Made a reservation for Mom's weekend and despite calling (and calling and leaving messages with my contact info asking them to call me back) and logging in for hours upon hours (by the way no person ever picked up the call, returned a call or even attempted to try to be a little professional during or after the cluster they call reservation taking), I was able to book a room. Great!
Wait...so week and weeks later (after other places that I could have booked had all booked up) they send out a generic email saying that they had underestimated the demand (really, so this was the first Mom's weekend they had to process?) and that they were simply unable to answer the phone, return calls or maintain their reservation system which had crashed (again, it isn't like this was the inaugural Mom's weekend). SO, guess what, they said they would go through the reservations and "have the humble task of informing guests that their reservations may not be valid"...a week or more later I receive a generic email canceling my reservation. No explanation, no humble, no apology, just a mindless cancelation...nice; super professional.
Then a week or more go by and I get another blast email (so much for humble or professional) saying my reservation was voided and that I was on a wait list (no idea where I was on the wait list) and when I called I got voicemail again….sigh
I understand this is a state owned (Illinois owned which is worse) enterprise and I understand that in Illinois customer service, professionalism, courtesy and competence are in short supply but this whole experience is surreal.
All I can envision is that this is what it must be like trying to get a hotel reservation in Venezuela...but worse.
I have written and reviewed a ton of reviews and my experience with the Union Hotel is by far the worse (and to put it in perspective I had one hotel steal $2000 from me).
Buyer beware…even if you have a confirmation you probably don’t have a room. If you leave a voicemail (or 3) don’t expect a call back and if they make a mistake expect a form email.
I wouldn't stay here if the rooms were free.