Chicago's Essex Inn, Chicago

The restaurant,expensive,super slow service,poor quality food,but that seems normal for America.....sorry but that's the truth!!

I recently spent 3 nights at the Essex Inn while I was in town for a business meeting. I will say that the staff was very nice, courteous and helpful BUT the room was small and very humid and uncomfortable. I woke up after the first night with whelts on my arms. I did not say anything to the management as I NEVER thought it could be BUGS of any kind.... I guess I was naive! I thought in this day and age that hotels were very diligent in inspecting the rooms and the possibility of bed bugs was very remote! I returned home and immediately went to the urgent care facility due to the fact that by the time I got home I was covered with whelts on my arms, hands, forehead and feet. The doctor could not diagnose exactly WHAT ectoparasite was biting me (since I did not have one for him to identify) but mentioned bed bugs, scabies and mites as possibilities! After 200 dollars of medical bills and medication, I am miserable and it will be possibly be weeks before this clears up and the itching stops. I contacted the manager and all he would say, repeatedly, was that the hotel has been inspected and is one of the cleanest in Chicago. Well, it may have been inspected at some point but clearly the room I was in was missed on the inspection! If you choose to stay at this hotel I suggest you inspect the beds thoroughly before you decide to lay down!

This hotel sucks....rooms are SO SMALL....place is full of foreign speaking workers, no amenities, pool is a joke, elevators are slow...ATM Machine charges $3.00 per transaction, THEY ROB U ON PARKING!!! THEY DONT TELL YOU WHEN YOU RESERVE A ROOM THAT PARKING IS $ 37.00 A NIGHT!!!! The rooms are so, so small....no dressers to put your clothes in, the showers suck--no water pressure. Overall this is place is just a rob-job. On a positive note, it was clean. No roaches or bedbugs. And a good locatioin.

The service was exceptional at this hotel. The front desk was extremely helpful and knowledgable regarding restaurants, theatres. The room was way smaller than expected and was not as close to the Magnificent Mile as the webpage would have you believe. They did however offer a free shuttle service to the Art Institute and Magnificent Mile which was very convenient.

We stayed there for New Yr eve night till January 4..We thought we were in Third Wolrd Hotel..Nothing is good in that Hotel(?) esp. the lady in front desk...

I wouldn't have given it ANY stars, but i had to choose at least one to post this. We stayed here for the saturday night and sunday night of the chicago marathon weekend. WORST MONEY SPENT EVER! The location was the only positive point. We wanted to be right across from the start/finish of the race and we were. BUT, the room view was awful - looked directly into a room in the building across the street...no privacy, even though we were 12 stories up! We were charged $299 and $359 for the saturday and sunday nights. The heating/cooling system had only one option - on or off. The hotel chose whether hot or cold air came out of the system (based on the season). SO, after my husband ran 26.2 miles, we had no way to cool down the room for him because they had heat on....the only option we had was to turn the knob to OFF. The windows are a serious hazard! Our toddlers were able to pull the handle and open the window, which was only one pane thick and was floor to ceiling....a nice feature if the windows weren't 50 years old! The handle didn't lock. I don't see how they pass any inspections. Also, the elevators...only 2 for all the floors of the building...ran ridiculously slow. We never encountered anyone else on the elevators but we had to wait literally 5-7 minutes every time we wanted to leave our floor! They didn't have the sunday paper available. The coffee in the room was gross. The bath towels had yellow/brown stains on them. There was no portfolio for the hotel that had a map or information on the restaurant in the hotel. We had to call down to the front desk and have them bring up a menu for the restaurant....and they didn't even bring up a menu, they photocopied the pages of it and brought up the loose copy pages. No free breakfast for the price of the room. A less than cold refrigerator in the room. The pool closed from 6-6:30 every night for housekeeping to clean....not sure what they cleaned, because NO ONE was in there every time we went by. THe water was cold and had spiders in it. The sauna had someone's shorts sitting in there....both days! So, I think the cleaning that they are allegedly doing is a lie! The only other positive point (aside from location) was the bellman that assisted us to and from our room....he was very nice and helpful. But, oddly, he seemed to be the ONLY bellman working every time we were in the lobby. Weird. The parking charge is ridiculous. $37/night. BUT the valet parking is the ONLY option...there are no other places to park nearby. We, curiously, walked next door to the Hilton to see what their rates were....$269/night starting!!! That was a better rate than either night at the Essex. So, we are booking our room now for next year's marathon...AT THE HILTON!

What I did like about the Essex inn was the location! I purchased an over night stay with a "room with a view" package.That included two free tickets to the sears tower.we were told check in was at 4pm but they would hold our luggage until then,since we got into town at 11am. so we arrive and I asked if we could check our luggage and have our free tickets. we were looked at like...what tickets??? Then told to come back later and get them but the good news was the room was ready! OK,the room was not a room of any view but of the side of another building!! When we called down to the office we were rudely told we didnt have to give you a room until 4pm!! I asked if we could possibly get a discount since we got a tiny room and no free tickets to the sears tower? I was told NO!!! We could leave and come back at 4pm.so we lugged all our luggage down and checked them and asked if he could manage to get us our tickets since we have to wait til 4pm. he gave them to us. so we went out and came back at 4pm and the room indeed was very pretty with a gorgeous view of lake Michigan and grant park,navy pier...just beautiful. However, the air conditioner didnt work worth a damn and we just didnt have it in us to change rooms again and get another round of rude treatment. so we suffered in heat with a room with a view. Never again. We should have been compensated somewhat??? They didn't care and so we won't care to stay there again.Also the bathroom was so tiny with a tiny sink and cheap shampoo and soaps products

The staff was very friendly and helpful. This is the first hotel I've stayed in that had a fee to use the internet. It was $5.99 for 24 hours of use! In addition, the room was small (double) and the bathroom was not clean at all. Hair on the towels, floor, and bath tub. Depending on which room you stay in, you will hear the train. I stayed on the12th floor facing the Hilton (I think) and I heard the train every day. It wasnt annoying, but I heard it. This was my first visit to Chicago and it was nice, but I probably will not choose to stay at the Essex Inn again

the hotel was bad. there was no heat or a/c in the hotel. the cleaning service came to early. rooms were too noisy. you could hear tv from the other room. i wouldn't stay here again.

We loved the location and the price of our room! The cleanliness of the room and bath was one of the first things I noticed. The bed's comfort was heavenly! We were within walking distance of Lake Michigan, the Sears Tower and Union Station. Our breakfast at the Savoy restaurant located inside the building was delicious and ample and the price was ideal. Breakfast is served very early for those who must leave early. We would stay here again without giving it a second thought. I think the $89 room rate is a thing of the past, so that price may need to be updated on this site! Overall we couldn't have been more pleased.