WOW! this hotel was way better than I had hoped! The "Executive Suite" was incredible ... it was like a small apartment with a separate bedroom and "living room"/seating area. The free continental breakfast was one of the best I've ever had! There was a huge selection and mostly very good items -- the DIY Belgan waffles were great! The bathroom was a little small (but really, how much time do you spend in there?!) and the towels were a little thin, but the shower was very nice. Overall, this was a very good value for the money!

I was scheduled to stay at the Fairfield Inn & Suites for business for 5 nights. Before arriving my boss called to confirm the reservation, and to make sure that the form of payment (a company credit card) would work for the reservation. The clerk behind the desk confirmed the reservation, and also told my boss that everything was set up with the company credit card, even though the names on the card, and reservation did not match. She also did not mention anything about a credit card authorization form.

When I arrived on a Monday evening, I first noticed the horrible location of the hotel. The hotel is situated on the south side of the road on North Avenue (Route 64). If you are traveling West on N. Ave, you CANNOT turn directly into the hotel parking lot, you MUST travel west, past 355 intersection, and do a U-Turn at Swift Road. This is the first opportunity to turn around to get to the hotel.

The look of the lobby is deceiving. It gives a more modernized updated appearance (except for the gigantic chandelier). Modern lighting in the hallways. When I opened the door to my room, I wasn't too impressed. I was in a standard king size room. Did not have a fridge. No microwaves in the rooms, but there is a microwave in the lobby area. (Does not work properly, tried to warm up a Lean Cuisine for dinner one night, was undercooked)

The curtains, lighting, chair, desk chair and bedding seem to have been updated recently. Everything else was left over from before the rooms were updated. The chair would not fit under the desk and there was a large stain on the chair.

The closet was unusually small. I had all of my work clothes ironed and hanging in the closet, but could not close the closet door because it would wrinkle the ironed clothing. This did not stop the maid service from closing the door and wrinkling pressed jackets.

The breakfast at the hotel was just ok. They did have a large selection of breads/bagels/muffins/pasteries. However, my first morning I tried the Land O 'Lakes skim milk. When I tasted the milk on my cereal I had to spit it out right away; the milk had gone bad, and was sour/horrible. It had an expiration date of 5/26/09 (that day). I told the desk clerk the problem and he said it would be replaced right away. The next morning they had some new milk out, with the date of 5/31/09. BUT, the now expired skim milk was still sitting in the back of the fridge.

Attempted to use the fitness center. It was a joke. Could not use the weight machines for upper body. Machine/pulleys not set up correctly.

When traveling to this hotel for business make sure you:
A. Use your own credit card and get reimbursed
or
B. Have a Credit Card Authorization Form on file with the hotel

Be careful: If the card name doesn't match the name on the reservation you will NOT be able to pay for the room. Also, if you do not cancel the reservation (remember: card name and reservation name don't match) the hotel will STILL charge the card a penalty fee. NOTE: The hotel is willing to take your money as a penalty, but staying in the room on a company card is unacceptable.

I would not recommend this hotel to stay at, the location ALONE makes it a horrible place to stay. I would also be weary of the food being served, cleanliness of the room, and the way the evening desk staff treats its customers.

I ended up having to cut my business trip short to only three nights at this location.

A friend and I went to Chicago for two nights. Our plans were to go to the museums and explore downtown. Didn't quite work out that way.

The hotel was clean, check in quick and easy. Parking was free, which around Chicago isn't always the case. Noise wasn't a problem, even though the hotel was pretty full.

Only complaint was that the exercise room isn't maintained. The weight machine problem has never been oiled, and the cable that holds the weights has probably broken several times and been tied back together, resulting in it being way too short to actually use.

If you are looking to explore downtown Chicago, this isn't the hotel for you. Even though their website says only 25 miles from downtown, with the Chicago traffic, during the week, it took us almost 90 minutes to travel that 25 miles. If we had it to do over again, I'd have waited until we could afford one of the downtown hotels.

Also you had to make a u-turn to get into the hotel or when leaving it.

I found this hotel on the Marriott website, as it is a Marriott sister hotel. It was $70 per night in July, 2008 booked directly through the website. The $70 rate gave us the smallest rooms they had available (I can't quite remember how they were termed now), but it was plenty of room for two people. I laughed when I heard the descriptions "European and cozy," but that's exactly what the room was. It was very nice for my boyfriend and me. I liked that instead of the cumbersome (and usually disgusting comforter) they made the bed up with linens which were practical for summertime. The bathroom was basic, but definitely clean. Everything seemed to be painted nicely, and there were no worn areas or bad carpet, or any of the usual complaints people make about hotels. It's about 30 minutes to downtown with no traffic. Breakfast was pretty limited only providing donuts and pastries and cinnamon toast and then some fruit and waffles which you make yourself (no one was making them). Not terrible, but could've been better. Lovely Albanian people seem to run the hotel. The indoor pool is very small, but nice for summer. It would've been nicer if it were outside. This was a very nice stay overall.