Q Center

I’ve had two, four-​day stays at the Q-​Centre: May 2016 and May 2015.
I’m going to go ahead and assume that most people staying at the Q-​Centre are not there by choice. Given this, I’m leaving a series of tips for future guests rather than a standard review.
Rooms:
— the guest rooms are tiny, but efficient. The standard room holds a twin bed, desk, counter with sink and washroom with toilet and shower. Other than this, there is enough floor space to hold a chair and suitcase.
— Although the main complex is dated, the guest rooms are somewhat recently reno’d
— there are several «wings» that include rooms. With the classrooms and conference rooms being located in D, E, and F and the dining in Q, you want a room close to these areas. «A» is the worst location, with the only benefit being easy access to the gym. In my opinion, «Q» is the best room location as it’s central to everything.
Food: the food is hit or miss depending on where it’s coming from.
— Served banquet meals tend to be quite bland. Not a surprise given the challenge associated with feeding and pleasing groups of hundreds of people
— the cafeteria/​buffet style breakfast was my favourite meal of the day. Highlights include the omelette station with fresh pico de gallo and the yogurt station with greek yogurt, berries, other fruits, and nuts and seeds
— the cafeteria/​lunch buffet always includes standard salad bar and hamburgers. Other than this, the other offerings vary from day to day but usually follow a common theme such as Mexican or Italian. These items tend to be of acceptable quality. The main highlight is the ability to construct a healthy meal to varying dietary constraints.
— The Q-​Centre also puts out snack stations at morning and afternoon breaks. These snacks are actually quite good. Over my most recent stay, these snacks included items such as fresh fruits, date and seed bars, mini donuts, ice cream bars, veggies and hummus, and various baked goods.
Recreation:
— the gym contains lots of cardio equipment including ellipticals, treadmills, spin bikes and recumbent bikes
— a wide range of dumbbells are provided, but no bars, a few strength training machines round out the mix
— directly behind Q Tower is access to a trail that cuts through a wooded area becoming a pathway along the river into St Charles. For morning runs, this is a pleasant option
— there’s a game room with pool tables available
The basic internet is free and available in the guest rooms and common areas. The internet is fast enough to run Netflix no issue. The «premium» internet at a charge is the only option in the classrooms and conference rooms. So, if you want internet access while sitting in sessions, you’ll either need to splurge for the premium internet or request that your host grant access.

(3.25 stars) The Q Center isn’t your typical lodging. Literally situated miles from anything (40 miles from O’Hare), this is a corporate training and meeting facility; it wouldn’t make for a decent vacation or business travel destination, and it wouldn’t be fair to assess the Q Center in that context.
The Q Center is a rambling, seven building facility, originally built as a woman’s college campus. Retrofits have connected the buildings, and walks are both extremely long and confusing. Dormitories and the dining hall are located in the central «Q Tower,» and surrounded by corporate offices. Visitors should also expect to climb a lot of stairs, as elevators are somewhat slow, and often distant. There isn’t much rhyme or reason to the floor layout, or indication of which vertical level you’ll need to be. As an extreme example, the «E» building– a prime classroom facility– requires that you descend to reach each numerically higher floor number (e.g.- the 3^rd floor is below the 2^nd floor).
There are plenty of guest amenities, and those which I visited were spacious, clean and well-​equipped, although usually not easy to find. On the other hand, guest rooms are claustrophobia-​inducing, even by dormitory standards. In-​room bathrooms (4′ x 7′, at best) contain only a toilet and tiny stall shower. Although luggage stands are provided, setting one up requires a decision as to what to block: access to the twin bed, view of the wall-​mounted television or the ventilation unit. On the 8^th floor both hot water temperature and water pressure were very good. I found the mattresses to be comfortable, and the beds refreshingly lacking in excess pillows or other nonsense.
Guests are given room keys which double as identification cards. Their lanyard color indicates which company is sponsoring your visit. Care must be taken to keep this magnetic card away from cellphones, as they will de-​magnetize the card. With that precaution taken, the room keys worked without a hitch.
There is a «free» wifi network, and both bandwidth and connection quality rendered it worthless. If your company springs for the premium wifi ($ 25), connection speed and quality are excellent. From the front desk to the random employees encountered in trying to find my way, everybody was friendly and helpful.
The dining hall is divided into multiple serving stations, with lunch and dinner choices varying between them; you may mix-​and-​match, as you please. Curiously, getting a cup of coffee requires visits to three separate areas of the dining hall (coffee, sweeteners and dairy additives); more than a little inefficient. The food isn’t always adequately seasoned, or presented to fine dining standards, but is varied, plentiful and generally very good. There seems to be a heavy emphasis upon pizza and Tex-​Mex, but more epicurean offerings (i.e.- seared scallops, seared duck breast, hand-​carved prime rib) may be had. The duck is served medium-​well done, and the scallops lacked salt and pepper, but by institutional food standards, they were each a pleasant surprise. There is also an after-​hours cash bar, which is intimate and attractive– also the only instance where my wallet left my pocket during a five day visit inside the Q Center.
Classrooms are well-​lit, comfortable and well-​equipped– once they are located. There are plenty of restrooms, coffee/​snack stations and open wifi lounges.
My employer sponsors many training classes, meetings and events at the Q Center, so I’m certain that I’ll be back– not unwillingly!

Do your staff a favor and do not host a meeting at this venue. I realize there are many qualities of this place (like the food is great) but the bad outweighs the good.
The standard room is tiny. I mean tiny. A twin bed fits and that is it. No night stand so I hope nobody in your group uses a cpap machine. I guess they could up grade but even those rooms are not very large.
Lets talk about this trip. My room was not fully cleaned so they moved me. (I discovered this after a long walk to the room. This place is really spread out and rooms are a LONG way from the elevators). New Room is hot and the thermostat doesn’t work. (didn’t work in the first room either). Told to open the window and they brought me a fan. (Really!)
Desk chair was broken. Had to be replaced.
It’s not the worst bed I’ve had at a hotel but it is surely among the worst.
Tonight there is drama with the staff. I called to ask the hours for business center because I had a 20 page document to print. Really helpful guy said just take it too the front desk and they will print it. The three people at the front desk freak out — can’t print from a thumb drive and now want to charge me. Hey, my room is a long way from the front desk. If I had to pay I wouldn’t have walked down tonight. And, what happened to the guy who specifically said they would print it free?
I shouldn’t have had to get a manager involved. Thankfully the manager got this solved.
But way to much drama.
I’ve stayed here for other conferences and those stays were drama free but still had hot rooms and lousy beds.
And the place blocks my mifi. To get internet outside my room I have to pay an extra $ 25/​day. But that was not a big surprise. Same problem on the prior trips.
There are better options for events.

I’ve been here for training a few times and the staff is so courteous and nice. The rooms are a perfect size for one person and always kept clean. It also helps they provide shuttles shuttles from the Q center to downtown Saint Charles so you can get off campus if you’d like too.

I had a great time at the Q Center for a team training. We stayed 3 days and spent all of our time at the Q Center outside of heading to a local Italian restaurant for some off campus time. A few pros and cons:
Pros: huge space, great audio/​video, seattle’s best coffee, good selection of food in the dining hall, everything included in the price which makes things very easy, tennis court, nice trails, green and lush during the summer.
Cons: closet size rooms, the cookies are not tasty, confusing layout, the Q pub is part club/​part pool hall/​part bar that could use a little clean up. Reminded me of the 80’s Miami Vice.
Overall, it was a good time with great people. The weather was beautiful and spending time outside on campus was nice and relaxing.

The Q center hosts our annual Educator of the Year event– and I’ve been impressed each year. The food has been delicious for three years running, the staff is incredibly friendly and courteous, and the bartenders are speedy. I liked the addition this year of cash or plastic for the bar as it allowed individuals who don’t carry cash to partake. The technology was handled perfectly by the staff and the event was wonderful. We are hoping to host our prom here next year too– and I will look forward to that event!

I have mixed feelings about this place. It’s isolated so you really basically do focus on your training sessions there (unless you have client work). I’ve been in the small jail cell rooms with twin beds (didn’t like it) in the Q Tower, but I’ve recently been in a regular hotel-​size room which I really appreciate! Internet is spotty/​slow at times. There is Q Basic and Q Premium (premium the paid version) – fortunately my company pays for the Q Premium but even then I note it can slooooooow down. The cafeteria is hit-​n-​miss. One day for dinner, I got fish which was RAW and the prime rib was just not done – it was bloody as if the cow can still moo. I would simply become vegetarian and eat the salad. Breakfast, to be fair, is decent. A positive note is they have a really decent gym… treadmills, sit-​back cycling machines, vertical std cycling machines, and the cycle-​class type cycling machines, ample free weights, and numerous machines. Great is also the filter water dispensers throughout the building. Overall, if I keep staying in the bigger rooms, I will lean more toward 4-​star.

Average in all aspects except for a few honorable mentions.
Breakfast food has potential — eggs, lox, parfaits, smoothies, waffles. If you’re lucky and persistent enough to be at Q Dining in the morning (7:20am or earlier), then you can avoid the insane lines and swarms of people that stroll in around 7:45am.
They infuse their water with fruit –watermelon and honeydew water are my personal favorites. Soft serve froyo machine = dessert for lunch and dinner :) Snacks are timed and set up so that you don’t starve in between lunch and dinner. Although, I must say that the quality of their snacks has deteriorated from the past year. This year, they’ve cut down on so many things– gone are the packaged yogurt cups, popsicles, and chips are sparse.
Rooms are tiny as many people have already mentioned but I actually don’t mind. However, I do mind that the bathrooms are even tinier. I am a fairly small girl but i find myself feeling extremely constrained when showering. Add the fact that there is only a shower curtain (and no shower door) so you’re guaranteed to splash water all over your 10 by 10 bathroom every time you shower. Room fans are glitchy and work whenever they feel like it.
A pro is that I’ve had consistently good room service every day. They also have some decent facilities — fitness center, spa, and salon (all of which I have not used). They offer shuttle service to the outlets on Wednesdays and often have movie nights on Tuesdays and Fridays. There are also free bikes you can rent out to go biking around the Q. With good weather, the bike ride can be very scenic and a good past time considering options are limited.
For nightlife, the only place to go is the Cue Pub. Bar menu is extremely limited and they’re not really very accommodating as far as customizing your order. My friend requested chicken strips since they have a chicken sandwich on their menu but they didn’t even bother to try and make some for her. We also wanted to do a half margherita/​half sausage pizza but that didn’t seem to be an available customization either. They do have free chips which is a plus when you want something to nibble on while you drink. Curly fries are good and works really well with the dip that they serve with it. Pizza was mediocre. Shots are SO PRICEY at $ 8.50 each. However, if you do want to have non-​watered down drinks, go find Kim (Five stars to her!).
Our group ordered 2 rounds of shots from other bartenders and tasted a noticeable difference. Only shots poured by Kim tasted like the real thing. She also made it a point to check up on us and ask if we needed anything throughout the night. That lady knows how to give her customers a good time :)

Besides catching the crud and feeling like dirt all week my stay wasn’t too bad. Breakfast was awesome, all the fresh fruit was amazing. I preferred lunches to the dinners, they seemed fresher. I understand they are serving over 1000 people a night so I’m going to say it was bad. Only bad part of the stay was the showers just didn’t get hot enough. Hopefully will get to go back and explore St. Charles a little more.

Most of us who write reviews here are visiting the Q due to work, so would we really write anything too terrible?
So instead, let me list some areas of improvement
1. Some of us are forced to stay over site when all the luxurious large (TINY) rooms are booked up. The welcoming center is our main point of contact… please make your front desk staff be knowledgeable about key details like shuttles to hotels and downtown area instead of appearing like deer in headlights when we ask.
2. The shuttles with the hotels are too early for the time the lectures/​training begin.
3. Please inform the hotels you work of the shuttle schedule as well. I know you think your job is done when you hand us a paper, but a short explanation of where to go would help.
4. If you have to wait on a 5 – 10 minute line just to enter cafeteria, plus lines at stations, and you only have about 40 minutes for lunch, I think another cafeteria would be useful.

I came here for a one-​week stay in October with my company for training. I had heard some horror stories about how small the rooms are and/​or how bad the food is, so I was expecting the worst. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised with the accommodations. The training center itself is very big, so multiple companies often host trainings at the same time. The classrooms are pretty typical and fit about 30 people. There are also larger conference rooms available for 50 – 100 people. The only downside to these classrooms is they do NOT include internet access unless your company specifically pays for it (which ours did not). The Q Center staff also provides an ample amount of breakfast items, coffee, drinks and snacks in the alcoves during the breaks, which was much appreciated.
The individual rooms that you stay in ARE small, but you have everything you need (a bed, bathroom, shower, desk, TV and Wi-​Fi access). The rooms are also really clean and include maid service every day. I don’t really see any reason to complain about it, especially if you’re only going to be there for a couple of days to a week. The cafeteria offers a wide variety of food options, including hot foods, cold foods, soups, salads & desserts, so you’re sure to find something you like. The food is decent! Maybe it’s not amazing, but it’s also nothing to complain about.
In terms of other amenities, the Q Center has a decent-​sized gym, a game room with pool tables and foosball tables, the Q Pub/​Lounge is a few yards away in a separate building outside, and there are a LOT of beautiful grassy areas and scenic routes to explore if you want to take a walk outside.
It is located pretty deep into St. Charles, so there aren’t really any easy opportunities to go into Chicago. However, the Q Center offers shuttles to downtown St. Charles, and from there you can take the Metro to downtown Chicago. This will just require some coordination on your part.
Overall, this is a good place for training, with everything a company or a person staying for training could ask for. I have no complaints.

I stayed at the Q Center for two weeks of job training. The first week was great and it felt like I was on a cruise but by the second week, it started feeling like a prison. St. Charles is in the middle of nowhere about an hour from Chicago. I would give the Q Center 4 stars the first week and 3 stars the second week. A solid 3.5 Unilocal stars rounded to 4.
THE GOOD:
— Gym is open 24 hours with the same machines as my favorite gym in Houston, the Tellepsen YMCA
— Bikes are free to rent at the gym and the bike trails are scenic and beautiful
— Breakfast, lunch and dinner are buffet style with three different sections. My favorites were the Silk Vanilla Milk, Ice Cream, Desserts, and Yogurt. The food in general was hit or miss but the chicken dishes were always good.
— Break room with an extensive supply of ice cream, chips, cookies, brownies, coffee, tea, sodas, goldfish, M&M’s, orange juice and flavored water
— Service is great and they clean your room daily and take your plates away from you after you’re finished eating.
— The room is small but cozy and comfortable. It’s cruise or dorm room size, the TV has plenty of channels, and there’s free wifi if you log onto Q Basic.
— The game room has plenty of pool, ping pong, and foosball tables.
— Free laundry room with detergent.
THE BAD:
— The walls are paper thin and you can hear conversations and alarms in surrounding rooms and hallways.
WEEKLY ACTIVITIES:
— Q pub karaōke on Monday
— Networking event Tuesday
— $ 13 outlet mall school bus trip to the Premium Outlet or movie night Wednesday
— Cadillac Ranch Thursday
— Movie night Friday
— Shuttle Monday through Thursday to Downtown St. Charles, Target, and Walmart

Stayed here for a week for a company training. I was shocked when I opened the door to my room, it’s the size of a closet! The twin bed against the wall with very little leg room between the bed and the credenza and above it is a 32″ tv, towards the foot of the bed is a desk right by the window. I had to open my luggage on the bed because there’s no space at all. The bathroom was tiny and difficult to move around.
The food was cafeteria style and crowded since there are other companies conducting training. The nice thing about the Q Center is the location, the grounds are beautiful perfect to go running in the morning or in the afternoon after the very long training sessions. Aside from the closet-​sized room and the very crowded dining area, it is an ok place, I hope the company looks for a better venue next time.

Was here for a week for company related training. The rooms are dorm styled-​its probably the smallest room I’ve been in! But has all basic needs. Qcenter was very well-​maintained. There is a gym, club room, shuttle to nearby places, walking trails, a bar, etc. One thing we didnt know about is that there is free laundry opposite the gym. They also have laundry detergent available. Though I didnt make use of this, its a good option for people staying here for weeks. The staff were very friendly too. It is HUGE. Walking from one area to the next can take a few minutes and I ended up getting lost very often. so carry a building map if you can! The restaurant food was not something I would crave for, but it was pretty decent for training center standards. They had everything from soups to dessert. It looked like the chef was interested in what he was doing-​he would ask us for feedback and also constantly refill the food atcounters. Watch out for dining hall timings-​they have fixed timings and if you dont know about it, you may be skipping a meal. Nothing I can complain about this place — except for the fact that corridors can be a noisy-​specially late night since people are returning back to their rooms after the clubroom/​bar closes.

Wonderful place for company training!
My company took us all here for a weekend of networking and fun with interns from all over the continent. The service was great and the food (always buffet!) was amazing. I hate breakfast normally but I ate tons of that here (especially smoked salmon and the baked tomatoes!)
The bedrooms are a little bit small but it is still really cozy for a single person. There is tons of office space available and HUGE and immaculate ampitheaters and banquet halls.

Terrible, terrible food. They aim for variety but it is all just disgusting and borderline inedible. I would have preferred BASIC food that was done properly, rather than trying to imitate the menus of fancy restaurants. I am not sure how anyone with tastebuds can find anything about the food served appetizing.
My room was fine (I had one of the bigger ones, so I couldn’t complain). The conference centers are nice and the facilities overall are quite nice.
Things close early FYI so be sure to buy whatever you need ahead of time.

The Q-​Center is an excellent place to go for a conference.
The first thing that comes to mind is the food. The buffet-​style meals offer plenty of quality, geo-​ethnic options to choose from. They also have areas for snacks and drinks that are scattered throughout the complex and are constantly available. So, there is definitely not a need to worry about going hungry here!
Other praiseworthy features included a decent gym, WiFi throughout most of the vicinity, a club house with a bar and pool tables, lounging areas, and opportunities to take a shuttle to the mall or to downtown St. Charles.
As many others mention, the beds are small– so small that it might seems that you went to a monastery. But, fear not– there are plenty of things to keep you busy outside of your room (probably including endless meetings).

Home for two weeks :)
Loved every minute I spent here, although after the first week, you realize that you technically haven’t left the building or seen any sunshine during the days: D
Food is plenty, and you need to keep yourself from overeating! Service is very nice. Everyone is friendly and ready to help.
A lot of activities with shuttles to Walmart, Target and the outlet malls in the area. On Thursdays, there’s also a shuttle to the Cadillac Ranch.
During the week there’s usually the Q-​bar that’s on the same site. Mondays there are pretty fun since it’s Karaōke night.
Sorry for rambling; it’s just that there’s so much stuff to talk about in this place. :)
PS. The rooms are small, but honestly you shouldn’t be spending much time there. If you are, then you’re doing it all wrong!

I’ve been to the Q center several times over the past 6 years, and i must say that the efficiency and quality with which they provide their services is quite consistent considering the amount of people moving through the place each week.
Other reviews do a good job of explaining ‘what’ the Q Center is, and if you’re reading this, i’m going to assume that you already know what types of amenities they offer. So let’s just focus on the pros and cons.
Rooms
Yes, they are small, as everyone says. But that’s actually not the problem i have with them — there’s enough room to sleep, iron, and watch TV — you’re probably not going to be doing much more than that in your room. And they have recently updated the rooms, so although the size isn’t comparable to a modern hotel, the finishes are. The issue i have is the vicinity to the training rooms. Depending on the section you’re in, you could be a 5 – 10 minute walk from the dining area or your training classrooms. Trying to get where you’re going on time can be a struggle when you don’t realize how long it takes to walk from one end of the building to the other.
Food
Can’t say enough about the quality and variety of the food. The biggest problem you will have is trying to limit your overeating and coming home at the same weight you left at. They really try very heard to provide a good variety at each meal, and have recently begun offering a few more healthy options each day. The quality of the food is fairly high, with a few exceptions.
Extracurricular
The Q center makes a great effort to make sure your evenings are full and interesting. There is a Pub (the «Social Center») on campus that has karaōke on Monday nights, the center will occasionally do a movie night, and there is usually a mid-​week trip to a local shopping oulet. Also — Cadillac Ranch on Thursday — pursue at your own risk. There is also a game room w/​Ping pong, pool, etc, and a good sized fitness center. There are lots of sporting fields outside for those attending training during the warmer months. They also have Wii that can be played in some of the lounges. Basically, if you find yourself bored in your downtime, you’re not trying hard enough.
In summary — the Q center is well thought-​out, and whatever you’re there for, they’re used to doing it, at scale, and chances are they’re quite good at it. Sit back and take it all in, and have a good stay.

I recently had the good fortune of spending a week at the Q Center, and quite frankly, it could not have been better.
Those local to Chicago (or at least the far west burbs) may recall the sprawling compound in St. Charles owned by Arthur Anderson. After semi-​recent financial missteps (read: Enron), it’s been renamed the «Q-​Center». It has state of the art conference rooms, well maintained and modern guest rooms, gorgeous grounds, and even a pub on campus!
The food was phenomenal. Breakfast, lunch or dinner, there were always dozens of food choices — both for the carnivores and herbivores. Prepared food especially for you, as well as gourmet buffet style foodstuffs. Several different daily specials were offered, including various desserts and treats. Outside of the meeting rooms was also an impressive display of snacks to keep up your energy — and attention — during those long meetings. Even ice cream treats! The fresh ground coffee machine — Espresso, Americano, cappuccino, etc, was always the hot spot in the morning. All food was included in the package I had, so no time was lost having to pay at each meal during chow time. Grab, go, and eat in any number of bussed tables — indoors or out — with most having a great view of the grounds.
Aside from the already overwhelming choices of foods, I happened to be there during Octoberfest, so they had a spread of German food in addition to traditional German music playing — outside, so as to enjoy the fall colors. Gorgeous!
The grounds are manicured — and have park benches in various places to take a load off and enjoy the scenery. Paths, bridges, alkes, and flower beds. The lake and the large lighted fountain look gorgeous at night.
After our 13 hours of meetings, and being in the heart of suburbia — 40 miles from downtown Chicago — finding entertainment is rough. The clubhouse — 2 floors of it — features a large room with pool tables and jukebox, as well as your traditional bar area. Fully stocked. There is also a small stage area for karaōke — and even an upstairs area which is more lounge like — also with a small bar.
Through the main buildings, there are several wifi hotspots, as well as computer stations for research and email checking. The campus wide wireless is fast and I had no trouble getting online from anywhere on the grounds.
There are over 1000 guest rooms, all of which are hotel room style based. Big desk, flat screen LCDs and a bed. The bathrooms are very, very nice — faux maple countertops and chrome fixtures. A glass shower was an added bonus too — all with daily maid service.
Because of the immense size of the compound, many groups were there — most notable, Accenture. So, you are not limited to just hanging out with people from your group or industry — you can mingle and enjoy meeting new people. During my visit, several hundred people people were on campus.
There is even a small store and barber on staff. And wait — a plane ticket kiosk so you can get your boarding passes without having to do it at the airport. Hallelujah!
I initially was skeptical about being so far from Chicago — and missing out on the nightlife there I miss oh-​so-​much, but the Q-​Center was by far, the most well thought out and best conference I have ever been a part of. I’d endure a conference on any topic to have it held there again.