| rev:text
| - All sizzle, little steak.
Having just received my bill for an event I ran at The 9 (with a less than stellar experience), I thought I'd check out the reviews. It's funny to see how they lay down - either "OMG - Best hotel ever", or "Worst night of my life". I think that's the way it is with The 9 and your experience comes down to what your expectations are.
Full disclosure - I didn't stay at the hotel, but I did run an upscale event. Couple months of planning, close to 100 guests, bar and food catering and interactions with multiple hotel representatives during the planning process.
Bottom line - if you're in it for the look and the hype, The 9 is a good choice. It's a gorgeous hotel, with multiple high priced bars and restaurants, including the very cool Vault nightclub in the basement.
Peel back the cover and things aren't so great. Cold catered food (not good when it's a slider bar) delivered 1/2 hour early, total miscommunication (maybe no communication) between staff you interact with. I'm guessing their back office is either underfunded or not important to them. I showed up at my space (the private theater, lobby area and three conference rooms), and there were two people hanging art on the wall. While my guests were showing up! They said no one at the hotel told them there was an event going on and weren't going to move. The two hotel employees that said they would be around all night and available to help resolve issues were nowhere to be found.
Add in no signage keeping random guests from wandering into our event and it all left a sour taste in my mouth. Luckily the hotel looks great and since my guests weren't eating or staying there they gave high marks overall. Oh - except for the TWENTY dollar valet charges. The hotel is very over-priced. I get they are trying to set themselves up as a premium location, but you also have to be sensitive to what is appropriate locally. I travel all over the country and this place is definitely over-priced. If they delivered on their promise, I might feel different. Comparing them to high end places in downtown Chicago, I get better service, better food, higher overall quality for less cost.
Sorry to sound so negative - it really is a gorgeous hotel and I hope it isn't a victim of all these issues. But when you spend $10K for an afternoon meeting, you get to see a different side of the hotel and the side I saw needed a lot of work.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)