Disclaimer: I am not a world traveler…I’m not even a regular traveler. I might take one trip per year and that one trip is usually just to visit family out of state. I am not rich. I am just an elementary school secretary who still lives at home with her retired parents. I have stayed in a 4-star hotel just once (Intercontinental Chicago, June 2008) and am more accustomed to Country Inn and Suites and the Holiday Inn. I don’t have granite or marble in my home or other new amenities. That being said, please go ahead and read my review of the Swissotel Chicago, a 4-star hotel. :~} If you’re not wealthy or snobby (or both), you too may fall in love with what the Swissotel has to offer.

I planned this trip as a surprise 65th birthday/Mother’s Day present for my mom. I knew she would love a view of Lake Michigan and the Swissotel offered that. I also knew she would love Navy Pier and the Swissotel was very close to Navy Pier as well. I booked a fabulous package at Priceline for hotel and airfare that couldn’t be beat. I called the hotel to confirm a few days before we left and assumed because they knew I didn’t book directly with them they would treat us differently (as has been hinted at in many reviews on this site), but that wasn’t the case. The first young lady I spoke with on the phone was very kind and told me they had us booked in a Classic Lakeview King. I was over the moon about that because again, based on some reviews here I thought I’d have to beg and plead to get an upgrade and then face being mistreated by snobby hotel personnel.

When we arrived at the hotel on Friday, May 8th (Mom’s Birthday) we were greeted by a valet (?) who opened the taxi door and helped us out and carried our bags to a cart waiting just inside. He was very, very pleasant and courteous. *Mom and I were traveling in jeans, sneakers and t-shirts, by the way. We didn’t have to wait at the front desk to be waited on. It was just after 1PM and I just KNEW (based on reviews here) that we would have to stow our luggage and sit around for 2 hours until 3PM. Not so. The young lady who checked us in (I wish I’d gotten her name) was very pleasant and got started checking us in…she asked if we’d prefer 2 double beds as opposed to the King. I said, “Well, we’re mother and daughter, if a King is what you have, that’s okay with us. We’re here to celebrate her 65th birthday so as long as we have a view, it’ll be great.” She asked me if we had a problem with heights. I said no. She typed some more, asked for my credit card (for “incidentals”), and handed us our keys. My mouth was hanging open because I couldn’t believe she was actually letting us check in (again, because apparently all of the people who post negative reviews haven’t been allowed to check in early).

She assured us the doorman/valet would bring our bags to the room and we actually met him at the elevator. This time it was a different gentleman from the one who helped us out of the taxi, but he was just as pleasant (Gil, I believe is his name). He got our heavy bags inside, showed us around the room, explained about room service, etc., asked if we needed anything else and left. We did tip him, as well as the man who helped us out of the taxi. Oh, we were on the 40th floor, room 4003.

We jumped around the room because of the awesome view, some pictures of which I’m sure you’ve seen on other reviews. The bathroom was immaculate. Marble everywhere, I suppose. Nice sized counter, plenty of space for Mom’s and my doo-dads. Separate tub and glass frameless shower, which was a great size (Mom and I are both big women and we each had plenty of room to move around in the bathroom). The toilet was not an “industrial” toilet by any means. There were bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash and body lotion in the shower and on the sink/counter. There was a tiny silver urn on the sink counter with a packet of cotton swabs and a little box with a shower cap. On the half wall between the toilet and the tub there was a little drawstring cloth bag with a blow dryer in it, a little packet with an emery board and a Swissotel embroidered shoe shine cloth. There was an extra roll of toilet paper on the back of the toilet covered in a pretty silver mesh decorative thingamajig. Also, there was a dispenser of some kind next to the toilet paper roll and I tugged at it thinking I was pulling out a tissue, but it was a teensy little plastic bag, I suppose for female sanitary disposal. How cool is that?

The room itself was very spacious. Again, we’re not small thin women and we had plenty of room. It was a room with two double beds, a nightstand between them, that nice large dresser/office workspace combo, leather “ergonomic” chair (very comfy) and a nice, squashy armchair by another table near the huge window. The closet was spacious and had two soft Swissotel robes hanging up along with the usual wooden closet hangers and two or three soft, satiny hangers for your better clothing items, I suppose. There was an ironing board and iron and a classic black umbrella! We were like, “An umbrella?” And of course it did rain for a little while during the evening, so that was perfect.

Thanks to some other reviews I knew to look out for the minibar, so we didn’t even touch that. We assumed it was the largest “drawer” on the left of that entire unit and we never went near it. We got ice at the machine down the hall and bought water, soda, and snacks from the Walgreens on Michigan Avenue. There were two smaller bottles of water and two glasses sitting out next to the TV with a welcome note of some sort (pre-printed). We assumed those two bottles were complimentary and consumed them. I was not charged for them either. There is a folded white card inside the cubby on that piece of furniture (desk/table) that clearly states if you move anything in the minibar it is electronically noted by weight and yes, you will be charged a restocking fee for doing that. We may be hicks, but at least we can read, ya know? We also didn’t touch the coffee and there was a little machine on the desk/table.

We basically kept the TV tuned to the Weather Channel and ESPN the entire weekend. So whether or not there was anything “good” on TV wasn’t an issue. We didn’t travel all the way to Chicago to sit in the hotel and watch TV, kwim? There was an iPod radio/docking station, but I don’t have an iPod so I couldn’t be too enthused, but it’s nice to know it’s there for next time.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, I am not rich, wealthy, or anything like that. I live paycheck to paycheck, but if you’re going to visit a 4-star hotel then don’t expect to get off cheaply. There’s a reason why it’s not the Holiday Inn and I’m assuming you stay there because of the amenities they offer and the service and location and views afforded and so no, you’re not going to pay corner diner prices at an upscale hotel. Why would you even think that? In any case, I had allotted approximately $150 for “food” for 4 days/3 nights. Mom didn’t want to walk too far at night, so after leaving Navy Pier (we’d gotten walking directions from the Concierge at the double desk) we came back to the room and I ordered room service for just the second time in my life. Yes, the prices are very high compared to your average restaurant, so if you frequent Burger King or even someplace like Red Robin, you’re going to pay a lot more for similar items. But that’s the whole point of staying in a swanky hotel…at least to me. So I paid $42 and some change for a bowl of Potato Leek soup (which was sooooo good!), the largest and best tasting grilled cheese sandwich I’ve ever had, French fries and ginger ale. But the presentation was awesome and the food was so good and not having to walk in the dark at night and scare my mother or pay for a taxi or bus, but sit around and eat comfortably in my pajamas was well worth the cost to me. We ordered twice more (for breakfast) and the cost was the same basically. But the service just can’t be beat. They even sent up a freaking TOASTER with our breakfast so we could toast our English Muffins!!! They sent a little pitcher of cream and little bowl of brown sugar for my Cream of Wheat and I didn’t even ask for it!!

Oh, on Friday evening when we got in from Navy Pier there was a pretty little cake on the table that said, “Happy Birthday!” We immediately thought my dad or brother had called and ordered it, but upon calling the Concierge and the Front Desk, I discovered that one of the managers, Jenny, had overheard me at the front desk when we checked in and had it sent up!!! I was like, “OMG!” Then we thought, “Are they going to charge us for that?” But they didn’t! And there were also no mysterious spa/fitness center or pool charges, which we didn’t use. We used the business center computers twice to check our bank accounts (hahahaha) and to check in for our flight home on Monday, May 11th, and that was free as well.

All in all this was the best weekend ever. EVERYONE was so nice. Not one hotel employee was rude or unkind to us. No one looked down on us for booking through Priceline. No one treated us any differently because we were dressed in jeans and sweaters (it was SO COLD this weekend!). There were no mechanical malfunctions in our room or bathroom. And I felt as though I harassed the poor Concierge (John, I think?) asking all sorts of questions all the time. But everyone was so attentive and kind.

You come to a place like Trip Advisor and it’s so, so hard to tell fact from fiction or even to tell whether or not someone was having a bad day when they arrived or left or whether or not a guest was rude him/herself and thus caused the hotel staff to be standoffish or what. While we were there I would have to say I saw one or two people/guests who were less than polite to the hotel staff. If you walk in feeling entitled with your nose up in the air like they owe you something, then I daresay you might find something to squawk about, but the hotel staff I encountered doesn’t sound anything like the staff some reviewers have mentioned. We were never up in time to have our room cleaned, but each time I called for towels they were sent right away. We never had to sit around waiting once we called and asked for towels or toilet paper, etc. *And there IS a little note next to the bed on a light green 3-D folded triangle thing that says the Swissotel is trying to be “green” so to speak and that if you wanted to help out to please reuse your towels, but if you did want NEW towels to put the old ones in the tub or on the floor. I suppose if the other reviewer had read that, he/she would have known not to leave the wet towels hanging up…that meant he/she wanted to keep them based on their green policy. I wasn’t trying to be green or wasteful, but when I wanted new towels I simply asked for them. Quite simple, really.

Lastly, the beds are JUST as comfortable as previous reviewers have mentioned. We literally did not want to get out of bed each day. I become overheated in a lot of bedding, so while it was very comfy, I did tend to just kick off the duvet and was fine. *Another note: This is the first hotel bathroom I’ve been in where no matter how steamy it becomes in the shower, you get out and you don’t feel like you’re in a sauna. I don’t know how they managed that, but there was no rubbing off of the mirror to clear the fog and no sense of still standing in the steamy shower while you’re trying to dry off. Also, I now know that if I ever buy a house I do not want a rain shower head…it looks pretty and trendy, but I wasn’t in love with the flow of water especially as it relates to washing my hair, but it wasn’t a “negative”, just a taste preference.

I highly recommend the Swissotel for the location, the view and yes, even the cost (if you can find a great deal!). I felt completely pampered the entire weekend and kept telling Mom, “We deserve this treat!” We are already planning to return to Chicago to see more of the city and I will NOT stay anywhere else except for the Swissotel…and hopefully we’ll have the same fabulous view of Lake Michigan, the John Hancock Observatory and Navy Pier.

Thanks to the management and staff for our fabulous weekend. Mom said it was the best birthday present she's ever had!!!