Surprise hotel closing leaves event planners in the lurch

The Rev. Clyde Brooks is scrambling to find another place for his 250-person celebration Jan. 12 honoring Martin Luther King Jr. after learning Monday from a reporter that the Sheraton Chicago Northwest in Arlington Heights is closing next week.

The 14-story hotel at Euclid Avenue and Rohlwing Road, as well as the 65,000-square-foot indoor CoCo Key Water Resort attached to it, will cease operation at 5 p.m. Dec. 28, it was learned over the weekend.

Brooks paid the Arlington Heights hotel a $1,000 deposit. There was no word from the hotel Monday on refunds, however, and no aid in relocating events. That's leaving many people and organizations worried, or at least annoyed.

"It's really the principle," said Brooks, an Arlington Heights resident. "You'd think they would work with clients and try to get them situated elsewhere."

Brooks' event sponsored by the Illinois Commission on Diversity & Human Rights will probably move to the Sheraton Suites Chicago in Elk Grove Village, which he said has no relation with the Arlington Heights hotel.

Seventh-grade parents at Immanuel Lutheran School in Palatine have more time to find a new place for their eighth-grade banquet and dance. Parents intend to get something nailed down in the next few weeks, said Jan Happel, a parent who has been coordinating with the hotel on arrangements.

The big night for eighth-graders and their parents, teachers and clergy is always held on Memorial Day weekend. About 120 will attend, with the girls in long dresses, the boys in suits.

Seventh-grade parents host the evening and raise all the money for it - as much as $6,000, she said. A representative of the hotel answered Happel's phone call with an e-mail that said she would be informed about how to get back the $1,000 deposit. The event has been at the Sheraton for at least five years, she said.

"The students look forward to this for years," she said.

The Northwest Municipal Conference has received calls from officials in various communities offering alternative venues for a Feb. 20 brunch where local mayors get together with their legislative representatives.

"We have several options," said Larry Bury, policy director. "But we haven't formalized anything at this point. We don't want to have two contracts, so we won't sign another until we have formal discussions with the Sheraton."

Arlington Heights resident Norm Cecchin said he is worried about $1,700 the hotel had promised as a refund from overcharges he said occurred at his son's August wedding.

And Diane Staggs, administrative assistant in the village manager's office, said her husband had bought 12 passes to the attached water park, CoCo Key, as Christmas gifts.

The Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce used the Sheraton for installation dinners and other events, said David Becker, president of the chamber and owner of Fast Signs in Arlington Heights.

"We hate to see another member close its doors," he said.

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