TRIP REPORT: Fall fun in the Windy City – Hyatt Regency O’Hare

Hyatt Regency O’Hare
Fall fun in the Windy City

In this adventure:

• Still trying to keep it different
• Great. A Broken Down Coach…
• Cathay Pacific Lounge, Heathrow Terminal 3
• AA99 London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare (Main Cabin Extra)
• Avid Hotel, Chicago O’Hare
• Hyatt Regency O’Hare
• Airplane Art from the Hyatt Regency O’Hare
• Table for One – Time for Food
• Trying a different Deep Dish Pizza (Pequods)
• Night-Time fun with the iPhone 14 Pro
• Return to much busier Chicago O’Hare Terminal 5
• BA296 Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow (World Traveller) 
• A Coach, A Coach. My Kingdom for a Coach
• Not the end, for 2022… maybe…

Whilst I could have been lazy and taken a shuttle back to O’Hare, then another shuttle to the Hyatt, I chose the simpler option of grabbing an Uber to take me over to the hotel.

By the time I would have paid out tips, it would have worked out the same.

The tradition of only shooting a photo of the hotel at night has returned for all long-term watchers.

Arriving at the hotel, I was greeted by the door staff. I chose to skip their services of getting items up to the concierge and beyond (as I had unloaded everything myself – and was in the mood just to get stuff to the room).

Hello, tentacle monster.

I headed to the reception, where there was no one waiting, so I was seen to rather quickly.

A room was ready for me – but the hotel wanted an early check-in fee of $25. A little cheeky, considering I had never been hit with this charge before – but I had a list of things I needed to do before I headed downtown, so I stumped up the fee to dump the luggage and do some pre-downtown work.

With that, two keycards were issued for a room on the 6th floor near the elevators. Which after a long night, is a very welcome thing indeed (Hiking across to the “International Wing” is never fun in the evening)

Going into the room – well, if you have been reading this blog for any length of time you will know what the double bedroom of a Hyatt Regency O’Hare in the main block looks like.

If you are new here, well, Here we go again…

Bedside amenities- note the noisemaker and a new clock with power and USB-A outlets. 

I settled into the room, taking advantage of the balcony immediately – because 1) I’m a photographer and 2) aeroplanes!

Whilst the view over the Donald E Stephenson convention centre is nothing special, it is on the arrivals/departure path for O’Hare, making it good for watching arrivals into O’Hare International – be they regional, narrow body or wide-bodied.

Well, it could be better. A view of the city would have been better. 

There is a whole post on this upcoming. See me in a day or so. 

For those who question this madness, remember those who spot are sometimes used to one airport worth of traffic (and there are only so many Ryanair, Jet2 and British Airways aircraft you can take pictures of before your mind goes nuts), so variety is always a welcome thing.

Even if it’s United Airlines aircraft in different colours.

There you go blue globe fans. I would prefer a blue tulip, but that’s just me…  

Moving back to the hotel, this Hyatt Regency is using individual amenities still, as opposed to bulk ones. Other than that, I was hoping that being on a slightly lower floor would allow for better water pressure for the shower.

It was slightly better, but water pressure in this property is never a good thing. In addition, I was investing in hand lotion, as the airconditioning does a good job of drying out skin.

It did not.

What was a bit more disturbing was I was doing a room walk-through for a friend… and reached for the Keurig cups. And found that housekeeping had not removed a used one from the drinks basket.

Oh, dear. Oh dearie me. Sigh. Not a good impression, to put it mildly.

At least during the rest of the stay, the hotel made up the room each day (with the make-up service requested daily – with two of us sharing a room, it was the logical thing to do, rather than have them serviced every three days.

Iron and ironing board.

BAe 146 Art. 

I did do some dining in the hotel – namely, the “traditional” deep-fried calamari hotel burger and chips at the Red Bar.

The burger was tasty and tasted ok. The price didn’t, but that’s the joy of staying in hotels. You’ve got a choice of playing Uber Eats/DoorDash or just saying “to hang with it” and eat at the bar instead.

Although I do wish the hotel had a more extensive food menu – it has shrunk hard into “core items” compared to the before times, where there was a much larger selection.

I also suspect things like Uber Eats and Doordash haven’t helped at all over the past few years either, with people who want to dine in, not having to worry about the expense of hotel food.

I also had more than a few cups of coffee at the Perks Coffee shop.

This is still operating to reduced operating hours – (5 am to 1 am), so those in need of a 2 am pick-me-up will have to resort to apps to fill their coffee needs.

Or try and get more Keurig coffee capsules out of the hotel. Whilst I can put up with the brewed coffee, sometimes an Americano with all the coffee in it isn’t a nicety – it’s a requirement in life.

Day four was the check-out day – and I took my sweet time checking out as my mind wasn’t exactly with me, to put it mildly.

Checking out was a simple affair – the bill was adjusted correctly (with the $200 hold charge removed), with just the bill attached,

With that I was free to go – so I had my stuff put away for a while, whilst I tried to do a few errands, gift runs and so forth downtown.

I returned to the hotel later that day to collect my items. There was a short wait as no bell staff were on the concierge desk, with front desk staff having to deputise.

From this point, it was a matter of heading downstairs and towards the shuttle back to the airport.

Overall: Some little annoyances (mainly the jot of the additional check-in fee for arriving early – a charge that I’ve never encountered at this property before) and that used K-cup that was put back in the coffee basket.

Things seem to be settling at this property at least in terms of service levels (compared to last time), although for a full-service hotel – I would expect daily servicing as standard, as opposed to every three days as offered.

I guess I’ll file this as “improving”. Although it has a long way to go from the service levels of a few years ago.

Next: Airplane Art Special from the Hyatt Regency O’Hare.

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