Fairmont Hotel
Categories: Venues & Event Spaces, Hotels [Edit]
Neighborhood: The Loop200 N Columbus Dr
(between Lake St & Lower South Water)
Chicago, IL 60601 (312) 565-8000
- Nearest Transit:
Randolph/Wabash (Orange, Brown, Purple Express, Green, Pink)
Lake (Red)
5 reviews
Neighborhood: The Loop
"Wow. Had a welcome to the company lunch here and was astounded. The service was indescribable. The people at the Metropolitan all wear…" read more »
15 Reviews for Fairmont Hotel
It was a nice hotel, great location, great gym that was connected and everyone there was very accommodating. I can't say much for the rooms though. The rooms weren't too big, it smelled, the beds seemed smaller than a full but bigger than a twin and the bathrooms in the lobby were better looking.
And it was weird how we had to take an escalator down a floor to take an elevator up to our rooms. And the carts that held all the towels, toilet paper and everything else they used to clean each room stayed parked outside our room all weekend. I mean it was convenient when we needed towels and all but just an eyesore.
The location is great though, there's a gym you can use for free if you join the presidential club on-line, small grocery store right around the corner, Millennium Park down the street and a short walk to Michigan where you can find almost anything you need.
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This is not so much for the hotel but for the ballroom on the second floor where we had a party, and then for the restaurant, Aria.
For the party: 3 stars. We were welcomed into the hotel lobby, then swept up the stairs. All was fine until we walked into the ballroom... I've heard that there are a few beautiful ball rooms in this hotel, but this one was somewhat lacking. It transported me back to my days of bat and bar mitzvah's on the north shore of Long Island. Two big glitzy gold chandeliers, a small dance floor, mirrors on both sides of the walls, and... that's about it. The ceilings were kind of low, too, and coupled with the dim lighting in this space, it felt kind of oppressive.
Throw in two severely understaffed free-standing bars (read: one bartender at each bar) with rude bartenders (probably overstressed, overworked, and underpaid), and you see why this event venue was a disappointment.
For the restaurant: 2.5 stars. I'd read some good things about Aria, but having given it two shakes, I've decided I don't like it. For the price, you can easily find better food and a much more aesthetically pleasing environment. I will say, however, that they have a very delicious mushroom soup. I believe it's something like "mushroom soup your mother never made."
I think my greatest qualms with the restaurant is the space. It's very long and narrow, making it awkward to maneuver around. Also, the restaurant is kind of divided into three separate sections - the front area for the bar, then a hostess booth hidden behind a wall, and then, as you keep walking, what appears to be another room. The layout is very awkward.
There really isn't any other word to describe the Fairmont Hotel other than classy! It is such a fantastic hotel with a beautiful lobby and great rooms. I've been to parties here and the ballrooms are wonderful and the guest rooms are very nice as well. They also have Aria inside the hotel which is a bonus also! If you are looking for a really nice hotel for out of towners, this is it!
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Fantastic stay here. Just came back last night and I really, really enjoyed my time in Chicago (def. will come back) and this hotel. I got lucky and got a pretty good view of the city, including the navy pier and other various skyscrapers.
Fairmont was a great hotel; very comfortable and friendly staff. Helpful young ladies at the concierge's desk.
I will definitely want to come back and stay here again.
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I came here for a wedding reception and the hotel did a great job. They had a room off of the main ballroom for a reception for the guest until the wedding party arrived, then we moved in the ballroom which was very elegant.
The staff was great the food was decent. I would highly recommend this place for a wedding and/or wedding reception.
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Great Hotel. 2 minute walk to Millenium Park, 4 minute walk to Michigan Avenue. Not sure how others are dishing the location? Rooms are very nice and BIG. Bathrooms are great. The restaurant downstairs, Aria, is excellent. Service was perfect. Highly Recommend.
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this place was great for a holiday christmas party (see photos). as a reaction to last year's fiasco party: a lack of forks and dinner plates to begin with...have you ever fit an entire meal on an 5" appetizer plate? Good thing architects are spatial geniuses, otherwise it could have been really ugly. anyway, the "W" failed us, it was so tight i actually spilled a drink on someone who didn't deserve it. so we went to a much larger venue. MUCH. L A R G E R venue. It's over by the Hyatt, you know the one...the one with the big puffy lights from 1993. so we go in and it's very nice, very conservative. and we escalade down into the earth, two double flights of stairs (good thing it's a night party) to party in some cavernous sub-sub-sub-sub 30' high ceilinged basement. and this place is huge. the kind of place that's so big, they buy art more in accordance to size as a way to fill up a larger volume of wall space. doesn't have to be good, just very very large. i walked across the room to get a drink (there were four bars, one in each corner), a glass of wine (see picture), came back, and i was gone for fifteen minutes. THAT's how big it was. we could have played flag football. it felt like those fancy republican weddings from childhood where the bartender gives you a few underage ameretto sours and before you know it, you're pulling every wife away from their boring husbands to go DANCE! or it was like the bar mitzvahs, lacking only 300 gifts on the stage where the band was playing. not sure, but something was giving me fancy flashbacks, maybe it was the punch.
they did a nice job. this place is a large enough venue that they can handle seven or eight hundred people for a party. the bartenders were very rude, but they were dealing with total drunks who love to dance like elaine from seinfeld, so i couldn't blame them.
have your office holiday party here! but you better dust off your prom dress. this place isn't for deer antlers.
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The Fairmont is great for weekenders, theater-goers, symphony fans and shoppers. Just a block east of Michigan Avenue, you can easily walk the Streeterville neighborhood (can you call it that?) to many restaurants and all the shopping you can stomach. Since it's a bit off the lake, the view is obscured by a couple buildings, but still pretty. While I avoid Navy Pier, the night view of the lit-up ferris wheel from the 21st floor was pretty cool.
The concierge was fantastic, and staff was polished and excellent all around. The rooms are modern and comfortable, with AMAZING beds and pillows. The shower was pretty great for a highrise. Rooms are quite expensive, but ours was had for $199 from hotels.com - we booked it two days prior. A last-minute getaway for our 10th anniversary.
I didn't get to try downstairs Aria, but the sushi looked great.
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I have stayed in five different hotels in Chicago and this is my favorite. I actually like the fact that it is a few blocks off Michigan Avenue. It is still a really great location. Our room was spacious and clean. The lobby is beautiful and the girl at the front desk gave us free drinks and snacks in the lounge when our room wasn't ready for check-in. We had a great stay, and I would love to stay at the Fairmont again.
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I've stayed at the Fairmont several times and always had great experiences there. The rooms are spacious, and beautifully kept. Probably the high point for me is the room service from Aria, which is incredibly tasty!
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I've actually never been in the Fairmont Hotel until I attended a wedding here last night. The wedding was beautiful and I was very impressed with the hotel. It was an absolutely gorgeous ballroom that was elegant and simple so you can do a lot with it. I haven't seen any of the guest rooms, but I"ve heard they are very nice as well.
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i may be getting a bit elitist but this fairmont wasn't all i expected.
i originally booked here for one thing: the hd tv that was in every room in the newport beach fairmont. but alas, no LCD in this place. a nice overpriced minibar though.
my room was pretty sweet - view of navy pier, king bed, decent sized bathroom with the porn star shower (the clear glass door, classy yet shady), and overall the room was a/a- (a great room). this is all probably because they thought i was my dad who is a fairmont god (thanks pops). so absolutely no complaints there.
the lobby is very lacking, and the food is even more lacking, so i have to drop this to 3 stars (the tv hurt my feelings, what can i say).
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I am staying in Chicago on business and our client has a discounted rate at the Fairmont. In fact, I am enjoying their homemade apple-almond granola with fresh fruit and fresh brewed coffee as I write this review (delivered with the New York Times), and you can't beat it. I have a partial city, partial Lake Michigan view that is gorgeous, and the rooms are incredibly spacious. It is a great set-up for business travel (unlike some of the hobbit rooms you get in New York or San Francisco for twice the price). The service is impeccable as you might expect, and the location is great for running by the lake or shopping on Michigan Ave. Oh, and for work. Almost forgot why I was here.
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A beautiful place to stay, but maybe outside the average person's budget. Who cares...splurging every so often does amazing things for the soul. Really.
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The Fairmont is an excellent hotel in the Illinois Center area of downtown. It is a tall tower with a bland tan-colored exterior. Its interiors are more elegant in design, and the excellent guest rooms are laid out in an L-shaped floor plan.
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