The W Hotel City Center lends a sophisticated River North aura to the financial district. Expense account travelers don't always gravitate toward such hip surroundings, but the W City Center's primo location and its membership in the Starwood Hotels & Resorts ensure a crowd dominated by suits.

The two-story lobby of the W City Center is awe-inspiring with its faux-crocodile club chairs eclectically mixed with velvet couches. Dark velvet drapes cocoon lobby dwellers from the hustle and bustle of Adams Street, and the subdued lighting flatters any colleague in the group.

Each of the 369 guest rooms (in the neighborhood of $159 per night), 11 suites and 44 mega-size rooms feature the "Heavenly Bed" with its patented pillow-top mattresses and feather beds. Guests can unwind with 27-inch plasma TVs in every room, and the more ambitious can hook them up to the Internet. Should you have any desire to leave the room, food and drink choices abound. Rande Gerber's Whiskey Blue pours mighty fine cocktails and ristorante we offers filling Tuscan fare.

The W City Center offers the Bliss Spa Girls' Getaway (around $299 per person), the latest illustration of its corporate "Whatever, Whenever" policy toward pampering. Participants kick off the festivities with a complimentary cocktail at the chrome bar in the W's vaulted lobby. From there, the girls pad down to a 9,600-square-foot spa where, as "BIPs," they receive priority booking. Bonus: Manicures come free when you book a facial or massage. An after-party portion of the night offers the option to watch movies atop 300-thread-count linens and feathers galore or sets you off with a black book that details Chicago's club scene.

Centerstage Reviewer: Robin Wright