Ryan Hale

Review of Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel Chicag...

The =only= reason I'm not giving this 5 Stars is t...

The =only= reason I'm not giving this 5 Stars is that I've stayed in The Peninsula here in Chicago before and, well, that is as 5 Stars as you can get. But this was much, much, MUCH better than I was expecting. I had never considered a Radisson an upper scale hotel and that is because there are only 3 in the entire US, the rest being mostly in Europe. So I'm used to the Radisson being low-mid scale. Not at the Blu Aqua. It is definitely upper scale and is near-or-on par with any other fine hotel in Chicago. The staff were exceptionally well trained and even when passing one of them in the hallway, it was "Is your stay acceptable?" or "Is there anything I can get for you?" The rooms are comfortable, stylish, quite and nice. The beds are very comfortable. Clean -- very clean at the hotel. The lunch and dinner were just average, but I will say the breakfast bacon was really good. At one pre-dinner function, I had mentioned to one of the servers that I was not fond of the chicken appetizer and he immediately wanted to know -- genuinely so -- what was wrong with it, and if he should alert the kitchen that it didn't need to be served to the guests. I simply said there was nothing wrong with it but it just didn't fit what my taste wanted at that moment. He then asked what I did like as an appetizer and began bringing me extra of the shrimp I said I liked. Excellent, friendly service! If I'm back to Chicago on my dime, this is certainly near the top of my list of hotels.

Green Features: I did not see any recycle bins anywhere in the hotel. This is something to improve upon.