Chicago August 2008



Chicago August 2008




Seminar at Holiday Inn Express O'Hare.

It is kind of nice to have a seminar so close to to home. My flight from Minneapolis left at 10:00 am so I did not have to be at the airport at 5:30 am like I would have to if it was an east coast seminar.

I was at the hotel before noon, checked in and ate lunch before 1:00 pm and finished setting up before 4:30 pm. I could have set up sooner but I had to create some new water and drain lines.

Check in was not painless, the hotel showed that my reservation was canceled. Not a problem though they immediately rebooked me.

They had moved my equipment into the meeting room before I arrived, which is always nice. The banquet person had introduced herself while I was rechecking in, which is nice.

I never saw the banquet person again that day. I needed a screen, banquet table, and AV cart. I went to the banquet office and left a message with the secretary. She said that the room would be set up by 8:00 am the next morning, it was not. I had to scramble to get everything and finish setting up and I was delayed starting class.

The banquet room was large but it smelled musty. They left the wood parquet dance floor down over the carpeting. This is not a problem but it is just odd. The banquet people were nice and good at their job.

Our travel agent did not tell me that she did not order breakfast for the class, I am use to having pastries and other assorted breakfast food in the conference room. The hotel serves a free breakfast so our travel agent figured we did not need donuts but did not tell me.

The hotel charges for parking, $14 per day, our students that drove in had to pay $14 to attend class.

The other issue that I have with the hotel is there is almost nothing nearby. The hotel does not have a restaurant, there is a sports bar just behind the restaurant, I never made it there but some of the students said it was good. Other than Shoeless Joe's the sports bar and McDonalds, there is nothing within walking distance. If you drive about five or six blocks down Mannheim there is a strip mall with Target, Panda Express, Chipotle and Chilli's.

I drove to Schamburg one night and went to Game Works. Game Works is much better than the Dave and Buster's I had gone to in Maple Grove Minnesota. I had dinner there, ribs and they were good.

The rooms at the hotel were nice. They were well kept up, they had a fancy alarm clock that you can plug your MP3 player into, the beds are comfortable and my room looked like it had been remodeled recently.

Good

  • Close to the airport
  • Rooms are nice
  • Friendly banquet staff

Bad
  • $14 a day for parking
  • Musty banquet room
  • Nothing to do in the immediate area
  • No restaurant on the premises






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