Sonesta Reviews

I reserved this Chicago location several months in advance. When I got there, they had me sit around in the lobby for two hours waiting for a room to be ready. Then they hit me with the news that my booking got cancelled because my card didn't go through. I told them I'd pay with cash instead, but they refused to take it. They claimed they'd tried reaching me by phone, but I was in the air at the time. Bottom line, they left me completely stranded without offering any solution or alternative. If you're traveling to a new city, definitely think twice about booking here.

I spent almost a year at this location, so I can offer you a pretty comprehensive take. The staff working the front desk were genuinely great and helped me out with whatever I needed day to day. Jay especially stands out as one of the kindest, most helpful people I've dealt with at any hotel, and honestly the whole front desk team was fantastic. That said, things got rocky with management toward the end of my stay. I'd been told not to smoke in my room and to stay clear of the front entrance after smoking, which I did. I went outside and away from the building when I needed a cigarette. Despite following those rules, management suddenly told me I had to go after they caught a whiff of smoke coming from somewhere near me. They didn't even let me explain myself, and that really rubbed me the wrong way. Beyond that incident, there were persistent problems throughout my time there. The hallways and stairwells constantly smelled like smoke and pet odors. Fire alarms would go off fairly often because other guests weren't following the no smoking in rooms policy. The common areas weren't as clean as they should be. All these issues made it seem like the rules were being applied differently depending on who you were, which frustrated me.

We booked the Royal Sonesta in New Orleans for the Christmas holiday. The check in process was warm and friendly, which honestly turned out to be the highlight of our entire week there. Our room had a smell to it and we noticed mold growing on one of the walls. The pool started out blue on the first day but turned murky green by day two because something broke with the system. For four days straight there was no complimentary coffee available in the rooms, but they were happy to sell you a cup for five bucks at the front desk. We complained multiple times and nothing got fixed. When we left, we discovered they never applied the daily food and beverage credit we were supposed to get. Even after someone from the hotel reached out to ask why we weren't satisfied, they never made it right. Given what we paid, the experience was really disappointing.

The room itself was nice and the location was convenient, but I'm really frustrated with all the surprise charges. We booked a four night stay, but we had to cancel one night due to flight delays. They still billed us for that night anyway. I booked through a third party deal site so I didn't even know which hotel I'd be getting until after payment went through, and they definitely didn't mention the five dollar daily parking charge. What really gets me is they charged us for parking on the day we didn't even use the room. On top of that, they tacked taxes onto the parking fees too. I went back and looked at their website to book somewhere else and noticed they didn't show parking fees at checkout. Parking costs are buried somewhere on their site if you dig hard enough. Based on these shady billing practices, I'd stay somewhere else.