We didn't actually stay, but my husband and I stopped in while in St. Charles just to look around. One of the employees, Art, was so sweet and showed us around to a few of the rooms for special events. The hotel is just beautiful and I will definitely be considering the next time we have a party. read more

I attended a wedding at Hotel Baker Saturday 4/25/15. It is a pretty venue and the staff I dealt with were friendly. Two major caveats: 1-No valet parking; no doorman. Attending the wedding as a 'single' during rainy weather made the 1 block walk from a parking garage VERY inconvenient and unsafe when leaving the venue. 2-The dinner service for the wedding was less than stellar. The kitchen ran out of the entrée we ordered - in advance for the wedding. The only alternatives offered were pork, which does not suit everyone, or a vegetarian plate that did not include any protein: it was "asparagus with noodles" as our server informed us. The rooms looked nice however I would not stay here if I wanted a quiet weekend. The rooms are close to the reception rooms and very noisy. read more

I love this place! It's so Beautiful . I love historical places so this is right up my alley. I visited this place considering an option for my wedding venue. I dined with my honey in the Rox restaurant and everything was really delicious, the wine was so good. The area is so historical and cute as well. The hotel doesn't have too many rooms about 58. I will be back to take a look at the rooms read more

Hotel is pretty from the outside and obviously has a lot of history, but the rooms are old and outdated. Overpriced for what you are receiving. I would not choose to stay here again. read more

Cool location, but some strange issues. There is no mirror in the room. Only in the bathroom. So there's no way to get ready to go out if someone else is in the shower. There is a "no outside food and drinks in your room" policy which I've never seen at any hotel I've ever stayed at. There is no fridge in the room, but this is still a strange policy. TV is pretty tiny. Bring some binoculars if you want to watch it from the bed. The worst part is the air conditioning. It's either off or on. And when it's on, it's loud as heck. As in "bring your earplugs" level of loudness and in my room the air blows directly on your face when you're in bed. It made it hard to get a restful night's sleep. read more

I was born and grew up in St. Charles, had several parties, including parents silver anniversary, my wedding reception, etc. I visited there yesterday afternoon to share with my grandchildren the memories. Asked the door man if we could go in, he was great and requested we stay in the lobby. Once inside, the rude woman behind the desk yelled at us to get out. Not good memories!! Don't go to this place until that rude women learns customer relations. I've never been so embarrassed to be from St. Charles. read more

Older hotel ... no recent updates. Clean bed but absolutely nothing exciting about this hotel. Need more choices in town. Very old and outdated. It used to be a retirement home. read more

We had the most beautiful rehearsal dinner in the Waterfront Room! Thank you to Baker Hotel Catering Manager, Claire Belon, for being such a huge help! I had to plan and coordinate from out of town and Claire was fabulous to work with. The food was soooo good, the room looked beautiful, the patio was gorgeous, service was great! Thank you, Hotel Baker, for making our night so special. read more

Be more attentive to your local peeps. These are the people that would book wedding, birthday, reunion, or anniversary parties with you if they had good memories. Herrington was much more accommodating. read more

Where to begin. I lived in the downtown area of St. Charles, Ill roughly 7 years ago and the hotel baker was a crown jewel of the city. Remember doing drinks at Rox and Christmas dinners at the Waterfront - the staff was so pleasant and accommodating. Had to visit St. Charles for a work function and decided to stay there since I hadn't been to the area in years and was really excited. Oh boy was that a mistake. Granted the hotel has always been old - think it was built in 1928 or something but my God spend some money on updating the rooms or something. Old - dark - terrible bathrooms - no place to put your luggage the list is endless. Oh and the most ridiculous thing is that they make you sign a waiver that you won't bring in alcohol or you won't make noise? I have never ever had to do that in my 20+ years of travel not sure what kind of clientele frequent this place but for the prices they charge can't imagine their patrons would be having full fledged ragers in their rooms. Also they have a sign in the lobby that says to the guests that rudeness to the employees will not be tolerated. WTF is that. When checking in the staff was rude and acted like they were too good to provide any service now the sign makes sense. To cap off the end of the trip phoned downstairs from my room and asked if I could get a late checkout - the employee who answered said we don't do late checkout but I might be able to give you an extra 10 minutes. Just baffling how crappy they treat their guests and little amenities are available at this place. If I ever have to come back I am staying somewhere else like the Harrington in Geneva or a Marriott property if need be. What a sad state of affairs for the Hotel Baker. read more

My boyfriend and I wanted a quick little getaway for the weekend and we decided to give this place a try based on some decent reviews. We went with the Baker Suite because we wanted the balcony and hot tub to enjoy. Well we were both completely disappointed. The room definitely needs updating, but what really disappointed us was the balcony and hot tub. The balcony looked like it had not been cleaned ever. There were dead bugs everywhere. The screen for the enclosed balcony was ripped so there was nothing but bugs and spiders everywhere. Needless to say, we did not use the balcony or hot tub at all because we were so disgusted. There were also spiderwebs in the shower and on the windows. We did inform the front desk of this but all they did was jot it down. We definitely overpaid for the room and will not be staying here again. read more

This was not only the worst hotel experience of my life, it was one of the worst experiences of my life. Period. Their staff are the most rude and cruel group of people I have ever met. Prison guards are nicer to their inmates than the staff is to their guests. I was moved to three rooms during my stay; a new room every night. They were unapologetic about this, and refused to help me move my stuff. On the last day, I refused to move rooms, so they locked me out of my room. I had to call the police to get my stuff back. If I could give them zero starts, I would. read more

Checked into the Hotel Baker prior to our wedding for our wedding night (registered under my wife). Could not inspect room prior to wedding. The staff was rude, inattentive, and noticeably thin. Arrived at 12:00AM on Saturday June 19, 2010. Room found to be in an adequate condition. We paid extra for a suite with a Jacuzzi tub. The roof above the tub leaked preventing use of the amenity. Moreover, the tub had hard water stains and reddish deposits suggestive of a fungal infection. It could not be used. Our room did not have compatible data ports as advertised. Moreover, the concierge services (i.e. baggage services)were not present. Complimentary local transportation was not provided as advertised when requested for a groomsman to get to the church, forcing us to hire a taxi. We also needed them to pick us up from our reception, which they declined. These were services advertised on their website. We needed use of the business services advertised on the website. However, they have no business center to provide these services. The hotel also advertises twice daily housekeeping services. However, they did not have the bed prepared for the evening. In the late morning/lunch time, there were no servers in the restaurants forcing wait times of over 30 minutes for beverages. The bartender automatically served folks in our party "double shots" to charge us double when they were not requested. We also used the hotel's trolley service (separate charge) for our wedding on 6/18/2010. The trolley roof leaked in the rain soaking members of our wedding party and damaging dry clean only dresses. It also did not have air conditioning. We also requested a one-hour late check-out and were denied. Overall, we did not find services provided as advertised and the amenities of the room included in the higher priced room were not able to be used. We would recommend the Herrington Inn and Spa in neighboring Geneva. read more

We stayed at the Hotel Baker on New Year's Eve. Prior to our stay we called three times to get more information. Twice we spoke with individuals who couldn't answer questions like "do you have any rooms available" and "what is included in the package that you are promoting on line." Once they had to call us back, and another time he simply said he didn't know. Then, asked if I needed anything else. Odd.The third time we called, we spoke with Jacqueline who seemed far more knowledgeable. But, to be fair, the bar was pretty low. When we arrived, (there were two couples) our husbands went to grab a six-pack of micro brews so that they could relax while we got ready. The two of us opened a bottle of champagne to enjoy while we prepped. When the two men returned, they told us that they had been greeted by a doorman (we could have used him on our way in with all of our luggage) and some other staff. Everyone was pleasant to them as they walked through the lobby with the six-pack (no bag). But then we got a knock on our room door. The manager came to confiscate the beer they had brought up. We found this extremely odd. The staff throughout the lobby could have easily informed them that they couldn't take any beer into the room, but they didn't. Instead, they reported what they saw to the manager--making an issue. To add insult to injury, the manager brought up the paperwork that we'd signed when we checked in. To illustrate to our husbands that they were breaking the rules. I was the person that signed it, and frankly I did not read every line - I should probably be put in jail. It was really, really uncomfortable and the experience took us back at least 15 years. We are not typically rule-breakers. We weren't at all disruptive. We simply were unaware of the rule. There was no need to make such a big deal. About the hotel: The location does not have ideal parking, I saw that in another post - it's accurate. The service is hit or miss. We had a doorman every 3rd time we went outside and I mentioned the wealth of knowledge you run into at the front desk. The rooms are quaint, but there are far too many great hotels out there to go to one that has such poor management and service. Seriously, keep looking. read more

staff is unfriendly an uncooperative to us,we stopped in person to book a room at a future date we were told it is closed for private ceremony escorting us to the door,treating us like dirt,this staff is the most arrogant,rude staff we have ever seen. we travel the midwesr every other weekend,to concerts,ballgames,family events we will not step a foot in the BAKER again,what for? there are nicer places to stay,that treat people with RESPECT!!!!!!!!!!!!! read more

Parking stinks for check in, front desk (Trisha ) service is bad, hotel and location is beautiful. But it would stay at The Herrigton in Geneva for a historic river experience. Better hotel, nicer rooms for same price bracket and the staff was way more accommodating. Only plus was room service food was good. read more

My best friend got married at this venue last weekend. As part of the package they offer a what she thought would be free night stay for the bride and groom (which is an average room, not a suite or anything). We tried to upgrade the room since there were 5 bridesmaids, the bride, and mothers getting ready in an average hotel room. The front desk agent rudely said we would have to pay full price to do so, which was $399. Getting ready with 5 bridesmaids and a bride was a serious problem in this room. Also, we wanted to have champagne for the bride while getting ready, their bar did not open until 4pm and could not do anything. The response from the front desk agent was "I will check to protocol on alcohol" - I asked her to follow up and never received a response back. We ended up walking across the street and bought two bottles of champagne for the room. Also- They would not do early check in for anyone of the groups coming, which was the entire family and wedding party. This created a huge issue because now all were forced into the room of the bride to do final touches and get dress OR we had to change in the public bathroom to be ready for pictures..... The venue was beautiful but the accommodations for the wedding party were poor. There is no room to get the bridal party together before to have food and drinks. (We had to also get snacks for the room because nothing is served until after 4pm). The bride and groom were charged a $250 cleaning fee for the following: - Snacks in the room (some pretzels got on the floor) - Bottles of champagne (which we had to get ourselves and had no place to discard.) - BOBBY PINS everywhere- the bride took out her hair before going to bed) All of these were for a $250 charge and not to mention how much money was spent by the bride and groom to even think this is acceptable. The entire hotel was rented out by the bridal party and family. (Total count at the wedding 110) This is a small venue and have a hard time keeping up with a large party for hotel room accommodations. I would suggest staying elsewhere and arriving to the venue to have the ceremony....the preparations piece was very disappointing. A bride should not get a call or charge following the wedding for a room cleaning of wedding preparations. From my experience as a Banquet server the Bride and bridal party are always taken care of on the day of the wedding. It is up to the venue to make sure this day truly is special. Unfortunately this was not the case at all... If you are looking for a a venue that will go above and beyond for you and your guests I would recommend looking elsewhere. read more

I wound up at the Hotel Baker because of a free overnight stay. Everyone was as nice as they could be, but the rooms left a lot to be desired. What - no movies? I was hoping to chill and watch a movie after dinner since the weather was so crappy. The beds were comfortable enough and the room was clean, but there was no thought in the setup and convenience. We ordered breakfast in and there is really no place to eat and hardly a place to set the food down. I won't be back even for another freebie. read more

Completely disappointed with the service we received from the front desk girl! Myself and two girlfriends were staying for our 20 year HS reunion. Our room was $200. That is NOT worth it! A room for a 4 star hotel in downtown Chicago costs this much. Sorry Baker you are not at that status. Not to mention we were treated like we were 18 NOT 38. Told we could not bring any outside food or alcohol into our room. I travel often, I have never been told this! Ridiculous! Also no full length mirror in the room. read more

I am having my wedding here in October and I have had nothing but wonderful service!! Everyone is so friendly and great to work with! The hotel is so beautiful! It has an antique flare and is very clean and historic! It has an intimate feel and is very unique. I know they did renovations a few years back as well. It is right along the Fox River and they have a Rose Garden and a Boat House as well. It is such a wonderful hotel! I hear nothing but great reviews from other people as well. I hear their food is wonderful!!!! I couldnt have asked for a more perfect place to have my wedding! read more

This place is terrible, horrible staff screwed up everything and the entire hotel smelled like an old man's balls. I will never go to this place again and I will tell those that I meet to stay away. Hopefully this place shuts down soon... read more

Me and my husband stayed here and loved it! Cozy rooms and antique style. Service was great as well!

Beautiful location, great vintage feel and lots of charm. However, the rooms really need to be updated. If Baker Hotel is going to charge what an updated Chicago boutique hotel is going to charge.....they need to step it up a bit. Old carpet, dingy walls, and young unknowledgable staff. I would have given a 2 but the bed was super comfy so extra point for that! read more

Hotel Baker is a beautiful historic hotel. It's right on the river with nice views if you're on the water side. The rooms are pretty basic and there's a restaurant downstairs that serves a nice complimentary breakfast. read more

Highly disappointed! Went here for a romantic delayed anniversary overnight with my husband. The photos are beautiful 4 poster beds, antiques and relaxation! What could be better? Instead we got dated blah decor and chair with a leg that was bent in, headboard bolted to the wall and a lumpy bed and small pillows. This place could be awesome with some TLC. Beautiful surroundings, staff was indifferent. The room next to us kept their TV on all night! Needless to say I've now been brought up to date on all my episodes of Law and Order. I think we were given the handicap accessible room as there was no tub. This was definitely one of my top 5 worse trips. Please save your money and go 2 miles to Geneva to the Herrington Inn, we have stayed there and it was one of the top 5 BEST trips. I was lucky and found an old expired Groupon for 89$. The clerk was rude and was only going to honor 1/2 price until we showed her the Groupon rules. I guess the customer service could use a facelift too. We missed that deal but reluctantly we got the discount because $200 for what we got should be considered larceny. It may be a beautiful place for a wedding but lacked the potential for a great escape! read more

My husband and I got married and had our wedding reception at the Hotel Baker in September 2012. We could not have made a better choice! I had known that I wanted to have our reception there for a long time, as the venue has family history for me (plus its gorgeous), but when I brought my husband there for the first time and he walked into the Rainbow Room for the first time, he got goose bumps! It blew all of the other places we looked at out of the water with its unique charm and vintage details. I started off working with Christiane, and then when she left with Lena. Both of them were very helpful and Lena eased my worries about the change of Catering Manager by how easy she was to get a hold of and her willingness to help with anything I needed. The day of our wedding everything at the hotel was such a class act from Lena, to the front desk, the banquet staff, banquet manager, etc. We were even surprised with an upgrade to a large suite that had balcony with a hot tub. Lena and her staff were nice enough to set up our fairly simple centerpieces and put our favors at each place setting for us. Honestly, we really didn't have to worry about much the whole day. The boathouse and rose garden were beautiful for our ceremony and cocktail hour, and the Rainbow Room is so special with the lit up dance floor. Our guests raved about the food and the staff was great about keeping the dinner coming out at a good pace and the drinks flowing. We missed cocktail hour due to pictures, so the staff saved a tray with a few of each of our appetizers for us at the start of dinner. At the end of the night, we were pleasantly surprised to find a tray of our wedding cake and milk for us in our suite and the hot tub running. The next morning the staff still made us feel special by congratulating us. I could go on and on, but our Hotel Baker made our wedding so incredibly perfect and we could not imagine it any other way! read more

OK, gotta love the people that reviewed the hotel by having lunch there. Hello, review the restaurant, not the hotel! I've stayed at a few "historical" hotels, and often it's more of a relic than a hotel you'd actually want to sleep in unless you're into noise, no services, a bad bathroom and worse ventilation and heat. They've done a nice job with their remodel, and the rooms are on par with a Hilton or Marriott brand hotel in terms of furniture, having wired internet (free!), and even the bathroom was nice. The service was very friendly and uncorporate. I'd stay here again. It's a step above a Hampton and on par with a good Marriott property. it's not going to knock your socks off, and it is a relatively small hotel (with no sprinklers, if that matters to you). The worst part is that there isn't any parking and they didn't have a valet. The hotel is on a busy road (though you don't hear it from the rooms), so you have to go about a block away to a city lot to park, then drag your bags back. read more

We stayed at the Hotel Baker 1 night this past weekend. We were in town for a wedding and the only room available was the Penthouse Suite which was $495 per night. When you arrive at the Hotel Baker you will immediately discover that they do not have valet parking nor is there parking at the hotel. The hotel is located on a very busy street so when we pulled into the unloading zone my husband couldn't get out of the drivers' side of our rental car because the zone isn't wide enough and the traffic just kept coming. We had to unload our luggage ourselves and then my husband had to drive 2-3 blocks away to park. For a hotel that calls itself "luxury" the parking situation is very un-luxury. The Penthouse suite is on the 6th floor of a hotel in which the elevator only goes to the 5th floor so you take the elevator to 5 and walk up stairs to the room. If you have a lot of luggage you will need to ask the front desk to have someone help you...unlike other "luxury" hotels no one offered to help us. We had to specifically ask. Our room was probably 800 square feet including the bathroom. It was, like a lot of older buildings, an oddly shaped room with alcoves and a low hallway into the bathroom. If you are taller that 6'2" you might hit your head on the ceiling on the way to the bathroom. The bathroom was very nice but not well ventilated so when I dryed and styled my hair I was perspiring like crazy by the time I was done. The bathroom does feature a gigantic jacuzzi tub which was great and they use Gilchrist & Soames bath products which were lovely. The Penthouse Suite features a roof top jacuzzi tub which they make a big deal about on the website. There is a spiral staircase in the room (its kind of awkwardly placed so you have to squeeze past it to get to the right side of the bed) which goes up to a roof deck. The jacuzzi on the roof deck is a 2-person tub and its very nice. There is an enclosed porch which leads out to the patio with the tub that is a nice place to sit with a cocktail. The downside of going out to sit in the hot tub is that the patio and jacuzzi are literally the highest points on the hotel which means that everyone driving on the busy road in front of the hotel can see you in the hot tub...no privacy. Also, I guess because its located on the Fox River, there are flies all over the place. At sundown the bats come out and eat them which we saw firsthand from the hot tub. It was NOT a private and relaxing hot tub/patio environment although it was nice to sit outside in the hot water as long as you could ignore the traffic noise and lack of privacy. The best part of the room was the bed which has fabulous linens, pillows, duvet and mattress. It was one of the nicest beds I have ever slept in and we had a great sleep there. Our room was very quiet and private. One strange thing was that the room doesn't have a normal sized couch, only a tiny loveseat so if you wanted to lie on the couch and watch TV you would find yourself a little cramped. But you can see the TV from the bed which is more comfortable anyway so that is OK. Free Wi-Fi = excellent! We got room service which was very speedy. But I didn't think the food was all that great. We ordered the lobster pot stickers (average), 2 kobe beef mini-burgers (not very good), caesar salad (decent), fried shrimp basket with hushpuppies and fries (shrimp was excellent and the hushpuppies were good, fries were covered in some kind of terrible seasoning and were pretty much inedible), and the charcuterie platter. I didn't find the pates to be anything special, average in every way. Overall I liked the hotel just fine but probably wouldn't stay there again. We were in town for 2 days on on day 2 we moved to the Herrington Inn and Spa in Geneva which cost $195 for a room and was far more luxurious so, given a choice, I would stay there rather than the Baker. read more

I hope this review helps someone... while we love coming here for cocktails and enjoying the live piano music, I cannot recommend Easter brunch. It was AWFUL. Unfortunately, it failed on several levels. We were seated promptly which was nice and the waitress took our drink orders, but that was where the positive aspects end. All of the food was bland/dry/flavorless. The lobster mac and cheese" was so dry it crumbled off the spoon and had no hints of lobster flavoring. The breakfast foods had very little flavor. All of the meats including chicken/lamb/ham were incredibly dry. After our first round of plates from the cold selection of foods the waitress brought our bill. We did not see our waitress again until I went to the hostess stand to ask her to find our waitress so we could get drink refills. Once she finally brought the drinks she asked again about our bill. Frustrating to spend $50+ per person to have poor quality food, poor service, and be rushed. read more

Attended a wedding recently at Hotel Baker and had a great time. This is a beautiful venue, very chic, very old Hollywood feel even. I loved being there. My only complaints...noisy in Rainbow Room, but then there were alot of people.. a litttle cramped, again, alot of people and I wasn't convinced the food was the best I have ever had at a wedding reception. Portions were small, potatoes cold, and not excited about the rosemary infused steak...I know this was pricey per plate too, so shame on Baker Hotel for not making this a memorable meal... Wedding cake was good even though lemon is not my favorite filling.. Overall though great experience read more

I had my wedding at Hotel Baker last year in August and it was GREAT!!! I am still getting compliments about how nice the wedding venue was. The staff was great! Our room was upgraded to the suite with a balcony and hot tub and food was delicious. My guest enjoyed the food and the alcohol. The woman serving drinks did a awesome job! I would definitely recommend this venue!!! read more

The Hotel Baker sits along the La Fox river with beautiful views in the heart of the quaint downtown St. Charles, IL. The beds are very comfy and the staff is only the most accommodating. The rooms are a perfect combination between the vintage appeal and modern luxury. You will walk outside and find many places to eat like the Irish pub McNallys, Trattoria Za Za or RX Cafe & Bakery just across the street. Or hang out at the Rox in the evening for a drink and grab an elegant complimentary breakfast in the morning. You cannot go wrong! read more

We had our wedding there in September and they did a fantastic job. You must ask for Karen Vavra because she is the catering manager who made sure our day was perfect. We had a cocktail hour that our guests raved about - the food was delicious and the presentation was top notch. Plus, there was no shortage of food, they were generous with their offerring which is what you want at a wedding! The Rainbow room was decorated so beautifully for our reception. It looked more beautiful that I ever could have imagined. The Hotel Baker really made our dream wedding day come true. I highly recommend it. read more

I recently held a movie premiere at the Hotel Baker's Waterfront Room, and it was an absolutely fantastic experience. The room was beautifully decorated and arranged for the evening's event, complete with a bar, a table full of a variety of delicious desserts, and an old-style popcorn machine. The Waterfront Room is a proper size too, large enough to accommodate an audience comfortably yet not so big that you feel disconnected from the party. The view of the Fox River and downtown St. Charles from the expansive windows provided the perfect backdrop to our film. The staff were a pleasure to work with, as well. From management to the bartender (who was great!), everyone was courteous, professional, and took care of everything we needed to show off our movie in style. Our premiere would not have happened with such style and class without all of their dedicated work. In closing, the Hotel Baker is great place to host any sort of event in a stylish fashion. I highly recommend it! read more

We had our wedding reception there. Absolutely perfect, the food, the service and of course the hotel itself. They had it staffed perfectly, very attentive to all of our guests. They go the extra mile to make sure everything was smooth. The catering manager Mike kept a close eye on every detail, making sure everything was right. Karen our sales director had everything set up perfectly. The room we stayed in was exceptional with a beautiful view of the Fox river. If you want to go first class, go to the Hotel Baker read more

Don't be mislead!!! Think you are going to experience a nice boutique hotel. What a joke!!! They make you sign a quiet waiver when you check in. Hah!!! It's midnight and our room is still vibrating from the wedding downstairs. This totally sucks!! read more

This was our second visit here and such a disappointment. We came early to have drinks and do the goodbye to the sun ritual. Took forever to get drinks outside and they never did the sunset ritual. Also, there were few tables taken but open table showed no availability. If you want to fill the restaurant you need to do better than this. I loved it.last year, but I wont be back again. read more

The rooms are quaint. Mine was nice but much more suited to a wedding party and not a business traveler. No desk space to speak of and very very noisy from a reception on the first floor. No fridge, no real storage space. Not a place at all for a business man, stay at a Hampton read more

My wife and I had our wedding shower in the Waterfront Ballroom. It was a pretty room and didn't need much in terms of added decor aside from flowers on the table to make the room nice. The management was also very nice. My wife's brother had his Chicago wedding reception in the Rainbow room and it was a unique venue. read more

Kai is wonderful, with such a great personality you made the experience okay. Lauren, not so much, relax just because a person on the phone asks you to repeat your name you don't have to get up tight. It made me not want to hang up and not feel like this place was going to be welcoming. Good thing Kai was wonderful and accommodating. You only have seconds to make a first impression. My first impression was not so good, I could sense the attitude and I didn't like it. read more