Congress Plaza Hotel

Grand Old Dame

The Congress Plaza has a wonderful history and character. I love the large windows in the room and the fact that the windows open. The high ceilings give even the standard rooms - which face the other tower of the hotel - a really light and comfortable feeling. Next time I want a room that faces the lake. What a view! Note - the last time I stayed here I was in the back corner. You do not want to be in the back, unless you like the sound of the "El". The hotel is really close to the tracks and although the windows are new, nothing is going to block that noise. Okay, the in-room wallpaper with the seal of the hotel repeated ad nauseum is over the top cheese-tastic, but other than a questionable hair dryer, everything else in the room was in working order, and up to date. The bed was super comfortable. The hallways are clean and done in a traditional style. The lobby is worth a walk through even if you aren't staying there. Look up and down - amazing! The staff was friendly and they printed off my boarding pass at the desk. I also was able to check-in early, which made my schedule work so much better. You can't beat the location. If I'm just in town for a quick stay, it's convienent, less expensive than many other nearby options, and I love being able to tell where I am just by looking around. Not a cookie-cutter hotel.

Need Improvement in the rooms, old hotel, smells wierd

The hotel is just old. Bed is comfortable

Perfect for what we needed

We Stayed in the hotel for the convience that it was close to Soldier field for the football game we attended! Was close to the field and within walking distance of good places to eat. The workers there were very nice, unfortuantly some workers were in the front entrance on strike, they didnt get in the way they were quite.

Worst service experience

- unfriendly staff - employees striking in front of main doors for months - 15 min waiting time for security to access coffre to get my bag - no breakfast, no parking included One of my worst experience...

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Guest did not leave a comment.

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awful, old building, do not stay

took 20 minutes to get hot water running. when called front desk, they sent an engineer who said that was normal since it was a very old building and the water had to get up from the basement. the building was at least 12 stories I think. We were on the 4th flr. What about people on the top floor? did they have to wait 1 hr? and when the water did finally get hot, the water pressure was laughable. even their own engineer admitted that there was not much water and it wasn't that hot. and when switch to shower head, made this awful screeching noise. the room was dry as anything, and the view from our window was this nasty cement thing littered with trash. Don't even know how to describe it, other than that it made us feel like we were sleeping in a very dry sewer. there was no ac/heat in room. no thermostat. just a fan with basically on/off capabilities. it did have low/med/hi but changing between low to high made no difference whatsoever. only pro about hotel was location. a few fast food places within walking distance and drug store nearby. other than that, awful awful awful. would never stay again. would never recommend to anyone.

Management Issues

Pros: Great big rooms, monogrammed everything from walls to pillows Cons: Striking union workers picketing outside for ~5 years (which management should have resolved longtime ago), poor service inside (probably from scab workers), no wireless internet only cable connection, old plumbing with long delay in getting hot water and pooling of water in tub, towels smaller, no newspaper service.

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Re-modeled???

I thought this hotel was "re-modeled." If that means patched OLD carpet, layers of paint, and sloppy tile work in the bath room - then forget it! No room refrigerator. Not able to control room heating or cooling - only the fan speed. A flat-screen TV was the only worthy "re-model" item.

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Great location for the Marathon

We chose this for the location to the start of the Marathon. The hotel itself is nice enough. A bit aged but I have nothing bad to say about it. I would stay again and will recommend it to anyone needing to be in that area of town for a home base.