We enjoyed our stay at the Trump over Memorial Day weekend with one notable exception, which I will get into later. Our arrival was an indication of things to come – the valet took the car and let me know it could be delivered with :10 notice whenever I wished. We recognized the bell captain “Emanuel” from his days at The Sofitel where he took good care of us. Our bellman, Shawn, was friendly, polite and very knowledgeable. Shawn waited while I checked in and the sons were given their “Trump Kids” amenity. The front desk staff was professional, yet it seemed to throw them a curve when I made a request to change my room – yet remain in the same “room-type” category.
We had reserved a King Suite with a city view and reservations had assigned us to a room ending in “28” which I knew to be facing the IBM Plaza – something I didn’t want – so I requested to be moved to a room ending in “02” which had a commanding view of River North. One may access the floorplans in advance of the stay at:
www.trumpchicagohotel.com/Accommodations/interactive_floor_plans.asp
The request was accommodated and Shawn showed us to our room and explained everything from the pushbutton “Do Not Disturb” sign to the espresso machine (which makes really awful espresso, I must say). He took his time and made us feel like VIP’s. Our suite was spacious and comfortable, decorated in muted grays and the furniture is some kind of dark wood. The view was mostly north along Wabash with a small view of Lake Michigan and the Hancock as well. It was nice to have two flat-panel HD televisions in the suite with a DVD player for each. It was also nice to have two full baths! The linens were crisp and comfortable. My wife though the bed was a bit soft, but it was fine for me. Our pillow menu requests were honored accurately and promptly, even though we had requested a different room upon check-in. This turned out to be the one thing that housekeeping got right.
After getting settled, we went straight to the pool, which has a commanding view east down the Chicago River to Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, there was no telephone in the pool for us to order a cocktail, so I had to walk out to the spa area to do so. It took a half-hour to deliver the drinks which, we found later, was the exception rather than the rule. The server had also bought the milk and cookies amenity for our boys and wondered if we would prefer that he deliver to our room instead. We did prefer that, and he took care of it. It was really a nice touch – each boy’s name was written on the plate in chocolate and they told us later “it was the best cookie they ever had!”
We used in-room dining for one breakfast and a dinner. I was impressed that Trump stocks Spiegelau crystal in the kitchen. The full complement of plates, silver and kitchen tools were most welcome. In-room delivery time was accurate to the minute on both occasions. The graciousness and competency of the server was most welcome and the quality of the food simply marvelous. Trump clearly has its room-service down. My wife forgot to include a bottle of wine with the dinner and it was delivered within :05 minutes of our order. It was wonderful to have a refrigerator in the room, and we brought a bottle of bubbly for us, sodas and juices for the kids and had a place to stow our deep-dish pizza leftovers!
Chef concierge Joseph Coston was helpful with CTA bus information and dining options and concierge Kathleen Zubroski had scored excellent Mary Poppins tickets for us in advance of our arrival. The Trump Concierge staff is the best I’ve seen in Chicago and we’ve stayed at all of the luxury hotels with the exception of the Park Hyatt.
My spa treatment was, in a word, transformational. I can highly recommend therapist Jon Meltzer. The amenities in the spa are first-class and the locker/shower facilities are the finest I’ve seen. It was neat to be able to choose an aromatherapy for the steam room from a tray of three options. The Kohler multi-head shower with music and lighting in the men’s locker room is especially wonderful. Chilled, bottled water was in abundance as were towels and grooming materials. I didn’t use the Sauna.
This would have been a perfect stay had it not been for ongoing issues with Housekeeping:
#1) I asked Housekeeping for a larger bathrobe and slippers as the standard robe and slippers don’t fit me. I was told they would be delivered promptly, but they were not. I ended up having to get a larger robber from the Spa locker room and never did find slippers that fit.
#2) On our first night in the room, the turn-down staff showed up at 5pm, just after we had returned from the pool. We informed the person that we didn’t want any turn-down service during our stay until 6:30pm at the earliest. At 6:00 pm – turn-down comes to the door again! We send them away again. At 6:30, when we are leaving for Mary Poppins, they arrive for service. We ask them to be sure to leave extra pillows and blankets for the boys on the sofabed. We arrive back from the show at 10:30 pm to find one pillow and one blanket on the sofabed. To their credit, within :10 minutes we had the extras we had requested.
#3) On our second night, turn-down shows up AGAIN at 5pm and we tell them AGAIN no service earlier than 6:30pm. AGAIN, another knock on the door at 6pm. We ask them to come back at 6:30 when we plan to leave and make clear that the extra pillow and blanket we had saved from the previous night is to be used AGAIN. We arrive back at the hotel from dinner at 8:30pm to find one pillow and one blanket on the sofabed. AGAIN we must call for additional pillow and blanket.
#4) On our third and final evening in the hotel, we were tired from a day of Lincoln Park Zoo and shopping so we went to our room at 3:45 to find the housekeeping staff just starting to service the room. OK – we decided to go to Rebar for a drink, and enjoyed another nice view of the river. They served us a small tray of nibbling items including my fave - pitted kalamata olives. The sushi menu looked good – and expensive – but we only wanted a drink and the view. We returned to our room at 4:30 and were disappointed to find housekeeping still there. This time, we remained in our room to ensure that an extra pillow and blanket were delivered and the sofabed was made up. And guess what – at 5pm turn-down knocked on the door AGAIN.
This is a five-star hotel for crying out loud. They are supposed to note these kinds of things after being told once. I didn’t’ get a chance to register any complaint with the management before we checked out because we had a schedule to keep. However, I was able to note the issues on the follow up guest survey I received via email the day after checkout. Bottom line – we would stay at the Trump again as 95% of the stay was really great. You cannot beat the location and, with the exception of Housekeeping, staff members were responsive and gracious.
