Whether you’re looking for wellness or luxury, these spa hotels have some of the finest spas in downtown Chicago.
Photo: The lobby at The Langham Chicago / Courtesy Bridgette M. Redman for TravelMag
The hoteliers of downtown Chicago know you needn’t retreat to the mountains or the desert to experience the best that resort spas have to offer. These luxury and boutique hotels provide an urban oasis in which their guests can escape the hustle and stress of city life to melt into a retreat where the needs of their bodies and spirits are cared for under the hands of skilled therapists and estheticians. Each of these properties offer a complete luxury experience for their guests from fine dining to fitness facilities to well-appointed guestrooms, many of which are filled with artwork and high quality design. Some even extend the spa experience into their guestrooms by delivering spa services or creating rooms centered on a wellness experience.
The Langham Chicago
Once you’ve stayed at a Langham hotel, their brand of hospitality stays with you. A luxury hotel that seeks out ways to make the guest experience memorable, The Langham Chicago is a beautiful, sleek property with a warm and friendly staff committed to making every stay comfortable and unique. From the contemporary and artistic design to the high quality furnishing in every suite and guestroom, everything invites guests to feel pampered and cared for. The guestrooms are equipped with modern technology and the housekeeping staff provides old-fashioned turndown service. Chuan Spa beckons guests through its moon door and into a spa where everything is curated with an Eastern philosophy from its design to its services. The service menu offers a wide variety of choices and guests are invited to stay before or after their service to enjoy a relaxation room with a waterfall, the pool, Himalyan salt saunas, an herbal sauna and a eucalyptus steam room. When it comes to dining, the Travelle offers fine seasonal American cuisine from a very creative chef. You’ll also never go hungry if you add the Club level to your stay. Food is served buffet style throughout the day and an open bar keeps the spirits flowing for those who hang out in their comfortable lounge area with an outstanding view of the city.
The Four Seasons Chicago
Photo: Four Seasons Chicago lobby / Courtesy Bridgette M. Redman for TravelMag.com
The Four Seasons has earned a reputation for luxurious accommodations and in 2023 their Chicago hotel renovated the spa, fitness and pool area. It’s a hotel where the design is carefully curated to provide a unique welcome from the whimsical statue at the entrance to the white rose trees lining the lobby. he guestrooms, in addition to having a stunning skyscraper view of the city, are filled with modern and expressionistic artwork and décor in a 1940s French style. They take up the top 19 floors of the 66-story building with their 345 guestrooms, including 185 suites. Their grand ballroom, designed by Pierre Yves Rochon, is 7,708 square feet. Guests can swim in their Roman-style 44-foot pool where the glass ceiling provides an unparalleled view. It’s even available to rent out privately at night along with spa services at their Four Seasons Spa. The spa staff is quick to provide for guest comfort whether it is offering the infused water or homemade treats or giving tours of the locker rooms where guests can partake of steam rooms and saunas. The services creatively meet the needs of body and soul with massages, facials and body treatments. Their signature massage takes you on an unforgettable journey through all four seasons. The Adorn Bar & Restaurant serves up the creations of Chef Jonathan Sawyer.
Park Hyatt Chicago
Photo: Bryte Balance bed at the Park Hyatt Chicago / Courtesy Bridgette M. Redman for TravelMag
The Park Hyatt wants its guests to achieve their wellness goals and in pursuit of that, they recently unveiled two new suites–the Mindfulness Suite and the Wellbeing Suite. Both feature Bryte Balance beds, AI-powered masterpieces that offer dual-custom tailoring, a multi-sensory relaxation experience, cushions with sensors that readjust for the sleeper’s comfort throughout the night, and a silent wake assist. The suites also provide such amenities as an in-room digital fitness center, an outdoor tranquility terrace, heated bidets, heated bathroom floors, motion-sensor night lights and high-tech lighting controls. Excellent meals are available at the NoMi restaurant which offers views of the city and Lake Michigan–the sushi bar is outstanding as is their Wagyu beef. The NoMi spa creates an oasis designed with contemporary elegance in mind. Their signature aromas of lavender and marigold infuse many of their treatments and the property’s signature bergamot products are available in the locker-room. Before or after a treatment, guests can enjoy the steam room, hot tub and pool, or just hang out on the loungers with the floor-to-ceiling windows providing a view of the city. Guests who are lucky will get a chance to meet the famed Parker, the hotel’s pug, a rescue dog who wanders the lobby and sleeps in her luxurious beds to either side of the front desk.
The Godfrey Hotel
Photo: The Godfrey Hotel / Courtesy Bridgette M. Redman for TravelMag
Sleek and elegant, the Godfrey Hotel Chicago is designed to put its guests at ease. It’s a boutique hotel in the heart of downtown that makes peace and welcome its top priorities. The Godfrey is a luxury lifestyle hotel that focuses on the details from their Cubist-influenced façade to their chic accommodations highlighted by diagonal and angled features. Their 221 guestrooms feature high-tech work stations with task chairs, wet bars, luxury linens, plush bathrobes and iHome docking stations. The I|O Rooftop Lounge hosts a popular nightlife scene where casual-elegant attire is required. Decorated in black and white the indoor-outdoor lounge covers 15,000 square feet and features a fire pit, water elements, a video wall, a retractable roof and a panoramic view of the city. The Spa Boutique features a full spa menu and two treatment rooms–one for couples and one for individual services. Spa therapists will also deliver facials and massages to guests in their guestrooms. There is no locker-room or relaxation room, so guests will want to arrive shortly before their scheduled service. The Godfrey demonstrates its commitment to sustainability with motion-sensor thermostats in guestrooms, smart fridges, room key recycling and zero-waste menu items in their culinary outlets.
The Ritz Carlton
Photo: Relaxation room at the Ritz Carlton Chicago spa/ Courtesy Bridgette M. Redman for TravelMag
The Ritz Carlton bills itself as the gold standard for luxury and their Chicago hotel is filled with historic heritage and a connection to the city’s energy at its Gold Coast address. The hotel is part of the iconic Water Tower Place, blocks away from Lake Michigan. They design experiences to incorporate art, architecture and Chicago’s industrial innovation, displayed in its sleek room designs and luxury accommodations. Sophisticated and spacious guestrooms offer either a city or lake view and such amenities as minibars, workstations with ergonomic chairs and marble bathrooms. Evening turndown service is standard. K’Alma is the spa at the Ritz Carlton and it offers a range of services from the traditional to indigenous. The menu provides customized offerings for women, men, couples and children and the services treat the body from head to toe. Massages are also available in the hotel’s suites. Their retail collection circles the front desk giving guests the option to extend their experience. The fitness center offers an array of modern equipment, group classes and what they call “motivational views.” Three food and beverage outlets provide culinary options ranging from the gourmet, chef-driven menus of Torali, an Italian steakhouse, to a rooftop bar and lounge to a greenhouse-inspired cafe.
theWit
Photo: Guestroom at theWit Chicago / Courtesy Bridgette M. Redman for TravelMag
A Hilton property, theWit is a hotel filled with personality, expressed in its décor, its rooms and its staff. Located in the Theater District, its lime green awning and bright pink sign immediately communicates cheerfulness and modernity. The lobby and guestrooms are filled with whimsical sculptures and art. While it has a limited horizontal footprint, it stretches up into the Chicago skyline and is topped with a popular rooftop bar that sizzles with neon excitement in the evenings. On the first floor is State and Lake, an upscale pub with culinary delights from the scrumptious spiced watermelon bruschetta all the way through the caramelized banana pudding dessert with vanilla wafers. Perhaps most impressive about theWit is the true care that every team member exhibits toward their guests–with a commitment to service recovery whenever there is even a slight hiccup. The spa makes the most of its compact space, building treatment rooms, a relaxation room and a nail-care area around its lobby. The treatment rooms are serene with lighting fixtures that help transport their guests to a place of calm. In-room showers allow them to provide body treatments and scrubs in addition to massages and facials. The property is popular with groups and they offer modern amenities for meetings and weddings.
Palmer House
Photo: Palmer House / Courtesy of Booking.com
For more than 150 years, the Palmer House has been the grand dame of the Chicago hotel scene. A historic property in the Theater District, it is filled with old-fashioned charm and grandeur. It is the longest continuously operating hotel in North America, a property that was originally a wedding gift from Potter Palmer to his bride, Bertha Honoré Palmer. Filled with the work of French artists, including a ceiling fresco by Louis Pierre Rigal, Bertha Palmer collected impressionist art. She was also the inspiration for the creation of the brownie, a dish still served in the Palmer House lobby, made with the original 1893 recipe. The hotel recently underwent a $170 million renovation that preserved the historic charm but filled the property with modern amenities and conveniences. The 9,000-square foot spa takes up the fifth floor where it offers treatment rooms for couples and individuals, a Vichy shower, a hydrotherapy tub, salon and retail boutique. Treatments include massages, facials, body treatments, hydrotherapy, nails and salon services. The hotel also boasts a 10,000-square foot fitness center spread over three inter-connecting levels. It includes a heated swimming pool and yoga classes. Hungry guests can visit the Lockwood Restaurant, Lockwood Lobby Bar or Potter’s Chicago Burger Bar.
Waldorf Astoria
Photo: Waldorf Astoria Chicago / Courtesy Waldorf Astoria
The five-star Waldorf Astoria Chicago embodies Parisian grandness on the Gold Coast just off the Magnificent Mile. Their suites offer respite from the severity of Windy City weather with fireplaces and deep-soaking tubs. Other amenities include executive desks, separate shower and powder rooms, natural light from floor to ceiling windows, blackout curtains, nightlights, high-tech connectivity and velvet sleeper sofas. Their three dining outlets offer an array of experiences. The Brass Tack features locally sourced ingredients on their Chicago-styled menu. Bernard’s has a Scottish Highlands equestrian vibe. The Peacock Lounge, which opens into the Peacock Garden, features tea, coffee and baked goods in an elegant setting that includes velvet upholstery and feathered wall panels. The Forbes-rated Waldorf-Astoria Spa provides services for all ages–both at the spa and delivered to guestrooms. They’ll even deliver manicures and pedicures for kids in guestrooms. Massage services include CBD treatments, Himalayan salt stone massages and Ashiatsu options among the more traditional treatments while their Esthetics menu includes facials, body treatments, waxing, masks and eyebrow treatments. The dressing rooms include a eucalyptus steam room, whirlpool, dry sauna and relaxation room.