I was very much looking forward to our stay at this hotel, after hearing all the good things about it. Unfortunately, it was a very underwhelming experience, to say the least. But let me begin with the things that I do like about the hotel. First off, it is located my favorite part of Chicago - the leafy, affluent part of town that is Chicago's equivalent of Manhattan's Upper East Side, complete with sidewalks, quiet tree-lined streets, real old-school townhouses (instead of ugly towering monstrosities that are 21st century condominiums), cute boutiques (instead of Gap, Banana Republic and other mainstream mass-produced brands) and, of course, Hermes of Paris (which warrants a separate mention). I also like the small intimate lobby area with old leather couches, cherry colored wooden furnitures, area rugs and distinct artwork. The very reason why I always tend to gravitate toward smaller boutique hotels instead of impersonal chains. I definitely love the room. While the space issue is not as bad in Chicago as it is in Manhattan, getting a 400-sqft guestroom for our weekend getaway is not an easy task. So we were delighted to see that our room comes with generous, ample bathroom, double sink, massive king bed AND still enough space to walk around, do a chicken dance, and strut my Herve and Louboutins in. My only reservation was the lack of natural light - the windows were definitely inadequate to allow sunlight to find its way into our 11th-floor room, but then again Delaware St is not exactly the widest street in town and there are buildings in front of us, so can't have it all! Yet one thing that really disappointed us was the service, or lack thereof. I mean, seriously. They don't call it the 'hospitality' industry for no reason. I did pay a premium to stay in smaller boutique hotels such as this so I do get a service that is a little bit more personalized than the kind that I would be getting from say, a 3000-room Vegas hotel. First, I called in to reconfirm my reservation. The lady on the phone was anything but courteous and competent. First off, she was not able to find my reservation and I was transferred to the front desk staff, to whom I had to explain myself all over again (my pet peeve when it comes to on-the-phone customer service). The person who manned the reception desk was not friendly, nor was he at all competent either. Case in point - he had to send the slip of paper on which I agree to the nightly rate and duration of stay up to the room after we checked in, which clearly indicated that he must have forgotten when we were actually down there. But the real kicker was when we ordered room service after arriving - it was about 1AM. As a general rule, I am never, ever, a big fan of room service, having had my fair share of bad food that they slap 18% gratuity, 10.5% tax (and still expect a tip) on during my days globetrotting on the company's expense account. Think overcooked steaks, lukewarm soup, bread hard enough to knock someone out, and ice-creams that are already half melted by the time it reaches your suite. So I really wasn't expecting hotels as small as Talbott to have a 24-hour room service, but lo and behold, they do. I placed an order of chicken BLT, which (to my initial delight) came in within 20 minutes. Then after the customary of the invoice and the involuntary yet customary tip of $2 on top of the 18% service fee (refer above) I opened the cover only to find something that looked like it was picked up from the garbage bin, microwaved and served on a plate with a bag of Lay's chips (lightly salted flavor). The bread looked like someone stomped on it, the L and T looked like it was 2 days old, the B was unrecognizable, and the chicken was burnt and cold. It was pathetic room service at its finest. We did get the item taken off our bill (rightfully so too) but the front desk person was, instead of apologetic, defiant. The whole thing was just very upsetting and for a hotel as high-end as this to be able to leave such a bad impression within the first hour of arriving, it's quite an accomplishment in and of itself. We won't be coming back, unfortunately.
