InterContinental Chicago O'Hare

Wedding season 2009 went out with a bang at the InterContinental Hotel in Rosemont. The hubby and I decided to have a bit of a staycation here because driving home after a wedding is never a good idea. Guess I learned something from D.A.R.E growing up!

This hotel is very different from the InterContinental downtown. While the downtown one screams old-school elegance, their new O'hare location is super sleek and modern. Walking thu the lobby and hallways we felt like we were at a modern art museum (super cool artwork) and our room had an upscale Ikea feel to it. I was a big fan of the rain shower in the bathroom, although the hubby complained their was no door to the shower.

The wedding was fabulous. The Guggenheim ballroom has modern decor like the rest of the hotel, yet it's still neutral so it works with any color scheme...including all the beautiful white flowers the bride chose for her wedding day.

The food at the wedding was great as well! Favorite appetizers during cocktail hour included the crab cakes and steamed dumplings...and the mini appletinis were a huge hit (had a few too many of those myself)! For dinner we had salad followed by both chicken and filet (no filet for me, but the chicken was tasty). We all went to town at the sweets table- the cheesecake lollipops were especially memorable.

My only real complaint is the $22/night self parking. That may be understandable for a hotel downtown, but highway robbery in Rosemont!

The perfect spot for my friend's dream wedding and we were lucky enough to enjoy our little staycation. If you happen to be visiting the Windy City I'd recommend staying downtown, but if you need to stay near O'hare or are looking to throw a wedding in this area this may very well fit all your needs.

I went to a wedding here last weekend and then stayed in a room that night.

The wedding hall was beautiful, the cocktail area was also very nice, as was the hall in which the reception was held! Everything about the venue was just fantastic for a wedding!

The room we had was pretty awesome! Beds were comfy, nice couch seating area, big spacious bathroom. Everything about it was great!

A couple downfalls of this location are the location itself. Right next to the airport means a lot of traffic, ugh. And it's not the surrounded by the most beautiful landscape. The worst part of this hotel is $22 parking!!! What in the heck. Their garage should be free for hotel guests staying the night. If people attending the wedding got the validated ticket, it allowed them to have free parking following the reception. However, if you stayed overnight, $22! Madness.

This is a fairly new hotel, opened two years ago.

Convenient location, close to O'Hare, nice shuttle with complimentary water and soda bottles, courteous driver who knew the local area well and was able to provide several tips for local dining options.

Beautiful spacious lobby with an unobtrusive check-in desk. I was assisted immediately by Sam who was exceedingly polite and instantly upgraded my room to a one bedroom suite on the top floor. Ahh, the perks of constant business travel do come in handy when you travel for leisure since I had a $129 rate for a large suite, a tray full of welcome fresh fruit, unlimited free use of the minibar and free wireless Internet. All this at the upscale IC - score!!!

Elevators are quick and clean and plentiful. The room was just gorgeous. Granted, it's a new hotel but the room was just impeccable. A little powder room as you enter the living room adorned with a large sectional sofa that could seat 7, very modern coffee table, 55" plasma TV, desk, little pantry table and minibar.

Bedroom had a king bed with a really comfortable mattress and goose down pillows, a large chaise with a little rolling table for drinks or food, another plasma TV and large closets with the signature IC robes, slippers, shoebrush and shoehorn. A iPod/iPhone dock and remote with a really fantastic sound system for your own music selection and a sleek closk complete the accessories in the very large bedroom.

The bathroom alone was as big as several hotel rooms I've stayed in. All Kohler fixtures, high end pedestal sink with anti-fog mirror, a beautiful dark grey bathtub, glass tile accents, a large standalone shower with a rainfall showerhead and a corner for the commode. Very elegant, with accent lighting to set the mood if you were so inclined :)

Water pressure was great, water temperature was satisfactory though I personally would have preferred it a touch hotter. High end amenities as always at all IC properties.

The hotel is flanked by two restaurants and has a modest bar area. The Capital Grille and McCormick's and Schmick's are the two restaurants that are on the property and I tried the latter since I did not have clothes appropriate for the Capital Grille.

I did not get to try the gym or pool on this trip but will do so when I return for sure to this fantastic hotel, I will!

~ 5 stars overall for a truly memorable experience and a wonderful property and staff. I strongly recommend this hotel if your travels should take you to this area.

# 222

I love Chicago! However, I love it much more when my visit is longer than 7 hours and when I'm not forced to spend the night, without luggage.

A day of travel woes, delays and hiccups lead me to the InterContinental when I found myself stuck in Chicago overnight while en route to San Francisco. My feelings of frustration and defeat had fled me as I approached acceptance while boarding the shuttle bus to the hotel from the airport. (Which only took about 15 minutes.)
The front desk staff were friendly and funny, taking the slight edge off me.

The hotel is grand and modern with an art laden lobby. Hunger games were hitting me upon arrival, so I as relieved to find two restaurants adjacent to the hotel (McComick & Schmicks &Capital Grille) as well as 24 hour room service.

The rooms are beautiful - simple, clean and contemporary with sleek bathrooms and lighting options that warm up the room nicely. While there is no tub to soak in, the shower is set up nicely, with a glass partition from floor to ceiling and a rainforest style shower head. Toiletries were also thorough, with make up removal pads, mini sewing kits, nail file, Q-Tips - all nicely packaged.

Although I only laid my head down for a few hours, the bed served me well. Didn't have a chance to jump around on it, but it cradled me to sleep. Oh, and appreciate that the thermostat was adjustable at 0.5 degree increments. (Because that extra 0.5 can be crucial, right??)

When I awoke, my invoice had arrived under my door so I was able to bolt out and back onto the shuttle by 5am.

Definitely a comfortable and accommodating hotel option near the airport should you need it!

Stayed here March 31st - April 3rd; my teenager and I decided to hit up Chi-town for her Spring Break. (I felt so good she still actually wanted to hang out with her Mom...)

I should mention I got this through a Price Line name your own, 4 star thingy.

Checked in with a guy named Rudy, very helpful, nice accent and quite easy on the eyes. Got a room with double beds on the 6th floor; amazing scenery, room nice w/ a jack-n-jill door. As stated, not much for counter space, um, not ANY counter space (they do know that FEMALES stay in hotels too, right? We NEED places to put out shit!)

Anywhoo; for 3 nights and 4 days we looked forward to going back to our room for a nap/sleep after shopping, driving around various neighborhoods and doing the tourist 'thang' of the Sears Tower skydeck, Shedd Aquarium & Field Museum.

If I can get another good deal on it; I shall return to Rosemont.

Pros: Lobby art work, friendly staff and a cool Cuba Libre from the bar.
Cons: $22/Parking (per day...) - Dayum.

Great hotel has very nice rooms. A lot of energy here walking around, there was some jazz fest type thing in the bar lounge area and a few other things going on.

The room had a fun modern feel to it, I love modern so they speak to my heart here.

The business center and internet costs money. Parking costs over $20 as well......Sorry this is Chicago, they charge for oxygen if they could.

Overall great experience here, would recommend to others staying in the area.

Black marker graffiti on bathroom mirror. See posted photo. Notified management but no response after leaving a message with the front desk. Makes me wonder how well the rooms are cleaned? Carpets were dirty and were worn from foot traffic. Expected more as Priceline rated this a four star hotel? Should have been more like a 3 star hotel IMO.

On a positive note, triple paned glass windows make the surroundings very quite. Can't hear airplanes being so close to the airport.

I recently attended the Chicago Harvest Moon Ballroom Dance Competition. While the competition itself was WONDERFUL, dinner left something to be desired. My mother, aunt, and I were seated with a nice couple from the west suburbs. During our meal, first came the bread, then the salad. Once we finished, out came the steaks.

Uh, wait a second...

No one ever checked to see if medium rare was OK with everyone. Weird... Most fine dining places would always check with their customers, even at large events.

I was fine with my steak, but my poor aunt who is extremely sensitive to foods was not. She tried to explain this to the server, who just shrugged her shoulders and said that's how the meat comes. The server left my aunt staring at the piece of meat. We all felt terrible for her (my aunt, that is).

A few minutes later, my mother flagged the server again and requested that they just butterfly the filet and throw it in the microwave. "It's that easy," suggested my mom. No dice.

"Maybe they don't know what 'butterfly' means," said the gentlemen across the table. We all laughed and brainstormed on how else we could explain it.

Finally, I thought that I would give it a shot since I am a native English speaker and might be able to clear up any confusion. My mom and my aunt have slight accents, but sometimes that's enough to throw people off. As I begged the server to ask the chef to reconsider, the nice couple joined in pleading our case, which convinced our server to take the plate and look into honoring my aunt's request.

The server left with the plate. It took at least 20 minutes before she returned with my aunt's meal. While we were waiting, the gentlemen actually got up and walked over to a manager to find out the status of my aunt's steak. When the server brought it over, it was done just right. So what was so bloody hard about that??? Seriously.

Overall, I think that InterContinental Chicago O'Hare could use a lesson in customer service. With all the hotel options out there, I would think twice before I would plan a dinner event here. And I certainly would not come here unless I was completely obligated to a friend or family member.

+Great Art
+Novel Shower Heads
+Large, Airy Rooms
+Walking distance to Capital Grille
+Elemis bath products and the mini-mani set were a nice touch
-Conference Food - worst I've had--EVER
-Coffee - Starbucks is 2 blocks up in the Doubletree
-Conference Rooms - FREEZING
-Uncomfortable Beds

Although there are more +'s than -'s, since I had to eat 5 conference meals, I had to weight that differently hence 2 stars.

First class uber trendy hotel situated 10 mins (free) shuttle ride from O'Hare. Super slick, efficient friendly staff.

Art gallery in reception was a great touch.

30 second walk to Mcormicks.