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Hotel Reviews

Waldorf Astoria Chicago

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My wife and I recently used the free weekend night perk from my Hilton Aspire Card for a stay-cation at the beautiful Waldorf Astoria Chicago. This hotel offers the top-of-the-line luxury you expect of a Waldorf Astoria, but with an intimate, boutique feel. Originally developed as The Elysian, Hilton purchased the property in 2011 and converted it into a Waldorf Astoria.

215 luxurious rooms and suites are spread over 26 stories.

The first thing you notice as you pull up to the hotel is that the property is set back from the street. The cobblestone courtyard is a quaint Parisian-style roundabout with a beautiful flower-surrounded fountain in the middle. This gorgeous entrance makes you feel like you’ve been transported to a Parisian mansion instead of a big city hotel.

The beautiful cobblestone courtyard at night.

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Location

The Waldorf Astoria Chicago is located on East Walton Street, just a few steps from the nightlife on Rush Street and surrounded by many popular bars and restaurants. It’s also only a block from boutique shopping on Oak Street and a couple blocks from high-end shopping on Michigan Avenue. Also within walking distance are the Museum of Contemporary Art and Hancock Observatory.

Lobby

In additional to serving hotel guests, the building contains 51 private residences, so the amenities are shared between guests and condo owners. This gives much of the hotel a residential feel, including the lobby.

The bright lobby has tall ceilings and is filled with artwork, glass and elegant white marble. After entering the lobby, you’ll find reception to the right and the French patisserie, Petit Margeaux to the left.

The bright lobby is filled with beautiful marble and glass.

Upon entering the hotel, the doormen greeted us warmly. While I made my way over to reception, the concierge started chatting with Annie. She shared some information and history about the hotel and let Annie know that she was available to help with anything we might need during our stay.

Meanwhile at reception, the front desk associate was extremely friendly and professional. He acknowledged my Diamond status, but unfortunately an upgrade wasn’t in the cards since the hotel was completely sold out.

The Room

Before we even got to our room, we took notice of how elegant the hallways were. Instead of looking like typical “hotel hallways”, this hotel’s halls look like what you’d expect to find in a new, ritzy downtown condo building.

Our room was located at one end of the hallway. So we snaked our way through the gorgeous halls and around a few corners until we got to our room.

A hotel staff member told us we were in one of the more recently renovated rooms. It featured an entry area with closet and mini-fridge, finished in beautiful dark wood cabinetry.

The room contained a very comfortable king-sized bed, dresser, flat-screen TV and desk.

One of the reasons we chose this hotel was that it’s dog-friendly. On the website, it says that dogs under 30 pounds are welcome with a $75 fee per stay. I had called ahead and they said we could bring our dog even though he’s twice the size of the weight limit. Annie and I were excited to share our stay-cation with our dog, Murray!

Murray really enjoyed hotel amenities!

Service

About a week before our stay, the concierge emailed me to introduce herself. She asked if she could assist me in securing dining reservations, spa appointments, in-room amenities, or anything else. That really set the tone for the stay as the service throughout the hotel is impeccable.

During our stay, we called down to the front desk on two occasions. The first time, we asked for food and water bowls for Murray. When the hotel staff member showed up at our room, he also brought a dog toy and dog bed for Murray. The service for pets is just as good as for people!

The room even had low windows which were perfect for looking out over the city.

The second time we called, we asked for glasses so that we could enjoy a bottle of sparkling wine we had brought from home. The hotel staff member who showed up this time loved dogs and especially liked Murray. She even joked that we could call her back up to the room when he needed to go out for a walk. She couldn’t have been nicer and asked us a few times if there was anything else we needed.

Every staff member we encountered gave really exceptional service. They make you feel like serving you makes them happy and so you don’t feel guilty or that you’re annoying the staff with your request.

Another thing you don’t have to worry about is tipping. The Waldorf Astoria Chicago’s no-tipping policy means gratuity for everything from your bellman’s assistance to the hotel’s personal concierge program are refused with a smile.

The Bathroom

The marble-splashed bathroom is large and features a vanity with double sinks. And the cabinetry is the same beautiful dark wood as in the main room.

The beautiful double vanity.

There’s also a massive walk-in shower and soaking tub. The toilet is partitioned off from the rest of the bathroom, which is a nice feature.

The bathtub is large and inviting.

Dining

The hotel has two restaurants onsite. Margeaux Brasserie is an upscale restaurant while Petit Margeaux is a smaller cafe and bakery.

Margeaux Brasserie

This is James Beard Award-winning Chef Michael Mina’s first foray into the Chicago restaurant scene. Located on the hotel’s third floor, it serves traditional brasserie fare with an elevated menu highlighting bold flavors and locally-sourced ingredients. Signature dishes include starters such as duck wings and escargots, as well as entrees like steak frites, dover sole and braised beef short rib.

Petit Margeaux

Located next to the lobby, Petit Margeaux is a cafe and patisserie serving savory sandwiches and decadent pastries. On the savory side of the menu, highlights include tartines, sandwiches, salads and a quiche of the day. While on the bakery side, you’ll find sweet treats like French macarons, croissants, scones, muffins and cookies. To quench your thirst, the cafe serves espressos, hot and iced coffees and teas, as well as wine and beer.

While complimentary breakfast is a Hilton Diamond status benefit, the Waldorf Astoria Chicago does not offer a free breakfast buffet. Instead, the hotel gives a $15 food credit per person per day.

On Sunday morning, we took Murray for an hour long walk on a raw, windy, 40 degree “spring” day. When we got back to the hotel, we both wanted to warm up quickly. So Annie ordered a hot tea and I ordered a hot chocolate. Both drinks were comped on the final bill as the total was under $15 per person.

Miscellaneous

The hotel has a gym, a full-service spa and blowout salon. While we didn’t use any of those amenities, we did walk through the space to check them out.

Photo courtesy Waldorf Astoria Chicago.

The gym is really big with lots of modern equipment. There was also a small lap pool, which is a nice touch for those looking for a low impact workout. The health club also offers Pilates, gyrotonics classes, kick boxing, aqua aerobics and more. There’s also a hot tub and sauna.

Another neat amenity the hotel offers is a Mercedes-Benz house car that will drive guests anywhere within a two-mile radius of the hotel.

Bottom Line

All in all, the hotel really lives up to the standards you’d expect of a Waldorf Astoria. It’s a gorgeous hotel with outstanding service. The only negative for me is the lack of complimentary breakfast. I would much rather have a delicious breakfast buffet instead of the $15 food credit.

One final note about our particular stay was the surprise on the final bill. When I reviewed the bill a few days after our stay, I noticed that we had not been charged the $75 dog fee. This was the Waldorf’s final gift of great service and it brought the total amount spent on our one night stay-cation to zero!

Trip Report Index

  1. Using My Hilton Annual Free Night in Chicago
  2. Waldorf Astoria Chicago

Charms Hotel Shanghai

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With only 24 hours to spend in Shanghai, our hotel criteria was twofold. The first was to be in a great location and the second was to not break the bank. In doing some online research, I stumbled onto the blog Going Awesome Places. In the post about where to stay in Shanghai, the author recommended the Radisson New World (the luxury option) and the Charms Hotel Shanghai (the budget option) as good choices for those wanting to stay near the centrally located People’s Square.

Will this hotel be our good luck charm?

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The author described the Charms Hotel as no frills, which was fine because we’d be out all day and really only needed a place to sleep. So I forwarded the blog post to David to get his input. He thought the Charms Hotel would be perfect for our needs, and when we saw that rooms were $35 a night, we decided to book right away.

During booking, however, we noticed that the $35 rooms had no windows! We didn’t know anything about hotels in China—maybe this was pretty normal for Chinese hotels or it was a sign to find a new hotel. Somehow, we didn’t treat this as a sign to find a new hotel, so we booked “upgraded” rooms with windows for $70. For comparison, the Radisson New World had rooms starting at $105, so the Charms was still the cheaper option.

Dakota was a late joiner to our Shanghai trip and his mom was paying for his room. She booked him the $35 room and David and I had fun giving him crap for it. On the train ride to Shanghai, we all had a good laugh wondering what his room would be like.

Location

We arrived in Shanghai around noon on Tuesday after the 4.5 hour train ride from Beijing. We took a quick subway ride to the People’s Square stop and then walked to the hotel.

The hotel’s location really is pretty perfect. It’s situated a block from Nanjing Road East, which is Shanghai’s famous pedestrian-only shopping street. It’s close to tons of restaurants, a ten minute walk to People’s Square to the west and a 15 minute walk to the Bund to the east.

There’s a lot going on just outside of the hotel

Lobby

The hotel opened in 2002 and after 17 years, it looks old and tired. The lobby looks decent in pictures, but in person you can tell it’s aged. We didn’t spend much time in the lobby outside of check-in.

Checking In

When the three of us walked in, there was only one staff member at the front desk. Completing check in took an abnormal amount of time but we never figured out why. We couldn’t really ask any questions because it was difficult to communicate with the staff in English.

David was first to check-in, while Dakota and I waited in line behind him. After a few minutes, another staff member appeared at the front desk. He seemed to be doing various tasks and didn’t look at us, so we just remained in line. Then another customer walked up to the front desk and the other staff member started checking him in. Needless to say we were a little annoyed that the staff member didn’t waive Dakota or I over to get checked-in before this new customer.

While David was getting checked in, he joked about making sure he was given “the best” room in the hotel. The staff member didn’t seem to get the joke and actually upgraded him to a bigger room on a top floor. Dakota and I weren’t so lucky.

The Room

The hallway to the room was dingy and old. You could see nicks in the doorways and wear on the carpet in many areas.

The room was a little dark but the bed and sheets were clean. While David’s “upgraded” room was larger than mine, the carpet in his room was very dirty.

When I got to my room, I wanted to see what kind of view I got with the extra $35. When I opened the window shade, all I could see out the window was an interior courtyard with paper and/or garbage on the floor. I literally laughed out loud that the extra money I paid for the window room got me this view!

The beautiful view from my hotel room

After spending 10 minutes in our rooms, we all met in the lobby to begin our Shanghai adventure. On the way to find lunch, we compared notes on our hotel rooms. David showed us a picture of the view from his room—a beautiful city view. When I showed them a picture of my view, we all roared with laughter at the stark contrast. And then Dakota said that his view was exactly the same as mine, so I’m not sure what the extra money I paid was for.

If I was staying more than one night or the staff spoke better English, I might’ve complained, but it just wasn’t worth it.

The Bathroom

The bathroom really grossed me out. The tile grout was discolored and/or covered with mold. I made sure to spend as little time in here as possible and debated whether I’d even take a shower.

The shower was the size of a phone booth and also had lots of discolored grout. There was a mirror in the shower, which I guess would be helpful if you were shaving your entire upper body!?!

Dining

There’s a Chinese restaurant and a Western restaurant located at the hotel, but we chose not to eat there. Based on the overall cleanliness in the hotel, none of us trusted the food.

Bottom Line

Overall the hotel was confusing. The shape of the hotel is a circle and has the courtyard in the middle. So all the rooms on the interior side of the hotel have the terrible courtyard view.

I also questioned whether every person at the hotel was a hotel guest or if some rooms were apartments. Also, based on the elevator buttons, several upper floors looked to be for businesses, so it made for a strange vibe.

We literally used the hotel only to sleep after a long day walking around Shanghai. For that reason, it didn’t ruin the trip and actually provided lots of laughs and funny memories. However, if I ever go to Shanghai again, I would not stay at this hotel.

In the end, David, Dakota and I survived our stay, but the hotel is old, dirty and in need of renovation.

Trip Report Index

  1. Planning our Trip to Beijing
  2. Flight from Chicago to Beijing
  3. Holiday Inn Beijing Haidian
  4. The Great Wall at Gubeikou
  5. Activities in Beijing
  6. Bullet Train between Beijing and Shanghai
  7. Charms Hotel Shanghai
  8. Activities in Shanghai
  9. Flight from Beijing to Chicago

Holiday Inn Beijing Haidian

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Annie’s employer put her team up at the Holiday Inn Beijing Haidian, so we didn’t choose to stay at this hotel. The nightly rate was less than $70 per night, so we weren’t sure what to expect. What we found was a clean, contemporary hotel that pleasantly surprised us in several ways.

The 17-story hotel has 291 rooms in total

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The first surprising aspect was how nice the hotel was. It’s far superior than the American versions of Holiday Inns, as this felt much more like a 4-star or 5-star hotel. It was built in 2011, so it’s clean and contemporary. The service was also very good, even though the language barrier presented some challenges. The concierge helped with dinner reservations and calling taxis. And there were several bellmen who always opened the door for us when we arrived.

The hotel is located in the Haidian business district on Shuangqing Road

Location

The hotel is located in the business district of Beijing, so it’s not really close to many of the popular tourist attractions. What you will find nearby are seven high profile universities, including Peking University, the #1 university in China. The hotel is also close to the a few subway stations, which makes it fairly easy to get around to other parts of the city.

Lobby

The lobby is fresh, clean and welcoming. There was a small wait during check-in only because all of us from the U.S. arrived at the same time. We got our room assignment and keys in ten minutes or so. And because Annie is an IHG® Rewards Club member, we received two free drink vouchers for use at the bar.

Holiday Inn Beijing Haidian lobby

Beyond the lobby, is a comfortable lounge area. We sat there a couple nights while enjoying a beer from the nearby bar.

Holiday Inn Beijing Haidian lounge

The Room

With keys in hand, we took the elevators up to our floor. Even the hallways and elevator areas are tastefully decorated with dark wood and chandeliers.

Our room was located on the 8th floor. Continuing with the overall theme, the room was clean and comfortable. It’s a good setup for a business traveler with a desk, and plenty of outlets that accommodate western plugs.

While there was a 27-inch LCD TV with satellite channels, I think there were maybe four channels in English. So be prepared to see the same stories each day on the BBC channel. The king bed had premium bedding and pillow menus.

The room sported standard amenities including a refrigerator, a minibar, and a coffee maker. They also stocked the room with two free water bottles daily, which was appreciated since you can’t drink water out of the tap.

The Bathroom

The bathroom is on the small side, but it’s clean and has everything one would need.

Dining

The hotel has three restaurants onsite, specializing in Cantonese, Indian and American cuisine, respectively.

Jade Garden

Jade Garden provides guests with Cantonese cuisine in a comfortable ambiance. The night we arrived in China, a few of us stopped in to get a bite to eat before bed. Since every table in China has a lazy susan, it’s perfect for sharing. We ordered a bunch of soups, noodle dishes and veggies and everything was outstanding. It was a good way to end our first night in China.

Ramayana

Ramayana is an Indian restaurant that offers authentic northern Indian flavors. We didn’t eat here during our stay, but if you like Indian food, the menu looked like it had plenty of good options.

Fusion Flavors

Fusion Flavors restaurant serves a wide range of continental food. For the American who is longing for a piece of home, this restaurant has choices like burgers, sandwiches, pizza and pasta.

Breakfast Buffet

The other really surprising aspect of this hotel was the outstanding breakfast buffet. First it was included in the room rate. And even though they said it was only free for one person per room, they didn’t charge us for the second person.

The buffet had everything you’d want including both western and Chinese dishes. It was the perfect way to start each day, whether people were going to work or going off to tour the city.

There were two chef-manned stations. One made eggs, omelets, waffles and other western goodies. The other prepared Chinese noodle dishes were you could choose the type of noodles and other items to go in the dish.

After the first day, our entire group so looked forward to breakfast each day.

Miscellaneous

Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to use most hotel amenities. However, it has a modern fitness center with imported equipment, an indoor pool, a spa and sauna.

There is an ATM on site, which came in handy towards the end of the trip when I needed to exchange currency.

Bottom Line

Beijing is a massive, sprawling city and with the traffic, it can take a while to get anywhere. If I were to go back to Beijing, I would probably stay in another area or somewhere more centrally located within the city. However, I loved our stay at the Holiday Inn Beijing Haidian, and if I needed to be in that part of the city, I wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again.

Trip Report Index

  1. Planning our Trip to Beijing
  2. Flight from Chicago to Beijing
  3. Holiday Inn Beijing Haidian
  4. The Great Wall at Gubeikou
  5. Activities in Beijing
  6. Bullet Train between Beijing and Shanghai
  7. Charms Hotel Shanghai
  8. Activities in Shanghai
  9. Flight from Beijing to Chicago

Embassy Suites Irvine Orange County Airport

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I have always gotten a special feeling when staying at Embassy Suites hotels. I think it stems from staying there on family vacations back when I was a kid. Compared to most hotels, the Embassy Suites has many unique attributes that make staying there feel special.

Embassy Suites Irvine Orange County
Embassy Suites Irvine Orange County (Photo courtesy Hilton Hotels)

When you add together the large room suites, the atrium courtyard and the complimentary made-to-order breakfast, it adds up to a memorable stay that gives me a warm feeling inside. Our stay at the Embassy Suites Irvine Orange County Airport hotel didn’t disappoint.

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For the final night of our trip to Orange County, we moved into the Embassy Suites Irvine Orange County Airport hotel. We had an early flight home the next morning, so being closer to the airport took some of the anxiety out of early morning travel. I also wanted to stay one night here to help us collect Hilton Honors points for a 5th wedding anniversary trip to Hawaii in 2020.

The hotel was originally built in 1986. In 2016, the 293-room airport hotel revamped all of its guest suites, event space, and atrium with a modern, California-fresh look.

Hotel atrium

Location

The hotel is located in the city of Irvine. You’re a 5 minute drive to John Wayne Airport and less than 10 to the University of California Irvine.

It’s also less than half an hour from some of California’s most beloved attractions, including Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Disneyland Park® and Knott’s Berry Farm. Here’s a map of the Embassy Suites’ location.

The Room

As a Hilton Honors platinum member, we were upgraded to a room on the 10th and highest floor. Since every room is a suite, the upgrade doesn’t really get you much. We were told that the upgraded room featured a walk-in shower rather than a bathtub.

Embassy Suites living room

You enter the suite in the living room. It’s spacious with a TV, plenty of seating, and a desk.

Embassy Suites by Hilton Irvine Orange County Airport
Embassy Suites living room

Between the living room and bedroom is a little kitchenette. There’s a mini-fridge, microwave, and coffeemaker.

Embassy Suites kitchenette

The bedroom contained a king size bed, two night stands, a TV and a huge picture window.

Embassy Suites bedroom

The bathroom was clean and modern. The entire space felt very comfortable and clean due to the recent renovation.

Embassy Suites bathroom

Miscellaneous

We probably spent a grand total of around nine hours total in the hotel. So unfortunately, we didn’t utilize many of the hotel amenities.

As with every Embassy Suites hotel, you get complimentary made-to-order breakfast and two-hour evening reception featuring drinks and light snacks. For lunch and dinner, the onsite Vibrante SoCal Kitchen & Bar serves up regionally inspired modern Mexican small plates.

They also have a heated indoor pool and fitness center.

I was actually a little sad that we didn’t get to stay in the hotel longer. I’m a huge breakfast fan, but due to the early flight, we had to leave before breakfast began.

Bottom Line

The hotel is less than three years removed from their recent renovation. You can see that every square inch was refreshed and it makes the hotel look so clean, comfortable and inviting. I would definitely stay here again!

Trip Report Index

  1. Planning our Trip to Newport Beach
  2. Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Spa
  3. Embassy Suites by Hilton Irvine Orange County Airport
  4. Activities in Orange County
  5. Flight from Orange County to Chicago

Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Spa

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Annie and I traveled to Orange County in January to visit our friends, Melissa and Scott. For the first three nights of our trip, we stayed at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa. We found it to be a perfect home base to lots of area attractions like downtown Newport Beach, Balboa Island and Laguna Beach.

Newport Beach Marriott Resort & Spa
The Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa

The hotel was originally built in 1975. In 2014, all of its 512 guest rooms and 20 suites went through a comprehensive refresh. It consists of two towers—the 16-story North Tower and the 10-story South Tower—and two wings.

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Location

Located across the street from Fashion Island, a high-end shopping center, this hilltop hotel overlooks a private golf course, Newport harbor and the ocean.

Nearby, it’s less than 10 minutes to Balboa Island and downtown Newport Beach. Corona del Mar is a 10 to 15 minute drive and Laguna Beach is no more than a 25 minutes. Here’s a map of the Marriott’s location.

The Room

Our room was located on the 3rd floor of one of the low-rise wings. To get to our wing we exited the main tower and walked down a covered path to the wing. The wing hallways are all open air, so you get natural light and can feel the coastal breeze. It’s a wonderful feeling when it’s January and as soon as you walk out of your hotel room, you can feel that warm breeze. That’s how you know you’re on vacation!

King room at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa

The room was clean and quiet, but there was no real “wow” factor. We did get upgraded to a room with a balcony, but the balconies are pretty small. We used it to gauge the temperature before venturing out each day.

The view from our balcony overlooking the rose garden.

A nice feature within the room is that the TV had Netflix. After signing in to my own account, we were able to watch a few shows while we were getting ready for dinner or to fall asleep to at night.

Another pleasant surprise was the comfort of the bed. In many hotels, I find it hard to get a good night sleep. Either the pillows are too soft or too hard or the bed is so uncomfortable that I wake up in the morning with a stiff back. But at this hotel, I slept very well and woke up with no back pain at all.

The bathroom was clean and modern, but a little small. Two people definitely couldn’t be in the bathroom at the same time.

Miscellaneous

Our focus on this trip was being with our friends and exploring the surrounding area. Thus we didn’t utilize many of the hotel amenities.

However they do have a steak and seafood restaurant called Hook & Spear and a Starbucks® located right off the lobby.

They have a fitness center, spa and two outdoor pools. It wasn’t quite pool weather when we were there, but the pool area looked nice with a resort-like feel.

The outdoor space is also home to a huge rose garden which is a beautiful space for wedding ceremonies and receptions.

Bottom Line

The bottom line is that this hotel is in a great central location to the beach, great restaurants and within a short drive to cute beach towns.

One thing to note, however, is that this hotel charges both a resort fee ($30) and a parking fee ($29 for self-park) per night. This is becoming pretty standard across the industry, so it’s certainly not unique to this hotel. That being said, if you forget to add these charges into the cost of your stay, you might be surprised when you see the final bill.

Trip Report Index

  1. Planning our Trip to Newport Beach
  2. Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Spa
  3. Embassy Suites by Hilton Irvine Orange County Airport
  4. Activities in Orange County
  5. Flight from Orange County to Chicago