The Drake
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About
The Drake, a Hilton Hotel is a historic downtown Chicago hotel in the Gold Coast, and has been a symbol of elegance and style since its opening in 1920. Celebrities and guests from around the world stay at our hotel to experience our first class service and excellent Chicago hotel location where the Magnificent Mile begins.
Chicago City Attractions include Navy Pier, Michigan Avenue, Magnificent Mile shopping and dining, Lake Michigan, Bloomingdale's, Oak Street Beach, Chicago Gold Coast, John Hancock Center, Water Tower Place, Lincoln Park Zoo, and North Avenue Beach.
We offer stunning city and Lake Michigan views in the center of Chicago's famous shopping, nightlife, culture and local dining area.
The Drake Dining Options include Café on Oak, serving breakfast daily, Coq d'Or Restaurant & Lounge, and Palm Court, where you can enjoy Afternoon Tea. Coq d'Or and Palm Court feature live entertainment on weekends.
Location
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The entire hotel staff was warm and accommodating, and the shops in the lobby were far beyond the typical “quick-stop” snacks and newspapers often available. In fact, we were able to place a last-minute order for roses to give our daughter on her graduation morning at the florist/gift shop on the ground floor. The arrangement was gorgeous and very reasonably priced … we could not have been happier!
Perhaps one of the features we enjoyed most about The Drake was its location near Chicago’s Gold Coast along Lake Michigan. The weather was beautiful during our stay, and we were able to make the walk for a couple of miles along the boardwalk up to Lincoln Park, where we enjoyed an outdoor farmers market, and then stumbled on an art fair. It all made for a lovely June morning away from much of the normal tourist attractions, but still able to feel the heart of the city.
The only caution I would offer is that if you are arriving at the hotel late, be sure to grab something to eat before you get there. The restaurants on site closed early, and there wasn’t a lot within walking distance that we felt comfortable going out for after dark. Other than that, we had a great experience, and would definitely stay here on a return visit to the Windy City.
Upon arrival in our room we found food and towels from a prior guest still in the sitting area and bathroom. We mentioned this to the front desk, who didn’t seem to care but said it would be taken care of upon our return to the room that night. After being gone all day and much of the evening we returned to find the room uncleaned and the items still present. After another complaint we were given a new room and one nights fees were removed from the bill. The new room was fine and, as were barely in it, more then acceptable for the duration of our stay.
There is no daily housekeeping currently (covid) but you can request it from the front desk the night prior and they will provide linens and towels service. The hotel in general has seen much better days. The carpeting is worn in both the rooms and common areas, paint is chipping everywhere, drawers are broken and a strong smell of smoke permeates much of the hotel. The hotel is in dire need of a refurbishment though whether Hilton wants to undertake that expense remains to be seen. In closing the location is great but this hotel is simply nowhere near the standard it used to be 15-20 years ago. While the hotel was never the four seasons in terms of quality it is barely a decent Hilton at this point.
There were two major drawbacks of this hotel. The first is that you can hear EVERYTHING happening in the room next to you- literally every single word spoken. Not sure if it was thin walls or bad insulation between doors that could be used for adjoining rooms. It wasn’t muffled noise, it was every single noise.
Secondly, we had major issues with charges. At checkout, it showed valet parking on the bill, which we did not use (it is $75, I would recommend using a parking app, we parked across the street for $30). The front desk easily cleared it up and removed it from our bill. However, we later got charged for the room, and then a separate charge to our credit card for valet parking. Having to call Hilton, be on hold, then have to wait for a call back a day later, and being told it will take 7-10 business days to refund us our money taken for something we never used, was rather irritating.
Beautiful hotel, lots of history, and updated nicely, but bring earplugs and be careful of unfounded charges.
AC wasn’t working which cause the room to be extremely damp. Asked if housekeeping could come change sheets while we were out of the room and they left the sheets on the bed for us to change…never had to change my own sheets at a hotel!
"No pool, mini-refrigerators not standard in rooms. You have to ask and they may not have availability. "Read full review
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