Use the Safe!
Written: Dec 18 '02 (Updated Dec 20 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice Architecture, Comfortable beds, polite workers.
Cons: A couple in our group had their credit card stolen from their room.
The Bottom Line: Well, I would recommend it, but be sure to take your valuables with you. There is a safe in the room but I don't even trust that.
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| RoniG's Full Review: The Allerton Hotel - Michigan Avenue |
For our office Christmas Party, my boss took the office and all of our spouses to Chicago on the train. (He's the best boss ever). He booked rooms for all of us at The Allerton Crown Plaza. When our taxis arrived from the train station, we were greeted politely at the door by the bellhop who offered to take our bag. We were all traveling light so we declined. We entered the elevator that took us up to the Lobby to check in. The people at the front desk were friendly and efficient. We received our key and went up to our room. The room was very clean and nice. It was small but seemed very cozy and had a great view of Michigan Avenue and the Water Tower. The location is fantastic. It's right across the street from Chicago Place mall and two blocks from Water Tower Place. The room had a large closet with ironing board and iron. The bed was a king and had to have been the most comfortable hotel bed we've slept on. There was a desk and chair, two bedside tables, one with a clock radio, and an armoire with a TV and two drawers for clothes. The bathroom was small but very clean. It was tiled in white with grey veined marble tile. The sink was a white porcelain pedestal sink with a hair dryer on the wall above and a magnefying mirror on retractable arm. It had a stand up shower but it was all glassed in an very luxurious looking. All in all, a very nice room. Probably the most uncomfortable thing about the hotel is the elevators. They are extremely small and you have to take one up to the lobby on the third floor then change to another one that goes up to the rooms.
We rested for awhile and then started to get changed for dinner. This was about half an hour after we checked in. As we were changing there was a tapping at the door. My husband was in the bathroom so I hurried up and got dressed so I could answer the door. I had almost reached the door and someone pushed it open as far as they could with the swing bolt on. Then a woman asked if our room was clean. I told her that it looked clean to me and she left. I didn't open to door so I have no idea who it was. I though it was strange but I didn't think anymore about it until later. We left to meet the rest of our group at the Cheesecake Factory and had dinner then it was off to Second City to see a show. We came back to the room about 11pm and went to sleep. We had a busy day Christmas shopping on a VERY crowded Michigan Avenue and met everyone at the train station that evening.
It was then that we found out that one of the couples in our group had been robbed. We discussed it on the train and they called their credit card company to find out some details of how their card was being used. After going over their steps the night before they determined that the only possible place the card could have been taken was from their room. She had left her purse in the room while we were at dinner and the show and it had her wallet in it. The next morning she realized it was gone when her husband's credit card was declined at breakfast and they called the CC company who told them that their card had been used several times that night and had over a thousand dollars of charges on it. While we were discussing what had happened I remembered what had happened in our room the night before and told them about it.
The next day my coworker called the hotel manager and discussed what had happened with him. He pulled the key log on the door of their room and said that their room was accessed by housekeeping at 3:00pm with an honor bar key and at 3:55pm with a housekeeping key and at 5:15pm and 1:05am with the key that was issued to them at the desk.
The only problem with that is that they rode up the elevator to their room with me and my husband at 3:55 and we each went into our rooms then. My coworker and her husband left their room to go to the Cheesecake Factory to wait for a large table at 4:30 and couldn't have entered their own room at 5:15. We were all with them at the restaurant at 5:15. And they entered their room that night before midnight. She also told the manager about the person trying to enter our room and he said that that shouldn't happen because the housekeeping staff has a record of who is checked in and which room have been cleaned. Something very strange is going on there.
If it hadn't been for this, we would have had a perfect experience at this hotel.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
RoniG
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Member: Veronica
Location: Central Illinois
Reviews written: 16
Trusted by: 0 members
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