After leaving Marion where we visited Little Grand Canyon, Garden Of The Gods and the Franklin County Historic Jail Museum, we headed back up to northern Illinois.
We’d originally planned to stay in Lisle at a hotel opposite The Morton Arboretum. However, Shae found out that Doug The Pug was going to be at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg that weekend. She’s been a huge Doug fan for the last couple of years, so there was no way she was going to pass up on this opportunity to see him in person. You can read more about us meeting Doug The Pug here.
We therefore cancelled our Lisle hotel reservation and booked a five night stay at the Hyatt House Chicago/Schaumburg instead. This hotel was only a few minutes away from Woodfield Mall and had the added benefit of including a kitchen in our room.
Here’s a complete review of our stay at the Hyatt House Chicago/Schaumburg in Illinois.
Check-In
We arrived just before 5pm and there was no line at the front desk. I’d already checked in online, so all we needed to do was show some ID and pick up our keys. We’re traveling full-time with our dog Truffles, so I think they also had us complete a pet form.
Room
We’d been given room 329 which was at the end of the hall on the third floor. It was close to a stairwell though which I appreciated as that made it easier to take Truffles outside when needed.
It was even more appreciated from the second day of our stay as one of the two elevators broke down (while I was in it!) and it still wasn’t fixed by the time we left. That meant one elevator had to serve all six floors, so there was often a long wait.
As for our room itself, the kitchen was on the left when entering, the living room straight ahead and the bedroom area off to the left. The bathroom was off to the left of the bedroom, behind the kitchen.
Living Room
The living room had a sofa bed with a fairly large ottoman. To the side of that was a desk and office chair.
Opposite the sofa was the TV on top of a dresser. The TV had an OK selection of cable channels and had a fairly good TV guide option on the remote. That made it easier to see what was on each channel without having to flip through one by one.
Kitchen
Our room had a good-sized kitchen which included a fridge-freezer, microwave, stove top and dishwasher.
In the cupboards were pots and pans, along with four sets of silverware and place settings.
Bedroom
Our bedroom had a queen bed with tables and lamps on both sides.
The left bedside table had a charging port. Although there wasn’t one on the right hand side, there was an outlet behind the table that was available.
To the left of the bed was a closet containing a luggage rack, iron, ironing board and bedding for the sofa bed.
Bathroom
The bathroom was off to the left of the bedroom and was more spacious than most other hotel bathrooms we’ve encountered so far on our 50 state road trip.
There were small bottles of shampoo and conditioner, along with a couple of soap bars.
Hanging from the wall of the bathroom was a hairdryer.
The bathroom also had a bathtub with shower; the shower had good water pressure along with a sort-of rainfall shower head.
Overall, we were very happy with our room. It felt surprisingly spacious considering it was just a studio suite and included a good kitchen.
Breakfast
Breakfast is included when staying at the Hyatt House Chicago/Schaumburg. They have a good selection of food but be prepared – it gets very busy. Thankfully there’s a lot of seating so finding a seat was never an issue for me, but might be more problematic if you need four or more seats as those tables were always taken. (The photo below was taken in the afternoon.)
Breakfast runs until 9am during the week and 10am at the weekend. They don’t enforce it as strictly as some hotels do, as people were still often able to get food 10-15 minutes after breakfast was supposed to have ended.
The hotel had an omelet bar, although I didn’t ever make use of it. It seemed like quite a few other guests had omelets though, so there might be a little bit of a wait if you want one.
Every morning there were breakfast potatoes with onions and peppers that were very tasty.
Not so tasty were the scrambled eggs. Even with salt and pepper added, they were pretty ropey.
The other types of hot options rotated each day. The day I took the photo below there were pancakes and Canadian bacon. Hot options on other mornings included French toast sticks, bacon and sausages.
They had a good selection of breads, bagels, muffins and donuts at breakfast, along with cream cheese, jams and other spreads.
The hotel also had hot oatmeal with several toppings, along with nine different types of cereal.
There was also plenty of fresh fruit, along with cottage cheese and plain yogurt.
On the beverage front, there was orange juice, water and several types of milk, including almond milk.
There was also a coffee and tea station. Unlike some hotels that offer free tea and coffee all day, the Hyatt House Chicago/Schaumburg only offers it during breakfast.
Amenities
As the Hyatt House brand is aimed more at people who are likely to stay there for an extended period of time, the hotel has a lot of amenities to cater for that.
On the health and wellness front, there’s a fitness room with a few pieces of equipment.
The hotel also has an indoor pool and whirlpool. In that same area is a sauna which I don’t think we’ve had at any of the hotels we’ve stayed at so far on the road trip.
At the back of the hotel is a basketball court which was a nice feature and seemed popular with some kids while we were there.
If you need to do any laundry during your stay, there are three washers and four dryers. Each of these cost $1.50 per load which is fairly reasonable.
At the end of the breakfast area is the H Bar. This serves alcoholic drinks in the evenings along with food if you don’t want to go out to a restaurant or cook in your own kitchen.
Our bedroom had a list of a few items you can order from the H Bar, but it looks like they have a more extensive menu.
The hotel also has a pantry area selling snacks, beverages and bottles of wine.
At the back of the hotel is a grill, along with plenty of outdoor seating.
If you need to use a computer during your stay, the hotel has a business center on the second floor consisting of two computers and a printer.
Our room also had a menu of items we could borrow from their Bits, Bites & Borrows Market during our stay. We didn’t need any of these, but it’s great that they offer them.
Pet-Friendliness
As mentioned earlier, the Hyatt House Chicago/Schaumburg is a pet-friendly property. Their pet fee is $75 when staying 1-6 nights and $175 for 7+ nights.
We stayed five nights, so should’ve been charged $75. It was therefore a nice surprise to see that we didn’t get charged the fee after checking out. They certainly knew we had Truffles with us – she said hi to the front desk agent when checking in and I think we had to fill out a form.
If they don’t charge a pet fee though, I’m certainly not going to force them! Truffles is hypoallergenic and doesn’t shed, so it’s not like they had to do any additional cleaning in our room as a result.
The hotel has grassy areas all around the hotel for your dog to do its business. It’s also in a safe area with plenty of sidewalks to go for a walk.
Service
Service at the hotel was very good. All the staff members we came into contact with were friendly and welcoming.
Wi-Fi
The Hyatt House Chicago-Schaumburg offers free internet to all guests. The internet connection was unmemorable which means that it must’ve been fast enough with no connection issues.
Location
The hotel is in a safe area with lots of other hotels and restaurants nearby. It’s close to several large office building, so I imagine quite a few business people stay at the hotel.
Depending on traffic, it takes about 45 minutes to get into downtown Chicago.
Cost
We booked our stay using points because the hotel is a category 1 property in the World of Hyatt program. That means it only cost 5,000 points per night.
Even better is that it coincided with a World of Hyatt promotion for people that have their credit card (which I do). The promotion offered 10% of redeemed points back, so I’ll be getting 2,500 points rebated. That means our net cost was 4,500 points per night.
The cash rate when booking our stay was $92.12 including tax. That means we got 2.05cpp (cents per point) of value which is fairly good for World of Hyatt points.
Final Thoughts
We enjoyed our stay at the Hyatt House Chicago/Schaumburg in Illinois. Our room was spacious and included a decent kitchen, there was a good variety of food at breakfast and there were all kinds of amenities (although we didn’t take advantage of most of them).
There wasn’t anything significantly negative during our stay. About the worst thing was that I got stuck in their elevator for a few minutes and it still wasn’t fixed by the time we checked out a few days later. Other than that – and how hectic breakfast could be – it was a great stay.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives this Hyatt House four paws out of four – pawfect! She enjoyed how many grassy areas there were, along with the guest sitting at the H Bar who kept giving her treats throughout our stay!
She also appreciated that we didn’t get charged a pet fee, leaving us with more money to buy her treats 😉
Our Rating
Room = 4.7 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.8 / 5
Food = 4.7Â /5
Location = 4.4 / 5
Service = 4.7 / 5
Overall Value = 4.7 / 5
Total = 4.67 / 5
Address
Hyatt House, 1251 American Ln, Schaumburg, IL 60173
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