Hotel Review - Chicago's Essex Inn

We recently stayed at this hotel during a business trip. My husband works as an editor and had recently completed a series of commercials for a touring show, "The Merchants of Bollywood". We were gifted with a trip to see the performance in Chicago, and as part of the gift, we were booked reservations at The Essex Inn on Michigan Avenue.

Having only driven to Chicago once before, The Essex was remarkably easy to find. We used directions from Google Maps and found it on the first try. After checking in, we were pleased with our room, which we were told was recently revamped. The view from the hotel wasn't a skyline, but it was still nice enough, especially for the price of the hotel which we discovered was less than a hundred dollars per night. For a downtown Chicago hotel, this is an excellent price. But other rooms do offer more clear views to the city.

Our room was clean, but in all fairness, I should say that we never ever use hotel pillows or sleep under hotel covers. We've traveled enough to know that this is just a general precaution to take and it's not a commentary on the hotel. We did, however, look under both bed mattresses for bed bugs. There was no sign of them. The room looked identical to the pictures shown online.

The bathroom was very small, but anyone who has stayed in a downtown hotel in any major city for under a hundred dollars has come to expect this, which is also standard for most budget hotels, even outside of major cities.

The staff was friendly and helpful, especially the front desk staff. There was only one exception in our experience. There is restaurant in the lobby, and when we went to sit down and relax before our departure after our stay, the wait staff didn't seat us for several minutes despite the fact that the place was empty and when we did sit down, the waitress didn't return for such a long time that we had to get up and leave, finding another restaurant altogether.

The Essex Inn is a bit less swanky than their website would suggest, and the pool is (as is the case with most hotels today) much different in appearance than it looks in the images on the website. But those changes weren't significant enough to dissuade us from staying again in the future. I've read negative reviews of the hotel, but we had a great experience at The Essex Inn, which is in walking distance from all of the major downtown tourist sites of Chicago (boat tours, shopping) and is directly across the street from Grant Park. (But if your main goal in visiting Chicago is to do the museums, the Essex is very far away from these, out of walking distance for sure. So if you are interested in the museums, consider searching for a hotel a little bit closer to them. We overheard some surprised tourists in the lobby frustrated by how much they would have to spend in cab fare to get to the Museum of Science and Industry.)

I would recommend this hotel to anyone who wants to come to Chicago for a concert or performance and thinks they cannot afford to stay in the downtown area. I would not recommend this hotel for something like a wedding night, anniversary, or a trip where the main event is to stay at a cushy hotel and be pampered. Having stayed at the Mariott in Chicago, I can honestly say that the Essex is comparable in quality, but lacks the fancy lobby, nice lounge, and riverside view.

If those things aren't so much important to you and you're just looking to get to a mid-level hotel that you can afford that will allow you to make travel plans to Chicago, I would definitely say that you can confidently book a stay at the Essex Inn Chicago. Be prepared for a hefty parking fee, forty dollars a day when we visited. But again, that's standard for parking in Chicago.