I spent 1 night at the Renaissance while on business.

Room: The hotel is obviously a little older, however the rooms are large and the decor was clearly modernized very recently. I booked a corporate rate of $179/night, before tax, which seemed very reasonable to me for a downtown loop hotel in Chicago. Bed was comfortable and included enough pillows that even I could find one that I liked. Favorite things about the room: hotel is 100% non-smoking and has good bathroom amenities (i.e. mint thyme shampoo). Negatives: TV has no HD channels.

Staff: Check-in was fast & friendly. Front desk recognized immediately that I booked a corporate rate that included free internet and even managed to get my bill correct the first time upon checkout. Wake up call was received promptly and made by an actual human (a luxury these days...).

View & Location of Room: I had room #503 which is on the back side of the hotel (facing west) and had a view of virtually nothing except the top of what appeared to be a convention hall, a parking garage, and a residential building across the way. As I was in the room strictly to get some sleep, this wasn't an issue for me (check-in at 8:48pm, out by 7 the next morning). If you are light sleeper, you may want to consider asking for a room on one of the higher floors as the elevated trains run along Lake Street (immediately south of the hotel) and can be fairly noisy.

Location: The hotel is located very, very centrally to both River North (i.e. Magnificent Mile shopping) and the Loop. It's basically 2 blocks east of Michigan Avenue if you walk along the river. The hotel is roughly 2 blocks from the Clark/Lake subway stop which has access to all lines (both elevated and underground) except the Red Line. Inbound, I took a taxi from O'Hare which ran me about $45 with tip. Outbound to O'Hare, I took the blue line, which only cost me $2.25 and was certainly faster (about 45 minutes) in rush hour traffic.

Food: As it was late when I got in, I used room service for dinner. A club sandwich with fries ran me $21.30, including all fees and taxes. Delivery was prompt & the food was hot upon arrival.

Overall, the Renaissance Chicago is a very comfortable hotel for both business and pleasure and I will certainly consider returning on my next trip to Chicago.

Well, we decided to go to Chicago on New Year holidays, and this was my first visit to the Windy City. I enjoyed it very much – and to a great extent due to my stay at the Renaissance Chicago Hotel. As known, the first impression is the most important – so, when I entered my one bedroom suite on the top floor and looked through the windows… W-O-O-O-O-O-W!!! The view…it was fantastic! Great, Mighty, Powerful, Striking, Overwhelming - all these epithets could hardly describe my silent excitement and proud of the talented people who created all this urban architectural beauty for succeeding generations. Just in front of me, there was a bridged river, and on the top of its multilevel banks - the shining newly built Trump Tower, famous funny cylindrical twin “corn” towers, as well as Chicago Tribune building and Michigan Avenue in remote. The whole city center is on your palm - really cool and unforgettable! I did a right thing when had chosen the Renaissance instead of the Marriott in Magnificent Mile, cause the last one’s location is rather trivial.
Besides the beautiful view, I was very much impressed by the suite’s home likeness, you know. Relaxing colors of the walls and carpets, soft armchairs and coaches, lovely commodes and cupboards, flat plasma screens in each room, small fully equipped kitchen, a nice marble bathroom with all the amenities including robes and slippers, etc – all these features made my stay truly comfy. And in general, the premises are nicely decorated: the lobby, bars, reception area got many interesting artifacts including vases, lamps, bookshelves, tables and other elements of professional design.
Saying about the service I’d remark that it’s regular. Anyway, to summarize the hotel’s advantages and disadvantages, they’re the following.
The pluses:
 The room cleaning and turndown service are at a very high level.
 The Front Desk staff are awesome. Due to the concierge’s absence, I “terrorized” them daily with a billion of questions concerning the city maps, sightseeing, entertainments, locations, routes, restaurants, weather, etc., and every time got sincere and appropriate assistance. And one day, I was talking by phone to a guy from a ticket agency that had not delivered prepaid tickets to me on time, and that guy spoke so fast like a machine-gun that I couldn’t catch some important nuances of his “explanation”. So I asked a receptionist to help me with conversation, and he took my phone and started “translating” to me from live English into English for foreigners. Thank you again, guys, so much!
 The hotel’s restaurant is very good. I had breakfast and dinner there almost daily and can admit that the service is outstanding. The food is delicious. Besides, its premises got a nice panoramic city view, especially at night lights.
 The breakfast at executive lounge is rather sufficient.
 For coffee lovers, there’s Starbucks inside the hotel.
 There’s a taxi stand at the entrance with ready-to-ride cabs all the day round.
 Limousine service.
 Excellent price.
The minuses:
 The thing that struck me most was the absence of the Concierge service at all during the whole period of my stay – that looked ridiculous for the hotel of such a brand, as well as
 The absence of an internet terminal (while on vacation, many guests don’t carry laptops with them for checking their mailboxes out just a couple of times, you know, and I’m not an exception);
 The mini-bar service is slow and sporadic – without a phone call, the used drinks could have not been refilled for days;
 And, of course, the US Marriott’s general principle that executive lounges are closed on weekends though in Europe and Asia they are open daily. That doesn’t matter for business travelers, but vacationers (staying in executive rooms as well) usually arrive on weekends.
Nevertheless, despite the aforementioned drawbacks of a limited partial character that obviously can’t spoil the general positive impression of the hotel, I’d like to conclude that I truly liked the Renaissance Chicago and surely am ready to stay there again, but next time in summer – with a river boat architectural tour and Chicago skyline small cruise ship dinner. Concerning what to do in Chicago in winter – some stranger’s tips:
1. Magnificent Mile. It’s enough a half-day walk to get your wallet empty and to relax for the whole stay afterwards.
2. Broadway musicals – a very small choice but worth visiting.
3. Chicago Institute of the Arts – unique institution with unbeatable collection of French impressionists – a must.
4. The Field Museum– very impressive, bigger than its NYC famous rival.
5. Lyric Opera – highly recommended.
6. Navy Pier – fun and attractions. Nice views of the Lake of Michigan. It’s a whole sea, guys, now I understand why these lakes are called Great!
7. Sunday brunch at restaurant on the top floor of Hancock Tower – a must.
8. Millennium Park.
9. Observation deck of Sears Tower.
10. Chicago Black Hawks and/or Chicago Bulls at United Arena – a must.
Bon Voyage!

We stayed at the Renaissance Chicago Hotel on March 28, 2009 for a one night stay. Upon arrival at 4:00pm the valet was overwhelmed (I guess too few employees working for the volume of guests arriving). After a wait our car was taken and we entered the hotel. The hotel has a beautiful clean, spacious lobby with a waterfall and a very serene feel. We were welcomed at the front desk with no wait by a very effective and friendly employee. Our assigned room was 1702 on the 17th floor. We highly recommend this room! It was at the end of the hall (very quiet, away from the elevators, etc.) and had windows on two walls looking out onto State Street. The views were incredible of the Chicago Theatre, river, and even Lake Michigan in the distance. The room was large and spacious, very clean, and well appointed. The bed was comfortable, the bathroom was large, everything was wonderful. The rest of our stay was perfect until we went to leave the hotel. The valet was again overwhelmed and didn't seem to know where our car was parked! After a 20 minute wait our car was finally located and we departed. The hotel was great. The valet service was not (especially for the $45. fee we were charged for parking at the hotel).

We stayed at this hotel for the second half of our trip to Chicago. The first half we stayed at the Marriott Mag Mile. The rooms at the Renaissance are nice and spacious in comparison...not a typical city hotel room size. Room had seating area and sep bedroom both with large bay style window facing river...great view! Also one half and one full bath with sep tub/shower. Bathrooms were also quite large. It is walking distance to pretty much everything and is situated on the river with great views.

We decided to valet (47 usd) because they told us that if you self park, it is like 5 or so dollars less, but you *do not* have in and out privlege...we were planning on driving so it was just easier to valet.

There is a "spa" which is a shared area with the pool, fitness center, steam room, and lockers all shared....I think the lady said they only had 2 treatment rooms. Everything was new and very clean. Good equipment in fitness center and pool was clean as was steam room.

Concierge lounge was a step above the regular Marriott as far as food quality and service. We had dinner one night in the on site restaurant, it was a two for 99 pre fixe meal (steak, veggie, salad, desert and bottle of wine) that actually was quite good.

We loved our time in Chicago and when we go back, this hotel will be our first choice. Mainly because of the large rooms, river views and concierge service.