Embassy Suites By Hilton Chicago Downtown River North

“Central location but a few areas for improvement”

My family and I stayed here for five nights during a vacation, and overall we were pleased with the family-friendly atmosphere, pool, breakfast, and evening reception. I typically prefer smaller hotels because of crowds, but Embassy Suites was a good fit for what we needed on this trip. Breakfast … more

My family and I stayed here for five nights during a vacation, and overall we were pleased with the family-friendly atmosphere, pool, breakfast, and evening reception. I typically prefer smaller hotels because of crowds, but Embassy Suites was a good fit for what we needed on this trip. Breakfast was included each morning and offered a solid variety of options, including made-to-order omelettes. If you go down around 7:00–7:30am, the crowds are manageable, though it does get noticeably busier as the morning goes on, which can make things more difficult. The staff works very diligently to keep everything stocked and clean, regularly refilling items and clearing tables as guests leave. Overall, the breakfast team was excellent. The indoor pool was about 4 feet deep and provided towels and roughly eight cushioned lounge chairs. It was a nice amenity for families, although the surrounding pool area could benefit from more frequent and thorough cleaning, as there were times when trash was visible in the area. Housekeeping was the weakest aspect of our stay. Each day there were noticeable oversights, such as no toilet paper left in our bathroom, an empty shampoo bottle not replaced leaving us with out any, and even a toilet brush left on the sink next to our belongings on one occasion. The glasses were rarely replaced as well. Common areas also seemed like they could use more consistent attention, including vacuuming and general tidiness. The evening reception was a nice touch and the staff working it were consistently friendly and welcoming. However, it too was quite busy and crowded at times, which made it a bit more difficult to fully enjoy. Overall, the hotel was fine for what we needed, especially given its central location near the subway, walkable areas, and a variety of nearby restaurants. Some of the issues we experienced feel like they could be improved with additional staffing and more consistent attention to housekeeping details.

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“park your own car with in and our privilege is the only perk here”

As a Hilton regular, Im disappointed with this place. The parking lot needs explaining and the valet need to do their job. It was my first time in Chicago and the streets have one ways on them. Using Apple maps, gets you driving around in circles to find the parking garage. I pulled up in front of … more

As a Hilton regular, Im disappointed with this place. The parking lot needs explaining and the valet need to do their job. It was my first time in Chicago and the streets have one ways on them. Using Apple maps, gets you driving around in circles to find the parking garage. I pulled up in front of the hotel with everyone else but you are blocking the main road and there is not a pull off area in front of the hotel. I had to call and ask where the parking garage was and the first person that I called was really helpful and kind and let us know the exact address to the garage which is attached to the side of the hotel around the corner three times and she said there was a safe place to unload the car. Well, that was where valet was and I did not want valet. I wanted to park and unload my own car, like you would anywhere else which is an option and why I picked this hotel originally. I pulled into the valet line and sat there forever, I was the only person there, while the valet guys talked to themselves inside. I finally went in to get the cart myself and then it was at that point that they would not allow me to use the cart and required me to allow them to actually do their job. By that point, I was ticked off and drove around the block one more time to see the parking garage entrance and drove up 2 floors to see signs at the top that take you to the elevator into the hotel right in front of the valet guys, and around the corner from them is the hotel elevator to take you to the lobby and the rooms. They had the audacity to ask me at that point, after not helping me prior, if I knew where I was going or needed help. We drug all our stuff for a family of 6 on an across country road trip including a shower chair by ourselves across a parking garage, a hotel lobby, up 2 elevators., across another lobby, up another elevator to our room...yes this place is that complicated to get into. At check in my digital key does not work and that is because you have to stop at check in and give your license plate to register your car to charge you $65/night for parking with in and out privileges. The rooms are old and need updating. The toilet is on the ground. The bathrooms need updating. They did not provide extra towels as asked in the app. The breakfast buffet is a joke. They give you a card per person and tell you that it needs to be signed before getting anything. No one checked it or even asked for it. The food was not great. The eggs were watery. Too many families playing with the waffle machine so that those that wanted to use it couldnt. The fruit was spoiled on the second day. This hotel needs to provide better directions to the parking garage, get valet guys to actually do their job and get the place updated. We were on the 7th floor and was awakened by someone screaming outside on the road. It is far from anything on Mag mile. The only reason I stayed here was to be able to have my own car and get around plus park it myself and that was the only perk of this hotel.

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“Embassy Suites & The Case of the Disappearing Towels and Mystery Wet Dog”

I really wanted to enjoy my stay here because the location was great, but unfortunately the actual hotel experience was… a journey. The first room we were assigned smelled strongly like dirty wet dog/pet odor the second we walked in. I have no issue with pets whatsoever, but this room smelled like… more

I really wanted to enjoy my stay here because the location was great, but unfortunately the actual hotel experience was… a journey. The first room we were assigned smelled strongly like dirty wet dog/pet odor the second we walked in. I have no issue with pets whatsoever, but this room smelled like a Labrador had just finished a rainy marathon in it. The bathtub was also visibly dirty and gross enough that I took photos immediately. We were moved to a second room, which thankfully smelled better, but the bathroom still wasn’t great. The tub was missing the drain stopper and the handle kept literally falling off. At that point, though, I wasn’t letting my kids sit in that tub anyway, so the missing stopper felt like the least of our concerns. 🫠 To be fair, the manager did say the hotel was sold out and offered to move us again the next day, but most people arrive at hotels in the evening after traveling all day. That’s when you actually need the room to function. “You can maybe shower tomorrow” is not exactly the relaxing vacation vibe people are hoping for. Also, no one offered assistance with luggage or even pointed us toward a cart while moving rooms with children and bags in tow. The housekeeping staff did clean daily and everyone we interacted with was polite, but every single day they left random numbers of towels. One day two face towels. Another day three bath towels. Never enough for the FIVE guests listed on the reservation. It became a nightly side quest to visit the front desk and collect enough towels for basic human functioning. Then on our final night, I went downstairs AGAIN to get towels and happened to notice a letter sitting at the front desk informing incoming guests that the water would be shut off from 10 PM to 5 AM. No notice had been left in occupied rooms. Had I not randomly gone downstairs, my family of five, including two small kids, would’ve discovered the water outage the hard way the morning of our flight home. Instead, at 9 PM, I suddenly had one hour to speedrun showers, face washing, and tooth brushing for everyone like it was a weird reality competition show called America’s Next Top Hydrated Family. I understand the water issue itself was outside the hotel’s control, but communication absolutely was within their control. A quick note slipped under guest doors would’ve gone a long way. One final thought: hotels may want to consider designated pet-friendly rooms, similar to how hotels used to have smoking sections. Some guests have allergies to pet dander, and others simply don’t want to spend their stay marinating in Eau de Wet Terrier. Overall, the location was excellent, but the cleanliness, maintenance, communication, and overall attention to guest comfort just did not match the price or expectations of an Embassy Suites stay.

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