Thinking about booking this venue for your wedding reception or another important event in your life? Think again. My husband and I had our 200 person wedding here in July 2015. The Victoria staff were extremely great to work with....up until t...hey received our final payment (total payment was $20,000) three days before the wedding. Please read our review before booking with this disappointing and quiet frankly, embarrassing venue.
Our reception started at 6pm and guests started arriving at 5:30pm. The lobby outside of the reception hall on the 9th floor is not air conditioned so our guests had to wait in an 83 degree area. The Victoria managers would not open the doors nor did they suggest guests to go wait in the cool lobby on the first floor. The doors finally opened at 6:05 pm after my husband asked the Victoria managers, Jennifer and Collette to let guests in. As the bride, I entered the room at 6:20pm and immediately noticed how warm the room was. The drapes were open which would be okay if the sun had set, but it was still shining in. My husband and I had attended 3 weddings at this venue last summer and never experienced this type of warmth. We would have never selected this venue if we knew the AC would be a possible issue. My mother and I both asked Collette to check into the AC several times from 620pm-8pm. She reported back that the room was “as cool as it could get”.
My aunts had to return to their hotel rooms to put on different dresses during dinner because the dresses they were wearing were too warm for the “AC” room. Some guests started leaving at 9pm because they were uncomfortable and my husband and I had to apologize on behalf of this venue. At 9:15pm I asked Collette again to check on status on AC. She volunteered to go floor to floor to look for the building engineer as he could not be reached by the front desk. While Collette was gone, a homeless man entered the Penthouse in jeans and a t-shirt. He walked around the tables, passed by the gift table, etc. One of our guests noticed him, escorted him downstairs, and watched him walk across Mannheim Road. I kid you not, the man returned later in the same shirt and shorts! This time around, my mother, the mother of the bride ran into him and made sure he never came back since Victoria was not really manning the door.
I wish that were the end of this escapade. My husband and parents both contacted Victoria and Holiday Inn Express the Monday following our wedding. We requested a meeting with both parties since Victoria rents the Penthouse space from the HIE. Mario Ferraro (owner of Victoria) and Tom North (GM of HIE-O’Hare) refused to return our phone calls. They collect all your money and turn a blind eye when something goes wrong.