Chicago's Essex Inn

The hotel didn't have a microwave service, which sucks.

The rooms were less than to be desired. The rooms were a little small and dated. However, the workout area and pool were great for my kids. My wife and I were able to swim laps each morning. The patio area was really nice too! To be able to watch people go by on Michigan was great! The hotel was close to dining, and museum campus. A little ways to Mag. mile, but doable.

My boyfriend and I had made plans to go the the Shedd Aquarium and do the Bucktown 5K so we figured we would get a hotel room and make a weekend of it. We were oh so excited after our 2.5 hour drive through Chicago traffic to find that parking at the hotel was $39 per night!!! That's an extra $80 for the weekend! A hotel just down the street was a little more expensive but offered free parking. The location was great- we were able to walk to the Shedd Aquarium and there were some great restaurants in the area. We had to keep our curtains closed in the room because the pool was right outside the windows. We also were woken up several times during each night by people coming back from the bars. They had no respect for anyone else staying there! The location was great but there are better hotels in the same area. We won't be staying here again. Oh, and to use the computers in the business center will cost you $5 for every 15 minutes. Hope you have your laptop with you if you stay here!

Perfect hotel to stay 5 days in Chicago, good location and good service.

We attended the Midwest Clinic held at the McCormick Center. The Essex was very close to the McCormick Convention Center and served our purpose quite well. The rate was reasonable, the room roomier than other 'loop' hotels, and traffic was not an issue despite the detour on Congress. On the down side, the hotel's restaurant was closed for renovation, making meals an excursion, but in Chicago, not a problem. In addition, we attended the Nutcracker at The Auditorium, two shorts blocks from the Essex.

Near good restaurants and convention center. Nice staff attitude, very helpful at all times. Gym and Restaurant closed, which made me qualify with a low score, they should make arrangements for breakfast availability either in the room or the lobby to overcome the closed restaurant.

The Essex hotel is in a great location that is walking distance from the Orange line to Midway, 2 blocks away from the Red line, and has bus stops right in front. There are plenty of tourist attractions walking distance from the hotel, including Buckingham fountain and the Bean! The hotel room is small and has an incredibly small sink. It was hard to share with 4 people because there was not enough storage space.

The pool and terrace are great, making up for the small rooms. The beds were very comfy, though rooms were a bit drab. Bathrooms are very basic. you can't beat the location, which was the most important aspect for me and my 3 children.!

Staff prompt and helpful Old building so heating/cooling inflexible Could open window however to regulate Clean quiet Fine for a single nite stay enroute to elsewhere as I was

I recently visited Chicago for sight-seeing and stayed at the Essex Inn for one night. As I was searching for places to stay, I immediately understood that staying in downtown Chicago is really expensive. Most hotels started from $250 per night for a standard double bedroom. The dismal part was that parking is generally not included in your hotel charge and has to be done at an extra cost. The biggest advantage of this hotel is its location. It is situated within about a mile's walking distance from most major downtown attractions in Chicago (the Willis Tower, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, the Buckingham Fountain, the Shedd Aquarium and the Museum). After I reached Chicago, I did not bother to get into my car as I could just walk to all these places. The hotel itself would not leave a great impression by its look from outside, but the room was clean. They offer free Wifi, while most other hotels make you pay a surcharge. This is another advantage. There is a great indoor pool and fitness center that is open long hours which could be convenient for fitness freaks. You could either work out early before your sight-seeing or return later in the evening and get it done. That would be another big plus for the hotel. Breakfast was not included, but that seemed to be the case with all other hotels in Chicago when I did my search. That would be a minus, not for the hotel, but for Chicago itself! Parking costed me a fifth of my hotel stay itself. They valet your car for $41 per night. If you would really like to save on that, you could just park your car in one of the several public parking lots located in the neighborhood (there is a public parking at almost every block) that is twice cheaper if you did an overnight parking. When I checked out the following morning I still had about 6 hours of allotted parking time remaining. I had quite a few places to visit and thought that I might be gone an hour longer than my scheduled car pick-up time. As I thought that it would not be sensible to return to the hotel just to move my car, I had requested if they would bear with me in case I got delayed by an hour or so. I was told that it would cost me an additional $14 per hour if I did not pick up my car on time. I just decided to move my car right away to a nearby public parking where I ended up paying $12 for the next 10 hours that gave me ample time to complete my sight-seeing. Bottom line: This is a decent place if you need to stay in downtown Chicago (the loop). Be prepared to spend a lot of money, in general during your visit. You could plan ahead and save money through time management and utilizing public parking.