This trip to Chicago I stayed at the Hyatt Regency – a choice made basically by checking hotels that were reasonably close to IBM and which had broadband access in their rooms (it seems that most of them do now in that part of Chicago). Also, being a Hyatt Gold Passport member helped the decision over some of the other hotels.
The trip was great – the class went really well, the hotel was comfortable and well located, and we were able to squeeze in a little sightseeing as well.
Let’s get straight to the rating…
Room: 9/10 – functional, clean, stylish, reasonably spacious … very comfortable all round. The best feature of the room would be the chair and desk – a nice ergonomic chair makes big difference compared to most hotels – especially when you have a lot of work you need to be doing there. Not a lot else to say – I can’t find anything much to complain about, other than the views from my room were rather boring.
Bed: 8/10 – The queen sized bed was firm and comfortable, interestingly was also very high, which put it at about the right height for me, but others may not have liked having to “climb” into it. The pillows were not quite right, but I did sleep well (other than the jetlag), so it was okay.
TV: 7/10 – largish TV, sitting in a nice cabinet off to the side of the room – a little awkward to see from the desk or the bed, but still acceptable. As is typical in the US, they had lots of channels, and not a thing on ! Two movie channels (HBO and Starz) played the occasional watchable movie, but generally the selection was rather pathetic.
Connectivity: 9.5/10 – High speed broadband (1500kbps I think) in the rooms… FREE ! It doesn’t get much better than this. Actually, I’ve taken half a mark off because they might have given us wireless broadband so that I wasn’t stuck at the desk while online and could sit on the bed or in the chair. Picky I know, but we’re aiming for perfection here :D
Breakfast: 6/10 – breakfast was not included, and the restaurant breakfast was quite expensive. Fortunately with our Gold Passport membership, they put us on the Regency Club levels which also allowed us access to the Regency Club lounge. They provided a light breakfast for free – simple continental stuff. It was good enough – I could have some cornflakes and rice bubbles, some OJ and some fruit, which is good enough really. The only critisicm really was that it became quite crowded at times – too many people taking advantage of the free breakfast.
Room Service: 8/10 – Reasonable selection, food pretty good quality, service reasonable. I only had some stuff on the first night, so I can’t really comment more. It was okay. Fortunately there are lots of really good quality restaurants within easy walking distance, so food is never difficult. We loved the food at Houlihans just around the corner – cheap and very tasty.
Location: 9/10 – almost perfect, about 6-7 mins walk to IBM, reasonably close to public transport (not that we caught any), and a short stroll to the main shopping and restaurant precinct.
Total: 56.5/70 = 81%
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