Residence Inn by Marriott Chicago Oak Brook

My reservation was cancelled by AGM Ken Whiteside and Director of Sales Brooke DeLucio over email with less than 24 hours to check-in with no explanation or reason in the email. I called and Ken Whiteside answered with no sympathy stating that some rooms were taken out of order and under my rate, I was to be cancelled first. I’ve worked with Marriott for a handful of years and the proper protocol is to walk the guest to another property at the same rate. With no other suggestions and flying in from a different state, I had to scramble to find other reservations day-of at absurd rates. This entire experience was inhospitable and unprofessional. I would not make reservations here because you can just get cancelled within 24 hours because they want other reservations with higher paying rates. My reservation was made months in advance so if they really wanted to penny pinch, they could’ve given me at least couple weeks notice. Aimbridge needs to do better with their employees and start doing what’s right.

Normally, me and my wife stay at the Hyatt House but I could not condone paying the higher room rates this time. However, Residence Inn was more reasonable. We loved the full size refrigerator and stove. The Hotel is clean and quite but the parking lot is occupied by a ton of white service trucks which takes up alot of parking spaces. The Buffet was average at best your typical fare (Biscuits-N-Gravy, Eggs, Canadian Bacon, etc.). However, I was happy with my stay I would come back again. I love the convience of this hotel near expressways (I 290, I88, I294) and located near Oak Brook Mall and other restaurants nearby!

Our room was clean when we checked in. Eddie, the man at the front desk in the evening is wonderful and very helpful. He really went out of his way for us as much as he could. The pots and pans were very nice, good quality stainless steel which was very nice. The ice maker kicks out 7 cubes every two hours so if you want ice your first night, ask the front desk. We did and Eddie was happy to get me plenty of ice to get us through until the ice maker caught up. I requested a general handicapped accessible room (my husband is disabled) and stressed that we did not need a roll in shower when I booked the room. When we arrived we were told our room wasn’t ready (it was before check in time so we were willing to wait until check in time), and that we were booked into a room with a roll in shower. The woman said the previous guest had just checked out (it was several hours past check out time so they should have been told to leave if the staff knew another guest would need that room) and that we had to have that room since it had a roll in shower. I told her again that we did not need a roll in shower, just a general handicapped accessible suit and that my husband would be fine in the bathroom with just grab bars. She told me I had to have the room with the roll in shower because another staff member had booked it that way and there was nothing she could do. We waited until after check in time and were told that our room was still not ready and we’d have to continue to wait. It had been over an hour and was now past check in time. This was NOT acceptable. If a guest is expected to be booked into a room and that is the only room they are allowed to have then the previous guest in the room needs to be told they have to check out by check out time. There is no reason that we should have had to wait well past check in time to get settled into our room. We should have been reimbursed points for that since we were not able to use our room through no fault of ours. My daughter asked the woman why we HAD to have that particular room and was informed again that it was because it had a roll in shower and the room was booked that way and there was nothing she could do and we HAD to have THAT room, we could not have any other room. My daughter explained again that we didn’t need a roll in shower and asked why we had to have THAT room, and that we would be perfectly happy with a different room that was ready. She then asked if my husband could step in and out of a bathtub and my daughter said he could. I had already told the woman this. She finally got us into a room that was a general handicapped room, with a regular tub, which is what I had requested both when I booked the room and when I attempted to check in. The living room curtains were on an automated system to open and close them from a switch in the wall, but the track was broken and the curtain hung limply at one end. We were not able to operate the system because of this so were not able to open or close the drapes. The room was very dark for our entire stay because the lights in the room are not very bright and we were unable to open the curtains. The tub had a wall mounted shower bench and of course it was at the opposite end of the tub from the shower head. The shower head did reach to the shower bench but there was no place to attach it to let go of it once you had it to that end. So it had to be set on the floor if the tub for soaping up, causing water to go everywhere. The shower gel, shampoo and conditioner bottles were mounted on the wall so that they’d be behind the head of anyone sitting on the bench, rendering them useless for anyone sitting on the bench. I gave it a try to see how hard they would be for my disabled husband to use from the bench. It was difficult to reach the two on the ends and impossible to reach the one in the center end to dispense product onto the hand. Since you can't see them, you have to guess which one you’re using. I ended up washing my hair with shower gel and my body with shampoo because I mixed them up. Even if they were directly in front of me, I’d have had a hard time reading them because the lettering is in pale green on darker green background. Anyone with the least degree of nearsightedness will not get able to read them. I asked at the front desk and Eddie very kindly gave me a bar of soap and bottle of shampoo so my husband could set them on the bench next to him and do his shower independently. The bed frame in the room was broken and we spent the first night sleeping with our feet elevated higher than our heads because the mattress would sink down to the floor at the head end because the frame did not support it as it had become separated and required soldering or spot welding. There was no box spring. Just a fabric covered piece of plywood the was supposed to be a box spring resting on a thin, metal box frame. I requested a repair and it was repaired before our next night so sleeping was better, although that plywood piece liked to slide around on the metal frame underneath. It was fine if we kept still in the bed. The pillows are TERRIBLE. They are stuffed with large lumps of rubber foam. So uncomfortable, especially since I'm used to using a down pillow. The pillows were smaller too so it was not possible to sit up against the headboard to read in bed. Trying to do this also resulted in the mattress sliding around on the metal bed frame. The parking lot has no curb cuts near any of the handicapped parking spots so I had to wheel my husband against traffic from our parking spot to the front door every day. The third night we were there was New Years Eve and when we got hack to our room every handicapped parking spot had been taken. I had to pull partially into a regular parking spot, transfer my husband to his chair and then wheel him past several parking spots to find a curb cut and leave him on the sidewalk in the cold while I then went back to the car to pull it into the parking spot. It was the last available spot that wasn’t on the other side of a median, which would have been even more difficult to maneuver around. We had to pay for parking and it was substandard for anyone who uses a wheelchair or other device for mobility. The curbs are too high to tilt a wheelchair back to get up onto the safety of the sidewalk and there are no cuts in them to wheel a wheelchair up on to the sidewalk. Our final night there I noticed the air vent had been unscrewed from the wall. It had not been like that earlier. I have no idea how it happened but it creeped me out a little and I was glad to leave. The room layout is not the best. The light switch for the bathroom is across the hall from the bathroom door so you have to turn on the light and then walk to the bathroom. It's just a few steps but since the light from the bathroom shines directly onto the bed, it wakes up anyone in the bed when someone else has to use the bathroom during the night. If you travel with someone who gets up frequently to use the bathroom during the night, bring a sleeping mask or you'll be woken up frequently.

The 1 bedroom suite was comfortable and clean. The staff was welcoming and attentive even during such a busy weekend. Plenty of seating space for breakfast and evening gatherings. Brighter lighting in the living room area and provision of soap by the bathroom sink would be appreciated. Plenty of green space outside to walk the dog. Outside you hear the nearby freeway, but inside was always quiet. We would definitely stay here again while visiting family in the Chicago area!

First I was here on business and reserved a room for six weeks. The biggest issue I had the first week was the WiFi. It was so bad that YouTube videos would buffer. I have been to third world countries that had better WiFi. The second week was worse. My pillows smelled like cleaning fluid. I notified the front desk and they supposedly changed them out. The second set of pillows was just as bad. Once more I told the desk and they said they would take care of it. The smell was not as strong but was still there. Also the carpet in front of the elevator smelled like cat urine. I appreciate that the hotel is a little dated but it was really bad. Given these items I felt it was better to cancel the rest of my stay and find another hotel.