Chicago's Essex Inn

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Great room for the money

Clean, great beds, nothing fancy but more than adequate. Perfect location! On site restaurant provides great breakfast at very reasonable prices. Would stay again.

Cheap but Classy

This is the hotel I stay at every year. The rooms have all been remodeled, flat screens, great beds, & a overall great room. Good breakfast downstairs & a great pool.

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Average quality hotel

this is a good alternative if it's a high traffic weekend and other hotels are too highly priced. the positives: pretty good pool area and workout area. nice flat planel tvs. negatives: outdated decor & lobby, narrow dark halls . ice machines on alternating floors, small outdated bathrooms

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Expectations met!

We needed 4 single rooms and got them. We want to be in Downtown Chicago area and got it with the Essex Inn. The staff was very friendly and supportive. It was a great stay for 3 nights and worth the price and comfort.

Needs improvement

worn, raggedy, hole-filled linens.

Great room, but may not be worth the money

The hotel staff was very helpful and the rate was reasonable. The downtown parking rates were a turn-off for me, though, and that has to be considered in the total package.

Too expensive

Breakfast not included. Valet Parking a bit pricey and beds not that comfortable. Had cheaper Hotels before that were much more satisfying.

less than hoped for

the room was very small and the bathroom was nothing more than a tiny box. the cost was way too much for the room.

Don't judge a book by its cover

When I walked up I wasn't expecting a lot, but despite it's unimpressive exterior the hotel is very clean and modern inside. Staff are friendly and helpful, the room was very clean and comfortable. Surprisingly good fitness center and pool on the 4th floor. The hotel restaurant is a bit "1970s" but the portions are big and the price is reasonable. Hardly matters as you're on Michigan Ave just a short stroll to a number of excellent eateries. My only criticism would be that the room was maybe a little cold - I ended up turning the A/C off completely. I should disclaim that I didn't bother to mention it to hotel staff. I'd certainly stay here again.

Comfortable, frilendly, and convenient hotel with a great pool and workout area.

The Essex Inn exceeded our expectations and was comfortable, convenient and friendly. They provide van service to Chicago's magnificent mile, or to the museums by Grant Park,freely. The pool was clean, large and excellent for swimming. The exercise area was good. The restaurant on site was very efficient, not too expensive and the food was good. The rooms were cleaned daily in a efficient manner. The hotel has been renovated and provides good ambience. The floors are named after famous artists, eg. Chagall, Warhol etc. We stayed on the Chagall floor and enjoyed copies of this master in our room and the corridors. The elevators (2) were timely. We enjoyed our 5 day stay and will return the next time my wife and I attend a conference at McCormick Place.

Excellent for the price range

The hotel was lacking in some amenities found in other hotels in this same area, BUT the price was much lower and well worth the lesser expense. The lacking amenities included the fact that you have to ask the hotel desk for a room service menu (they don't have one in the room by default), they don't have in room movie delivery (but if you're me, that is a blessing because you don't have the annoying advertising channel when you first turn on the TV and the TV stays on the channel that you last had it on). Even though you have to ask for a room service menu, the prices for room service were less, and the delivery time was less than 20 minutes in my case for breakfast. The food was simple and very good. Being a vegetarian, they could have had a few more options on the room service menu for lunch and dinner that catered to other eating habits, but that is not any different from any other hotel in this class in which I have stayed. The hotel staff were very receptive to getting taxis for me. The price for the wireless internet in the hotel was great at $5.95 per 24 hours. I've never seen a hotel that charged less than $9.95 per day for internet access. You do have to call down to the front desk and get a code for the internet for each day that you use it, but this is a minor inconvenience, I think. The bathrooms are small but well equipped. The business center had two computers which were set up so that to use them you had to pay $6 per every 15 minutes of use and you had to pay extra to print copies. This is different than other hotels of this type in which the access to the business center was via room key and use of the computers was free to hotel guests (including printing black and white copies).