Saturday, October 17, 2009

My Stay at the Rosemont Hotel O'Hare in Chicago


Sometimes when you travel you get lucky and find a diamond in the rough. Other times you just find the rough without the sparkle. Which did I find this time?

My daughter, Sarah, my youngest, Cian, and I took a trip yesterday to Chicago. In spite of the GPS's attempt to keep me from reaching our destination I prevailed. There seriously are times I believe that the woman in the GPS is trying to kill me. I need to remember to check and make sure she hasn't used the satellite systems to change the beneficiary on my insurance policy.

After a quick, but tasty, bypass to the White Castle for hamburgers we made it past the $2.50 tolls on roads that needed more work then the free ones we road upon in Wisconsin, we found the Rosemont. It's not the easiest place to get into, I must say. They have a lot of barriers up around the hotel, mostly to keep you from easily checking in or parking. However, if you want to make life easier for $28 you can have a valet park your car for you. Opting out of this you can drive around to park and pay only $18. Nice huh? Not really.

So, when you are finally able to park pray you haven't decided to bring too many bags for your stay. Why? Because you have anywhere from a block to a half a block walk to the lobby. At the check out the girl behind the counter, despite your previous preference when you booked your reservation and ignoring the fact that there are 3 of you in your party, will ask you if you would like a king bed room. When I told her that I had specified a double she replied with, "Well, I'm not allowed to presume." Okay. I didn't think that specifying my preference in advance and actually taking a few seconds to look at it was presuming, but maybe I learned something.

The hotel did have some nice amenities, such as the decor in the room. The rooms are spacious and well decorated. However, there is no complimentary coffee and the ice bucket is actually more like a glass bowl without a lid. They also do not believe in top sheets on the bed.

The hotel promotes wi fi, but in actuality it's available only as a "hot spot" which means you have to pay for it via Tmobile for another $8. There is also no free breakfast or donuts. They do have a menu available and you can purchase a cup of coffee for $8 a pot or $4 a cup. Stick with the water is my advice.

The beds are comfy in spite of the lack of top sheet. Not too hard, not too soft. But don't get too comfy. Even on Saturday the maids decide that a good time to bring out the vacuum and bang it against the wall to make sure no dust bunnies are hiding in the baseboards. If that doesn't wake you up don't be surprised if the maid doesn't knock on your door at 8:15 to make sure you don't want to go ahead and check out and have your room cleaned. Check out is supposed to be noon. But hey, you may want an early start, right?

If you call to ask the front desk if they really want you to leave or if they are just trying to get voted as the "Most Annoying Hotel," they will respond with "If you didn't want the maid to knock on your door, why didn't you put up the 'Do Not Disturb' sign?" Wow. Maybe because they never told me this was necessary at the Hilton or the Holiday Inn. Shame on them. I responded with, "Would that have kept them from vacuuming and hitting the walls at 7:30?"

It's not all bad, honestly. They do have a nice LG large screen tv complete with cable. They have a swimming pool and a sauna, but no hot tub. They also have plenty of running hot water.

All in all I would have to say that it's not likely I'll stay here again, despite the cute decor.

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