been nice to play it through. Books could have been already placed in the room at the time of the check-in, or maybe a rolling cart that comes to the room again.

In conclusion

It was the staff who was the saving grace at the hotel. By the end of the trip, we had been softened by the amazing staff members who served us throughout. Nana, Maria and Rouow were attentive, understanding and incredible. The hotel itself is clean, modern, well-maintained and a stunning property with a wonderful location.

The experience, however, could have been more worthy of their AAA Four Diamond Rating. The Snowed Inn experience could have had so much more to it. It seemed incomplete, pretty much half-baked. A missed opportunity I would say.

LF Says: ★★.5