W Chicago - Lakeshore

“Well Located Mid-Grade Hotel for Tourists”

Perfectly located if you plan to tour downtown Chicago. It's a very short (maybe 5 min?) walk to the Navy Pier, and another 5-10min walk in the opposite direction to get to Michigan Ave (the shopping area). The "Big Bus" (hop-on-hop-off) bus stop is at the navy pier and you can get to all of the... more

Perfectly located if you plan to tour downtown Chicago. It's a very short (maybe 5 min?) walk to the Navy Pier, and another 5-10min walk in the opposite direction to get to Michigan Ave (the shopping area). The "Big Bus" (hop-on-hop-off) bus stop is at the navy pier and you can get to all of the tourist spots on that tour bus, so that makes this hotel very central and easy for tourists. The hotel and rooms are a little beat up and you can tell it's an older hotel that's had a coat of paint slapped on it, but it's updated and nice enough for a mid-grade hotel. If you have a lake view room, you can watch the fireworks at the navy pier on Saturdays from the comfort of your room. However, if you're sensitive to noise, you're going to hear the Highway and the elevators all night long. It didn't bother me, but it was constant and it was loud and if anyone else complained about it I would understand. There's a nice long wall-length couch in the room which is nice, and plenty of counter space in the room itself. No counter space in the bathroom which makes it hard to get ready if you use makeup and a blow dryer or have any products you need to spread out. Lighting is also terrible (too low for getting ready). There is only one hook on the wall for towels (or toiletry bags, or robes, or wash rags), so if you're more than 1 person in the room that's gonna be difficult. Very little interaction with staff. They were around but rarely spoke or acknowledged anyone. They serve coffee in the morning but by 8:30am on a Monday both were empty and 11 of us stood there waiting for a half hour even though at least 3 of us asked for more. One staff member even told us that if it was out then we wouldn't be getting anymore for the day (even though it's supposed to be served until 10am). They did eventually bring it out, but people were annoyed because they had to go to work. Overall it was a nice enough hotel and would stay there again, but if you want more amenities or a newer, more updated hotel, you might look elsewhere. For tourist purposes, this place is good.

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