HotelChatter

A friend and I booked a room with two double beds at Best Western Grant Park online using a AAA discount.  Due to winter road conditions we arrived quite late at night.  Upon arrival we found that there had been some confusion in the internet booking so we were given a smoking room rather than a nonsmoking room. I asked "Is there no nonsmoking room open in the entire hotel?" and the woman at the desk told me that there was not a single nonsmoking room open but that we could be moved in the morning.  We were also told that we had to park on the street overnight and get up at 5am to let the valet put our car in the garage.  When we arrived in our room we found that the smoke alarm was hanging off the wall and was not in working condition, the bathtub had an inch of dirty water in it, and the lid on the back of the toilet didn't sit properly.  I took photographs of these things with my cell phone.  I did not sleep at all because I have asthma and the extremely heavy cigarette residue in the bedding triggered breathing difficulties.  At five am I went downstairs to meet the valet and asked the speak with the manager.  I showed him the pictures of the room and explained about the smoking room.  He asked why we hadn't asked for a nonsmoking room and told me that there had been pleanty open!  When I explained that we had asked to be moved he immediately moved us to an upgraded suite that overlooked the lake.  From that point on the hotel staff was extremely helpful and the suite that we were put in was beautiful and very modern.  The woman who worked at the desk during the day helped me to figure out the  map of Chicago.  The location was fabulous for going to the museums and the restaurant in the hotel was absulutely wonderful.  We ended up having to leave really early in the mornign and should have had to park on the street again but the manager was working overnight so he let us leave out car in valet and went and got it out at 4am for us.  I think that they realized that they had messed up and did absolutely everything that they could to resolve the situation so I left happy.