I was in Chicago for a conference, and had travelled from the UK at the last minute (I only had 3 days notice), and this was the only hotel we could find that had vacancies for my trip (due to the marathon that was taking place, I guess).
What to say.... we paid something like $130 a night for our room; I had 2 double beds, a small kitchen area (with microwave), and a basic bathroom. The walls were thin, and I was woken up by college kids running around the corridors laughing at about 3am. Also, one of the lights in my room didn't work (I told the staff, but they did nothing about this), and my TV was silent, despite me playing with the controls for ages.
I asked about this, and also about how to use the room safe (no instructions could be found), and the staff were pretty rude to me. When I first asked how to use the safe, I was literally shouted at: "This is a hotel! Read the instructions!". When I informed them that there were no instructions, they said that I'd have to wait until the following day, when it would be looked at. In the meantime, I worked out how to use the safe myself. Thanks, guys!
My window overlooked some kind of sidestreet, and let in very little light, so I needed the lights on all the time I was in there. The elevators really are pretty poor (as other reviews have said), and I was stuck in one for about 5 minutes on one occasion. There was a mildewy smell in the corridors, but my room was fine.
So overall, a pretty decent location for the museums, etc. My room was basic but reasonable, and seemed pretty clean. A few instructions were missing, and a light didn't work (plus problems with the TV). My main problem is that the staff were rude. Very rude. I really do agree with most of the other reviews about this.
Another situation; I had a "do not disturb" sign on my door, but at 9am someone came to look at the safe (read above). I was getting dressed at the time, and I heard him (as I said, the walls are thin!) complaining to the maid about how I'd asked for help the night before, but I was stupid enough to put a DND sign outside my door. Gah!
The Chinese restaurant that is next to the hotel is ok, and is pretty cheap. It's not the greatest food in the world though - I've been to a lot of Chinese restaurants, and the food here wasn't great. The staff (who are authentic Chinese) were really friendly though, especially when I tried to demonstrate to them my (tiny) amount of Chinese!
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