Amidst the expensive apartment towers and designer stores of downtown Chicago's Gold Coast sits the Hilton Suites, a very nice place to bed down after a day or night prowling the Windy City.
The hotel is in a relatively nondescript tower at Mies van der Rohe and Delaware, a block from N. Michigan Avenue and the John Hancock building. It features a relatively small, attractive and placid lobby. The front-desk staff is pleasant and efficient.
But the rooms are what make this place such a good value for the money. The standard room is not really a suite, but sort of a mini-suite. The cozy sleeping area is separated from the spacious sitting area, which features a couch, cocktail. lounger and work desk, as well as a bar area with a mini-fridge, microwave, sink and coffee service (which has Lavazza coffee and actual liquid creamer!).
My bedroom featured an uber-comfortable king bed that I didn't want to crawl out of on a cold Chicago morning. It also contained a vanity area. And though the rooms won't win any contests for edgy design, the soothing earth tones and comfortable furnishings will be a welcome sight for a tired traveler.
The spacious bathroom (with excellent shower pressure and Peter Thomas Roth bath products) could be accessed from the bedroom or the sitting room.
Both the bedroom and sitting room featured flat-screen TVs, though the channel selection was rather limited.
With so much good grub in Chicago, I didn't bother with the hotel restaurant or room service, which was typically overpriced. There's also a little lobby shop that serves Starbucks coffee.
As with most downtown chain hotels, just about any service in the hotel is a la carte, including wired and wireless internet service, as well as access to the business center. So when I needed to boot up, I found a nice little independent coffee house on the north side where the WiFi came free with a soy latte.
The Hilton Suites is a block from the north end of the Mag Mile, close to Bloomingdales and the Water Tower Place shopping center. Nearby restaurants include Gaylord India and the Cheesecake Factory.
Price-wise, you could spend a lot more and get a lot less than the Hilton Suites. I got a sensational rate of $53 per night via a Priceline bid, and even the rates on the Hilton website, or Orbitz, Expedia etc., compare favorably with other hotels of its quality.
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