60601 Travel Guide
Tags: Hotel Bookshelves / Libraries / Doubletree Hotels / Chicago Hotels / → All Tags
theWit's Library Gets People Talking, More Than Reading
The lobby of theWit buzzes with businessmen chatting, workers scurrying about and people wandering in and out, but head to the second floor of the hotel and you'll find some peace in the library.
But it's not a library per se. Yes, the table in the middle of the room has small stacks of oversized coffee-table books on everything from fashion to architecture to music that you can peruse. (The most popular one among library visitors is Frank Lloyd Wright Complete Works, Vol. 3: 1943-1959.) But it's more about the atmosphere.
Tags: Hotel Video Tours / Chicago Hotels / Sweet Suites / → All Tags
Inside a Paramount Suite At theWit Hotel Chicago
Please allow us to remind you that Chicago is not New York, and nowhere is this more apparent than at theWit Hotel in Chicago, where the Paramount Suite (pictured above and in the gallery below) begins at only $450 a night. What will $450 get you in NYC, you ask? Well, not even one night in the most standard room at the new Crosby Street Hotel, for example, or maybe only a few hours of sitting in the lobby of The Pierre. In the Windy City however, you'll get a full-size kitchen with Wolfgang Puck coffeemaker, two bathrooms, and a wall of windows with all imaginable views of downtown.
Tags: Hotel Amenities / Design Hotels / Doubletree Hotels / Chicago Hotels / Movie Hotels / → All Tags
Inside The Plush Screening Room At theWit Chicago
What are the hot hotel amenities right now? Forget heated towel racks and pet concierges, the screening rooms are it. In New York, the newest private screening room can be found in the Crosby Street Hotel, but the 40-guest "Screen" venue in theWit Hotel in Chicago has it beat by a clear mile; it's no wonder the NYT loved their stay here so much.
Now we've been in the Sony screening rooms and other private movie niches in New York, and our peek at theWit's Screen had us craving popcorn and a good drama far more than any other. For one, the seats fully recline with footrests, cupholders and swing-out trays for your nachos. In the last few rows, the chair are replaced by full-fledged couches with throw pillows and sidetables. If we could come to Screen whenever we wanted, we'd never watch a movie in our living room again.
Tags: NYT Reviews / Chicago Hotels / DoubleTree Hotels / → All Tags
The Wit is a Hit with the NYT
Generally speaking, the New York Times is not an easy target to impress — particularly when it comes to anything beyond the confines of Manhattan. Just don’t try telling that to Chicago’s Wit Hotel, Doubletree’s new concept hotel that nabbed another glowing review and can now count the Gray Lady among its many fans.
“Even in a city filled with striking architecture, the Wit makes a powerful impression — a green-tinted glass box with an angled roof and a yellow lightning bolt shooting down its State Street façade,” begins reviewer Fred Bernstein, who adds that the new hotel “managed to be all things to all people; business travelers, vacationing families and trend-seeking 20-somethings all seemed to love the place.”
Tags: Hotel Bars / New Openings / Chicago Hotels / Renaissance Hotels / Marriott Hotels / → All Tags
Renaissance Chicago Launches Soft Opening for Swanky Bar Novo
It looks like theWit's hot Roof bar has some competition. As part of the Renaissance Hotel's rebranding effort, the Renaissance Chicago Hotel had a soft opening for its new upscale Bar Novo on Sept. 17 and the lounge will post an official "open" sign on Oct. 1. And like any good business these days, the Bar even has its own Twitter page.
Formerly a stodgy cigar bar—hello, the Chicago smoking ban made cigar bars so 2007—the new space is warm and inviting with reds and deep wood. But the pièce de résistance of the decor is an open chef's station that's the hub of the bar. The station uses an special induction style cook-top that eliminates the use of open flames and bulky hood systems so that you can watch the chef, who has traded in his tired toque for a sleek fedora.
Tags: Interviews / Hoteliers That Matter / Pitch Your Hotel / Chicago Hotels / Scott Greenberg / Doubletree Hotels / → All Tags
Pitch Your Hotel: Scott Greenberg of theWit Hotel Chicago
Welcome to our regular Monday feature, Pitch Your Hotel, where we let hoteliers, general managers and other hotel execs tell us on-camera what makes their hotels so different from all the rest. And believe us, the competition is fierce these days. So sit back, relax and listen to them explain why their hotels are worthy of your hard-earned dollars or rewards points.
We'll go ahead and admit that we love Chicago, and sometimes the poor city gets the short end of the cool hotel stick owing to its Midwestern location, but happily theWit Hotel is out to change that. When last we zipped through the Windy City, we made it a point to sit for a second inside of theWit and grab dinner and drinks at one of its restaurants and the rooftop bar, since the place had barely opened its doors. And not only were we impressed with what they've managed to do, but we were surprised that is a Doubletree property.
But since we got the developer of theWit, Scott Greenberg, to sit down with us and explain exactly what the place has going for it, we'll turn it over to him in the video above.
Tags: Oprah Winfrey / Hotel Deals / Hard Rock Hotels / Chicago Hotels / → All Tags
The Hard Rock Chicago Offering Special 'Oprah' Rates of $149 a Night
It's not just the Affinia Chicago that's celebrating Oprah's 24th season kickoff extravaganza with special rates. The Hard Rock Chicago is also getting in on the fun. Room rates for September 6 through September 9 are now $149 (as opposed to $199). The rate also includes free WiFi (so you can Facebook your status and Twitpic your party pics).
Interestingly, the rate is only available online at preferredhotelrate.com/oprah. We hopped on that site to see if those rates were good and indeed they were. Plus the rate comes with 10 percent off coupon at the hotel's China Grill. Wanna splurge for city views? Those rooms start at $179.
If budget is your concern, the Affinia Chicago is now going for $119 a night and it's actually even closer to the extravaganza than the Hard Rock. Oprah will be filming her show on Tuesday night on the Magnificent Mile at the intersection of Michigan and Ohio street. The Black-Eyed Peas and some surprise guests are expected to show. (J-Hud? Michelle O? We hope!)
Tags: 9-9-09 Hotels / Twitter / Hotel Contests / Hard Rock Hotels / Chicago Hotels / → All Tags
Tweet To Win A Night At Hard Rock Chicago For $9
It pays to be a Twitterholic, at least that's what we say to make ourselves feel better. If you're like us and can't stop tweeting or if you want to start the addiction, the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago is offering a Twitter-only contest in which it's giving away nine rooms for $9.
To snag one of the 9-buck rooms, you must have your own Twitter account and retweet the following:
RT to win! @HardRockChicago is giving away 9 rooms for $9. Winners selected 9/9/09! #contest #hardrockchicago09
All retweets must be made by September 8. The nine winners will be chosen at random and will be announced on September 9 (9/9/09, get it?).
Tags: Chicago Hotels / Hotel Openings / Hotel Tours / Hotel Restaurants / Doubletree Hotels / Hotel Rooftop Bars / → All Tags
We Spent The Week Scoping Out The Scene At The Wit Chicago
For this week that we spent in Chicago, we had a few must-sees on our list: the improvements in Millennium Park, the lakefront beaches, and The Wit Hotel in the north Loop. A new concept from Doubletree—who'd have thought—The Wit opened its doors at the end of May and quickly rose to the top of the Chicago nightlife scene.
Intent on snooping about the hotel, which is obviously very inspired by the more scene-y Manhattan Hotels (60 Thompson, The Hotel On Rivington), we headed to the loop for dinner at one of their restaurants and a drink on the rooftop, and we can say that The Wit definitely packs a few impressive punches.
Tags: Hotel Packages / Lollapalooza Hotels / Chicago Hotels / → All Tags
Hard Rock Chicago Helps You Become a Guitar-Playing Balla' at Lolla
Yesterday, we announced the winner of our Hotel Preston dream amenity contest: the mind behind the simple-but-brilliant idea to stick an acoustic guitar in the guestrooms for guests' plucking and strumming pleasure (or at least for some cute photo opps for the ol' Facebook album).
Up in Chicago, the more hard-rock-minded (heh) musicians or musician-wannabe's have a sweet opportunity, thanks to Gibson Guitars and the Hard Rock Chicago: On the eve of the Lollapalloza Music Festival (August 7-9, 2009), guests checking into the Hard Rock have the opportunity to "Check In and Rock Out" (oy, we know, we didn't make this name up) with their very own loaned Gibson guitar.
Tags: Hotel Rumors / Ian Schrager / Chicago Hotels / Hotel Hype / → All Tags
Schrager to Buy Chicago's Ambassador East Hotel?
Hot gossip for the oh-so-early morning: Crain's is reporting that Ian Schrager is in talks to buy the not-so-buzzed-about-anymore Ambassador East Hotel in Chicago (along with its Pump Room restaurant).
Obviously, he would rename and completely revamp the 285-room, somewhat distressed property. Per Crain's:
Mr. Schrager hasn't decided on the hotel's new name, or whether he'd rename the Pump Room, where celebrities from Bette Davis to Frank Sinatra to Natalie Wood once held court. During the heyday of cross-country train travel, the late Sun-Times newspaper columnist Irv Kupcinet was a fixture in the restaurant's Booth One, where he interviewed movie stars passing through Chicago on trips between the coasts.
Aww, bringin' back an old scene-y place. We suppose that if anyone can take something and make it trendy again, it woulde be the Schrager-man — and though the deal between Schrager and the owners is supposedly still "in talks," there are whispers that the owners (who paid $44.5 million when they purchased the hotel a couple years ago) have already accepted his $25 million offer.
Tags: Hotel Services / Hotel Amenities / Chicago Hotels / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
Chicago's Wit Hotel Has Awesome Wakeup Calls
Okay, so the cutest wakeup call ever would probably be something along the lines of a bunch of kittens nuzzling your face to rouse you gently from your slumber, but this adorably-quirky service from Chicago's new The Wit Hotel comes in a fairly close second. The Chicago Tribune recently stayed at the brand new Chi-town hotel, and was totally lovin' the cute little touches around the room — the "toilet roll comes with a sticker of Rodin's 'The Thinker' affixed," and a warm chocolate chip cookie is handed to you upon check-in — but the feature mentioned that we seemed to dig on the most was probably the wakeup call.
Apparently, The Wit hired a crew of Second City actors to record a bunch of unique wake-up calls from which you can choose the night before: Ann Landers, Harry Caray, or Mayor Richard Daley, for example — but the Tribune Reviewer chose a bit of an intimidating-ish voice to wake up to:
The phone rang.
It was 6 a.m.
"Yes," I said, groggy.
It was the president.
"Enough filibustering!" he shouted.
"OK, but ..."
"Up and at 'em!" he shouted.
"All right, fine!"
On the other end, I heard a dog bark, presumably Bo, the Portuguese water dog. I swung my feet off the bed. "Are you done?" I asked, but the line was already dead.
Cute. Well, scary-cute. Check out the Tribune's full review here, or check it out for yourself: rates at the Wit can be found for as low as $119.
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