Visit to the Four Seasons Chicago

As part of my job, I occasionally tour various hotel/meeting sites in Chicago to scout an event locale. Today, I went to the Four Seasons Chicago, located across from the John Hancock building, for a tour of their renovated ballroom and lunch.

The staircase up to the ballroom is amazing. It might be my favorite feature.

The baby grand piano overlooks the stair landing. The piano is available for use by any group coming into the Four Seasons--just bring your own piano player.

The artist behind the renovation did a skyscape as the background for the chandelier in the ballroom's lobby.

The renovated space includes a built-in registration desk for groups needing to do their own check-in of event guests. As someone who has spent a great deal of time doing just that, it was nice to see that the Four Seasons had put some thought into this.

This lobby area, right outside of the ballroom, is perfect for a cocktail reception. The bar set-up is behind the mirrors, and there is another at the opposite end of the room.

The renovated ballroom is beautiful. I toured the space last year, and the main color scheme was pink and taupe. Nice for a wedding in the 80's, but not very useful for other events.

Now the color scheme is a nice tan and muted green, with accents of gold and blue. It is much more neutral and can be a suitable background for a greater variety of events. For those who think background things like wallpaper and carpet don't matter, I would tell you to think again. When you have a beautiful, well-kept meeting space, you don't have to spend much money decorating it. The room will speak for itself. And in this economy, things like this can make a difference when choosing an event site.

The Four Seasons Chicago has a variety of furniture throughout the various lobbies and spaces, including lots of china cabinets that showcase antique dishware. It is both elegant and homey.

I was impressed with the renovated space. Lunch was nice, too. :)