The hotel was really nice. My room was decorated really nicely. The bed was comfortable. Nice toiletries. The location was great. Easy walk to restaurants and the museum area. The staff was very friendly. The room service was over priced but otherwise I really liked this hotel.

This is a charming property with an interesting juxtaposition of modern decorating on a historic foundation. We were delighted to hear a little of the hotel history while on our Gray Line bus tour of the city.

I booked this hotel for $115 on Priceline--surely a good deal--but was disappointed to get short shrift on service. It is not the first time that I felt I have gotten second-citizen treatment when dealing with a Priceline reservation. I called four times in the course of two weeks, six weeks in advance of the trip, to request a room with two beds; only on the fourth call did someone actually put my request in the system. Upon early check-in, however, I was given only a king room with the promise of a rollaway. Come our return to the room at 11:30 pm, no rollaway had been added to the room. Upon visiting the front desk, I was told that a rollaway would not fit in the room because of fire codes, that there were no rollaways left, and that there were no other rooms available. Finally, I was given the use of a "parlor room"--essentially a meeting room on another floor that had a fold-out couch. I was happy for some accomodation after the broken promise but overall disappointed that we could not have gotten a two-bed room to begin with.

The hotel was clean and the rooms were comfortable. The maid service was only fair, despite good tipping; the half-empty toiletries were not replenished after the first night. At checkout my room was given someone else's mini-bar charges, an error that was corrected with a phone call. Overall, this is a hotel with great character that could use a little improvement on the personnel front.

When we arrived at the hotel at 11:30pm, the front desk staff informed us that our room was no longer available (we had confirmed our reservation earlier in the day and made & paid for the reservation 3 months ago). The customer service was much below the standards of a hotel that is affiliated with Marriott which follows the values of "Do Whatever it Takes to Take Care of the Customer" We were told that the Blackstone would accommodate us at another hotel, however this hotel would be near O’Hare airport. We live about 45 miles south of Chicago so this would have made no sense. Our night was ruined on the account of Blackstone Hotel. We were planning on spending the weekend in Chicago and this could no longer happen. The manager said we would be reimbursed for our room and we were given money for a cab ride home. The staff did not seem a bit apologetic for their mistakes. I was so angry, and I couldnt believe when a security guard came to me and said he would escort me out if I didnt calm down!! Didnt I have every right to be angry!? UNBELIEVABLE!

The good bits first - friendly check-in staff, modern rooms with a boutique hotel feel, superbly comfortable bed, shower (no bath), small rooms (even though we apparently had a slightly larger one). To be honest ,taken at face value this hotel is fine - the problems occur when you scratch the surface.

It's apparently a 4 star hotel (sadly the girl on reception didn't know this). We requested and paid for a lake-view room and sure enough our room faced the lake but - when the room was re-designed the TV was put bang slap in the middle of the window - completely obscuring the wonderful view - even the staff were bemused by this and no, neither the desk nor TV could be moved - both firmly screwed down. Apparently some rooms have TV's on the wall - well I never! There were none of the things you would expect to find in a 4 star hotel - no one offered to help with our bags (saved on the tip I guess), no writing paper or sewing kit, cheap toiletries (thankfully we had our own). I believe this is a Marriott - it certainly feels like a fairly typical US Marriott albeit wearing a nice frock. There is a very small rather dingy bar which smelled rather damp and a Tapas bar with an award winning chef but sadly it just didn't seem appetising (fortunately Chicago is awash with great eateries).

So with no view to admire we decided to indulge in a cup of coffee in the bar - oh no we couldn't: not in the bar, not even in the lobby even though it was only 5pm on a Saturday. The on-sight Starbucks - allegedly open till 8pm closes at 5pm (staff know this but haven't changed room info). We were told we could only have coffee via room service or The Hilton opposite - and you know what - if you're planning on a trip to Chicago we suggest that's where you go - we could have got a better rate for Hilton - we will go back to Chicago it's a truly amazing city, but not to Blackstone there are simply too many better hotels for the same or less dosh.