- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Hotel 71
Rating Details »
Neighborhood: The Loop
71 E Wacker Dr
(between Lower Wacker Dr & Macchesneyer Dr)
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 346-7100
71 E Wacker Dr
(between Lower Wacker Dr & Macchesneyer Dr)
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 346-7100
- Nearest Transit:
-
State/Lake (Orange, Brown, Purple Express, Green, Pink)
Lake (Red)
Clark/Lake (Pink, Brown, Green, Blue, Purple Express, Orange)
- Price Range:
-
$$
56 reviews for Hotel 71
I stayed in Hotel71 for two weeks over the holidays, and it turned out to be a pretty nice place. My boyfriend and I booked the queen double room with a city view. We chose the double room because it was considerably larger than the single bed rooms and was almost the same price on http://hotels.com.
Our room came with two beds, a desk area, a chaise lounge, and a two-part bathroom (one room held the marbled sinks and mirrors, while the adjoining room had the rain shower and bathtub). Our room had plenty of storage space, a huge closet, and plenty of cabinets and drawers to store our belongings.
The staff was very welcoming and helpful. We requested a mini fridge and microwave, which were both placed in our room by the time we checked in. The gym in the hotel is very nice with a ton of different machines. The gym also has an amazing view of the city, definitely a bonus while working out.
My only complaints have to do with the cable and phone service in the hotel. The cable had a VERY limited amount of channels, about 20. If you're visiting the city for the first time, this won't be a problem since I assume you'll want to go out and about in Chicago and not sit in the hotel and watch tv., but since I am native to the city and stayed in the hotel for 2 weeks, I definitely had down time in the hotel. The no tv. situation was a big letdown for me.
Lastly, the biggest problem we experienced was the phone service. The area code for downtown Chicago is 312, while the rest of Chicago is 773. We made a few phone calls to 773 numbers, believing that they would be considered "local" and thus be free. This is not the case, upon check out we were handed a bill for over $80 in phone charges. We checked everywhere in the room and welcome book, NOWHERE does it say anything about exorbitant charges for phone service.
We called the front desk and explained that they should have posted somewhere about the fees and that we felt misled. They gave us a $40 credit and apologized, blamed the fees on some new phone provider that they are switching to. The credit was ok, but I definitely still feel taken advantage of.
My advice if you stay at Hotel71, get a bigger room, it's worth it, and DO NOT touch the phone unless you want a huge bill waiting for you at check out.
we used this hotel as our suite to get ready in before wedding, our honeymoon suite, and family rooms. the website is misleading and the staff were unfriendly.
the rooms that we thought our guests and ourselves were getting (depicted on website) was not the room they put us in. awful animal print and DIRTY. VERY DIRTY
My hotel suite did not come with refrigerator and the toilet leaked. the staff was not helpful and not friendly. I would not recommend that anyone stay at this hotel.
I booked this hotel (1 king size bed, city view) through Expedia and managed to get a pretty good deal on it for the dates 12/28/09 - 1/1/10.. A few days later, I found it cheaper on Kayak and called Expedia for their price match guarantee. I spent over two weeks waiting for them to process my credit before I called to check up. They told me that the Kayak website did not specify the exact room (i.e. deluxe or not) so they couldn't credit my account. I argued and ended up with a $50 credit. Bleh, at least I got something.
Anyways, as far as the actual hotel goes, it was better than average but not great. It felt like a hotel that tried to be modern and hip but wasn't quite there yet. Service was excellent with nothing to complain about. Two elevators were available for my floor (they separate it into two halves, each with two elevators) and I never had to wait long. Most of the time the elevator is already at the bottom waiting for you.
Room was nice. King sized bed was cozy and sheets were adequate. I love the wireless connection in the room and used my laptop from the bed often. I wish the TV was upgraded to a flat screen. I used their business service center to print out my boarding pass the day before my flight and it was easy to do.
The biggest downside of this hotel which is enough to dock off 2 stars for me is the bathroom. First of all, I didn't like how the closet was located in there. Second, no counter top?!? All they had was a skinny ledge below the mirror which is barely enough to hold things. The shower curtains were crimpled and the toilet was horrendous (weak flush and it kept making a pumping noise for a few seconds after you flush). Tiles were old school and nothing to write home about.
Besides the bathroom, everything else was good. The biggest plus for this hotel is the location. I found it very convenient to the Magnificent Mile (just a 5 minute walk) as well as the Metro stations.
Would I stay here again? Probably.
I stayed here for a week and it was awesome... The good thing about the hotel is primarily the location. You are at the downtown (near michigan street) and all the day/nightlife awesomeness that is Chicago is around you. Public transportation, restaurants, tourist attractions, bars, clubs, weird people and you're on the chicago river. Also, the rooms are fairly spacious, but older. Oh and Batman Dark Knight was filmed at this location. The down side is it is pricey and there are only a couple elevators that service the hotel - so mornings are a pain in the ass to get up and down from say the 30th floor to the lobby. The service is ok, but come on - this place is ideal for a Chicago experience. Go Check it out...
So they made it write - i got a call from the reservation manager and she apologized for the slew of unfortunate incidents and gave me a bit of a refund. i do like that they called me back and took it my complains seriously. says a lot about a business.
i would now consider staying here again.
Thanks.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
11/3/2009
I did a TON of research before we went to Chicago for the weekend about hotels and where to stay in… Read more »
I'm not picky about hotels/motels--I've seen my share of holes punched through walls, leaky ceilings, the creative use of duct tape on a front door to make one feel especially secure at night--so when we were planning a trip to Chicago, I was happy to look in the HoJo/Travelodge/maybe-questionable-but-cheap range. And then my sweetheart found some kind of crazy Internet deal for three of us to stay at Hotel 71 for about $80-$90, making my mind boggle when I saw on their Web site that the going range is somewhere in the $200-$250s. Yay.
It's huge and modern and the lobby helps you instantly forget the grody motels of travels past--there's art here! And a fireplace! And people at the desk smiling at you, waiting to help! We didn't have any of the mentioned problems re: lackluster desk attendants or elevator slowness, and we were charmed by the size of our room (you could do several cartwheels in both the room and the bathroom!--it was a corner room. Maybe that helped?), quality of the beds, and view. And they have room service that delightfully includes bread pudding ($5!) and sundaes ($6!) that we never got around to ordering. But just knowing it was down there if we wanted it made me sleep a little more sweetly.
While there were a few minor bummers (no vent in the bathroom (three people taking showers in quick succession makes things awful steamy), $43 a night valet parking (I know it's the going rate but it bums me out all the same) ), the location and view and overall niceness of the place/lack of duct tape more than made up for it.
I stayed at Hotel 71 in November of 2008 for a few nights with the girls. The hotel was very nice. The wi-fi worked well. The room was spacious and fit 4 ladies comfortably. It was so cold outside that we were able to chill a bottle of sauvignon blanc on the window sill! But the room was nice and toasty! The view of the river was outstanding. We were within walking distance of many places. Great location!
My Friend's Bachelor Party Review #7
Considering the prices of all the places nearby, this place is a spectacular deal.
$350 for a suite to house 6 unforgivably drunk 20-somethings comfortably, giving enough room to sprawl out, pass out, and play game of asshole until the former occured.
The views of the river were spectacular, and the interior was extremely well appointed, with the exception of a small couch which didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the plush decorations.
A few knocks were a gigantic walk in closet which really would serve no purpose unless and extremely compulsive packer stayed here. And the lack of a fridge or ice machine, maybe it was best there wasn't a mini-bar, but c'mon, the beer was getting warm.
Did we deserve a place this nice? Can I really write a review based on the purpose I used the place for, a drunken crash pad? Probably not. But I think this a great relatively cheap spot for anyone who wants to stay downtown
The staff was very pleasant and the location was nice; however our room was very cramped and somewhat awkward. This could perhaps be because I requested a corner room, but the view was just ok and it was very clausterphobic. The bathroom was very clean and modern with the stand up shower and rainhead attachment, but it did not overwhelm me. Don't expect to think you got a great deal with the lower room rate because the cost to valet your car.............$43 dollars/night. The final complaint is that I am pretty sure I got bed bugs from our bed. I have what looks like a rash along the upper part of my arm that is driving me crazy.
I do not recommend this hotel at all.
are you kidding me? we stayed here for three nights in the recent jaunt to CHI this early Oct to check out the new Piano Addition at the Art Institute. this hotel has got to have the best river and skyline views in all of chicago! and what a location: one isliterally at the midpoint of ART [AIC] and shopping [magnificent mile]
i've stayed at Ritz's and Crillons yadda yadda and one does not expect the same lux here so for what it is- a room with a view for just over a hundred clams-it's perfect, its cozy, it's central.
and if you happen to stay over the weekend and you have one of them river views, be sure to get up and watch the yacht regatta that literally stops traffic as the bridges open up to let them thru!. By itself that show is worth half the room costs! ;-)
If nothing else, this hotel was located in the PERFECT location for visiting/tourist-ing Chicago, and our river-view room had an amazing view.
We got to the hotel, and we were actually able to check in about 4 hours before the 3pm check in time, which a huge positive!
The space of the room was ok. Nothing special, definitely not boutique-like, as I was hoping it would be. The interior reminded me more of a Holiday Inn than of a hotel that...well, charges as much as this one does. The room size was perfect, even roomy I would say, for 2 adults, while the bathroom size was pretty standard.
I know there are some complaints about the elevators, but we were on the 28th floor and had no problem at all. From the lobby, we actually didn't have to wait for one the whole time we were there, and anytime we needed one from our floor, we didn't wait longer than a minute.
My biggest complaint was that every single night we stayed there (3 in total), I was woken up by noise in the hallway. Once from noisy elevator traffic and the other two times from a group of drunken girls yelling on the floor. As an NYC native, I have no problem sleeping through noise, and I actually brought/slept with earplugs in all nights, so I think this is really a testament to how thin the doors are.
My only other big issue was that the bed was quite uncomfortable. I mean, when I'm traveling, I'm really paying for two things: a bed and good nights sleep; and this hotel couldn't meet either of those. Lucky for them, their location bumped up their rating from 1 star to 3.
In all, if you can get a good deal on hotel71, then it might be worth the stay here. If you are a tourist like I was, it more than likely is worth the stay. If you end up having to pay full price, you may be disappointed. Oh, and if you do end up booking some nights here, make sure to request a room on one of the higher floors.
In my opinion, Hotel 71 Chicago is probably one of the best places to stay in the area. Located downtown and in the heart of the city, Hotel 71 is close to everything. I especially am impressed with the high level of customer service and attention to detail. It's nice to be greeted with a sincere smile in a big city like Chicago. I hear the Hotel is opening up a fabulous new cafe, which will be terrific because the hotel is so close to the River. Equally, there are plenty of great restaurants around Hotel 71, including Mortons and Corner Bakery. Make sure to ask the hotel staff about Windella river cruises, which are a stones throw away from the location.
Equally, the decor of the hotel is fabulous, with an ultra-modern lobby, full of trendy pictures and lighting. Chances are, you won't even need a cab to get around because Hotel 71 is so close to everything. Situated right on the Chicago River, and a block away from the magnificent mile, it's easy to spend a whole afternoon just people watching. I highly reccomend this hotel to anyone looking for an upscale, classy hotel with affordable pricing in the windy city.
How can you people be okay with charging 42.00 a night for valet parking when the room was only 149.00 - That's just straight up mean.
Anyways. Besides the stupid parking fees, I was pleasantly pleased with this hotel. For the price it's actually pretty great. We upgraded (for 50 bucks) to a megasuite which is about 5 times bigger than my San Francisco apartment. It had three flat panel TV's, one of which was in the bathroom. Classy. Make sure you get one of the renovated rooms. They're pretty.
I'd stay here again, just not in the middle of winter when the temperature is oh 10 degrees. It's not the hotel's fault, but what is that!
I really liked this place. Got a great rate here, and was slightly skeptical as most "boutique" hotels I've stayed in tend to favor style over substance. The hotel is in a great location, the staff was friendly and helpful and the interior was stylish without being gaudy. Used the workout room which was modest, but adequate and had a great city view. The room I stayed in was very large (another rarity with boutique hotels), the TV and cable options were slightly below average, room had a great city view. Bathroom was also spacious and nice.
Had one incident with the hot water being too hot in the shower and a staff member was sent up almost immediately and fixed the problem within 5 minutes, and was very friendly. Overall a pleasant experience and I would definitely recommend it, especially in the $100-200 per night price range.
This hotel is wonderful.
We had a great experience with the front desk and they even gave us coupons one night for a late dinner.
The rooms are fun and somewhat art deco style along with the rest of the hotel. The view was amazing and the rates were very fair.
The only thing I have to say is the elevator is a little slow but add character to the place.
We plan to be back.
I booked a room at this hotel prior to reading the reviews and was a little nervous rolling in. I have no idea what half of these reviews are talking about.
Parking: its downtown Chicago, deal with it. Every hotel I have stayed at downtown charged at least $35 a night, so they aren't out of line. I stopped by a few self parks near by, and there was almost no savings, so I just valeted every night. Plus you get in and out.
Elevators: Either they changed this problem, or other people stayed at a different hotel then I did. It was a concern of mine after reading the reviews so I made sure to time them. The longest wait I had was 45 seconds. They had 4 elevators 2 serving the first half and 2 serving the other. It worked well.
Rooms: Mine I believe was an older one. It was still clean, fairly updated, and without any complaints. My view was of some surrounding buildings and a bit of Michigan Ave, but I didn't care.
The location is stellar (within a short walk to every el line in the city), and the price is right. If you're not a chain hotel points whore or some super high maintenance jerk, you should have no problem staying here.
Large spacious rooms, beautiful views, but sort of ghetto-ish that they TAPED plastic insulin covering the windows. i expect better than that from a boutique hotel.
they have free wireless which even palmerhouse or the W don't offer for free which is nice.
We stayed here for a few days during a recent staycation. The room we had was fantastic. There was a river view with an actual "river view" ( Marina City and Trump Tower were my neighbors, sort of speak). There was a spacious bathroom, a very comfortable King size bed and a small couch. There was a huge executive style desk in there as well with wifi.Very well maintained, and the staff was efficient and courteous. The cleaning staff always asked if we needed anything before leaving for the day. Location is perfect for checking out museums ( CTA # 10 and #146 right across the street) and the Mag Mile. A Corner Bakery is just steps from the hotel and a great option to go for breakfast al fresco during the summer. I will definitely return.
my friend got a great room for a great deal: the view of the chicago river, trump tower is great! the yummy smelling shampoo they give out, the fact that the one bed room is clean and large, the friendly concierge who kindly gave us a menu for late night food delivery and chatted it up with us, and the decor is great!
what's not so great: the fact that the fridge appears to be missing, the lack of a flat screen tv, the door to the elevators are full length mirrors that both me and my friend got so confused about that we both ran into them as the elevator door opened for us. my friend got confused cos he thought the elevator was full of mirrors (he was sober). i walked into it cos i was well a bit tipsy shall we say. unnecessary safety hazard! we'll upload a photo later for this. it's great that they offer dry cleaning (obviously for those who pack mainly office attire) but not all of the clientele are travelling on business. put in a laundry machine for the rest of us thanks! they charge $2.50 per pair of socks. ridiculous.
I would very highly recommend weddings at Hotel 71. Rebecca will handle everything. We had an unbelievable amount of people tell us it was the best wedding food they'd ever had. The views are amazing. The room is smaller so it has a less capacity than most places but if you're having a wedding of 100 people or so, it is the best venue in the city. I could not be happier with how our wedding turned out and the service was wonderful.
Besides the location and the view, this is by far the most overrated hotel in Chicago, Our room was severely outdated and literally dirty. The window had duct tape around the edges (presumably for "insulation"). The sink & shower faucets leaked water everywhere (mold is definitely growing behind the scenes). The linens felt like sandpaper and there were no extra blankets or pillows. The closets didn't even have hangers in them. The television (they advertised flat screens) was a Zenith from the early 90's. Room service was fast, but the food was mediocre and outrageously expensive. The only thing slower than the elevators is the valet. You can expect your car 20 to 30 minutes after calling for it, despite the fact that the garage is attached to the hotel. If you're on a budget, don't be fooled into thinking you're getting a lot for very little with this hotel. There are plenty of budget hotels in the city that are much, much nicer than Hotel 71.
I treated my boyfriend to a night here to show him my favorite city. I'd made reservations online, and when we got there, our room wasn't quite ready, but the concierge let us check into an "executive suite" so we could get in right away. He said he hoped we "wouldn't mind" the fact that the room was a little bigger and there was an attached conference room.... mind? Ha! We got into our suite and couldn't believe how much space there was. The room was gorgeous, immaculate, stylish, and had THE most luxurious bed linens I've ever slept on. Outstanding views out of both sides of the building, too.
Nothing like an improptu rendition of "The Apprentice" in our boardroom-for-a-night. I don't think The Donald would have approved of our boardroom demeanor, though...
The price wasn't too bad ($200) considering we were right downtown Chicago, within walking distance of Michigan Ave, the river, and Millennium Park. What a great night.
Reasonably priced hotel with great location right by the Chicago River and a block to Michigan Avenue's shopping haven. The rooms are spacious, we fit 5 girls to a room without anyone beating anyone up for space. Hotel 71 tries to display a modern and sleek look by choosing trendy and funky furniture and it works. Parking can be expensive, around $40 overnight parking. I would recommend parking across the street at the Prudential Plaza or Millennium Park Garage for $16-$20 24 hrs. parking.
Is it wrong to give a hotel 2 stars based mostly on the elevators? I just can't justify 3, although to be fair I guess this should be more like a 2.5, because the room my parents stayed in was nice and pretty big, with a great view. But honestly, with the amount of money they have got to be making, they REALLY need to invest some time and energy into renovating their elevators.
First of all, if you can get on an elevator in under five minutes from the time you push the button, congratulations to you! The elevator never, ever, ever came quickly, whether we had called it from the ground floor or the floor my parents were staying on. Even though they have the floors separated into sections, and a couple elevators per section, it doesn't help. One time my mom walked all the way to the end of the hall back to their room, let herself in, and got something she had forgotten -- and this was AFTER we'd already waited 2 or 3 minutes for the elevator -- and when she got back we STILL had another 1 or 2 minutes before the elevator arrived.
Second of all, the elevator is S-L-O-W SLOW. I guess this goes without saying, considering how long it takes to arrive at whatever floor you're on, but oh my goodness, it's even more painfully slow than you'd imagine it would be while you're waiting for it.
Pretty much every time we rode the elevator DOWN, it stopped at every single floor, and it quickly filled up (because, oh, did I mention the elevators are also pretty small? Cuz they are.) and so the first few people would be able to get on, but by the 3rd stop or so, we'd just be met with exasperated faces and rolling eyes every time the door opened and whoever was waiting for the elevator realized they'd have to wait for yet ANOTHER ten minutes for the next elevator and hope that it wasn't full. Honestly, I can't imagine staying on the mid-range floors, how did they ever get downstairs?! It honestly would have been faster to walk. And the whole experience wasn't MUCH more pleasant for those of us ON the elevator, either, considering how much longer it took to get downstairs.
And, last but not least, the elevators are pretty terrifying. I don't know how old they are but I'm going to guess PRETTY DAMN OLD.
Other than that, the hotel was pretty good.
I stayed here on my recent trip to Chicago based on the recommendations on several yelpers when I asked for a modestly priced boutique-style hotel in a good location.
Things that I liked:
* Check in took like 4 seconds. I hate it when the person checking you into the hotel spends like 5 minutes pecking at their computer and making faces to try and check me in. This was the way it's supposed to be.
* Large room. Lots of space to spread out and a large window bringing in lots of natural light.
* Location. I had several meetings around Chicago, and because the weather was nice, I was able to comfortably walk to just about everywhere from here.
Things that could have been better:
* No one serviced my room during the day until it was too late and I was back to my room late in the day. No biggie, for me, but a bit surprising.
* I had to ask 3 times to get a smaller pillow. They set me up with these gigantic pillows (who sleeps on those?) and I requested a smaller one for my 2nd night but it was like pulling teeth to get it.
* They tried to overcharge me when I checked out. Probably an honest mistake, but if I hadn't looked at my bill, it would have set me back an extra 50 bucks.
This place is kind of the worst. Maybe I'm a little too posh, but, here goes:
1 - Ambiance: Lobby was playing Fox News when I checked in. What kind of hip hotel plays Fox News?
2 - Poor Reservation system: The room for which I had to **pre-pay** was sold out, so I had a choice of either downgrading at "no additional charge" or upgrading for $30 a night extra. Oh yeah and I went from a river view to the view of an alleyway, and a room next to the elevators.
3 - Ambiance, again: Pretty beat-up hallway, terrible insulation between rooms and halls
4 - Amenities: No bottled water in the rooms, either for free or via mini-bar. If you need water, you need to drink tap.
5 - Amenities: No bathtubs.
6 - Amenities: Linens are 100% polyester.
7 - Amenities: No blankets or duvets. Even in the summer, offer a duvet. (PS I can't believe I am considering warmth, kind of at the base of my hierarchy of needs, an "amenity")
8 - Ambiance: Poor-fitting bathroom fixtures (with an inch gape between the shower faucet and the tile, you can just imagine all the water damage and toxic mold waiting to grow.
9 - Amenities: No wireless.
In other words, don't let the website fool you. Not in the same league as W or Kimpton.
The elevators here are the worst. Is it too much to ask for a semi-intelligent algorithm that knows at least whether you've hit the up or down button?
The fitness room is totally sketchy. The front desk employees tell you which floor it's on, and when you arrive on that floor, there's absolutely no signage. Not helpful, when the facility is on a floor surrounded by other hotel rooms. The inside of the room is a labyrinth of randomly placed machines, all pointed in different directions. The only treadmill is at the very end of the room, facing the window that looks out on the river. It's a nice view, but I was totally creeped out by the fact that I couldn't tell if anyone was sneaking up behind me while I was on my run.
The rooms are a very generous size, but the bathroom was awful. The water wasn't hot enough for my shower, and I feel that as a 5'3" woman, I should *not* be able to look out over the top of the shower curtain.
All in all, I think I'd actually prefer to stay at the Red Roof Inn next time. At least they have free breakfast.
One of the nicest views I've had in Chicago. I remember taking lots of pictures of the view from my room, and that's all I really remember about my stay there. I guess the room and bathroom were ok, not great.
3.5 rating would be a better rating. We were on the water side at 34 floors up. Great view of the near north side. We also had a larger than normal room that included a chaise, which was great for reading. Our sink (along with the room next door) was backed up but the problem was soon fixed. So a great hotel if you are lucky enough to get a view, but it a remodeled hotel in a older building so don't be surprised if there are some hiccups to your stay.
There are some renovations going on right now, so I'd say the experience could be hit or miss. My recent 5 night stay was a pleasant one overall, but I can definitely see how it can potentially be much better...
On the positive side:
* great location - walk to the corner, make a left, cross the canal, and you're in the heart of Michigan avenue with upscale shops and restaurants. Also close to the El and walking distance to theaters, etc.
* nice view (if you're on the right side of the building) - I had a corner unit so I could see the Marina Towers, the Tribune building, the Trump tower (under construction), and up Wacker Drive along the river. Plus, there was plenty of light so the room felt a little bigger than it was.
* good service - got some extra pillows, a loaner umbrella, and a tv fix
* surprisingly decent exercise facility and business center - clean, modern equipment with good views. Both were completely empty all 3 nights I used them.
* room amenities - comfortable bed, handy chaise, and Bath+Body Works soap/shampoo/lotion (more of a plus for my wife, but I can appreciate the nice touch too)
On the negative side:
* room was a bit small and cramped
* tv was ancient and didn't work properly
* doors slam loudly (I woke up several times at night when neighbors were in and out)
* elevators don't give you good feelings
* towels were not the cleanest (I'm a little picky on this subject, but consistently found towels that had traces of stains or looked really worn - you can always ask for more)
So overall, not bad - I got a great deal on my stay - otherwise I might have given it 3 stars. Should be better once the renovations are complete. I'd recommend checking it out after that's done, unless you can get a really good rate.
This is an oddly mismatched kind of place...many things going for it....and several...well...not so much!
Location: Absolutely Great! In the Loop at the lower end of Michigan Ave., all the good stuff downtown Chicago has to offer is close by.
The hotel is trying to be an upscale boutique hotel. About half the rooms have been renovated and about half have not. The rooms are spacious in size, though maybe a little weirdly laid out. I had a renovated room, which was trying to aspire to the more upscale hotels but fell short in a few areas.
There is a 32 inch Plasma TV...and a glassed in shower with another TV in the bathroom. The desk is weirdly tall compared to the chairs if you want to work in the room as I did.
The staff was mostly very helpful, particularly the room service people and the meeting & event people, though the front desk people (although pleasant) seemed a bit clueless about the issues that people had to deal with while I was there.
The biggest issue for me (a business traveler) was that the internet in the guest rooms was down for 5 of the 6 days I was there! A major inconvenience! I was amazed that it wasn't fixed within 24 hours.
One of the 4 elevators didn't work the whole time I was there, and the restaurant was closed for renovation, so later guests will hopefully avoid these issues. Also the doorbell on our room went off for no apparent reason at 4:45 AM several of the nights we were there. I did see that some people who reviewed complained about noise...Our room was nice and quiet, except for the aforementioned doorbell, which appeared to be an electrical problem, not a prankster.
For meetings or events, the Penthouse on the 39th floor is absolutely awesome!!! I held an event there and it was a great venue, and the staff very helpful.
Overall...a good place to stay....if a little random :)
My husband and I stayed at this hotel last week.
Overall, this hotel was just ok. I give it three starts because it did the job, but I probably wouldn't stay there again when I go back to Chicago.
The room was big, it is in a great location, the view was nice, there were plenty of pillows, a spacious bathroom, and the staff was very friendly.
What I wasn't too crazy about was of course, like most reviewers mentioned, the elevator. I mean, come on!!! There are two sets of two elevators; one set for the bottom half of the hotel and the other of course, for the top half. You'd think that this would help the situation, but it actually didn't. I mean, one of our two elevators was out of service the entire time we were there. Between pressing the button to call for the elevator and getting off at whatever floor we wanted took literally about 8-10 minutes each time!!! Holy crap, invest some money and get those things fixed. Did I mention that each elevator can only hold 7-8 people WITHOUT luggage???
Ok, that said, there were just a couple other things that I would have liked different. For example, they had a coffee maker in the room and gave us coffee packets but no sugar or cream, not even powdered. The shower had absolutely no water pressure, so it took forever to wash the shampoo out of my hair. And the hallways were really dismal and depressing looking. There is also a huge gap between the room door and the hallway, so you might want to put a towel or something down to block out some of the voices, because you can hear every word spoken.
I was also disappointed that there was no restaurant/bar in the lobby. It is actually being renovated, but I knew that before we went on the trip by reading yelp reviews. :) They made up for it however, by rolling out a large cart (not as tacky as it sounds) and serving drinks in the lobby.
We had a great time in Chicago, and like I said the location was great and we didn't spend much time in the room so the stay was bearable...
Stayed at Hotel 71 last weekend and had a really nice time. They upgraded us to a river view room since we were only staying a night. Very nice! The rooms are very sizable and have great amenities. I particularly loved the shower (overhead).
The only negative I encountered with Hotel 71 is parking. Not surprising due to its awesome location. Parking is expensive and you cannot get your car on demand. For me it wasn't a big deal. There are a lot of parking options (and much cheaper!) if you're willing to walk a couple blocks.
This hotel is alright. It's in a good location if you're looking for a place to crash on a girls night out. It's clean, the service is friendly, and the rooms are large and nicely decorated, but there's nothing "special" about it, ya know? In the trendy hotel market, I definitely prefer the W, although the prices are much, much lower at Hotel 71 (especially if you check the online hotel brokers).
Also, I've stayed here twice and both times booked a "city view" room, but was able to switch to a "river view" room at check in, for no extra charge.
Seriously someone needs to smack the hell out of me for forgetting to share my/our experience here.
My memory really sucks!
Okay so I booked a last minute room here for a getaway weekend with my guy during March I believe ( ..) (.. ) I forget which month and am too lazy to go and pull up my statement to see......so ANY-way, lol. I got here on a Friday afternoon and much to my surprise the Hotel was actually awaiting my arrival - many hotels I have been to here have always had me waiting for my room to be "ready." It was clean and very contemporary yet dark in the lobby. The bellhop was awesome although he gave me a heads up on the slow elevators I was extremely shocked to wait literally 8 minutes for the ONE elevator to SLLLLOOOWWWWLLYYY come down to take us up to the room. The elevator itself took away alot of our motivation out that weekend when deciding where and when we were going anywhere.
The room, checking in everything was as pictured however I did for some odd reason think that paying 249.00 a night would have gotten me a little more square footage especially since I upgraded the room to a River View. It really made me wonder what a "normal" room size was. The best was the view and the bathroom! I loved it. However by Saturday morning we were callling the front desk thirty times about housekeeping coming to atleast remake the beds and bring tissue to the room! I mean we left that morning at 9:00am and came back at 7:00pm to find our room just as we had left it and without any TISSUE! do you know how frustrating it is to have your body wait for tissue!
Although the experience wasn't as great as I wished it would have been considering the very large bill I had to flip, there were little things like the location, valet/parking and view that earned the stars
Edit**** I forgot the convenient bar downstairs in the lounge area....its an hotel employee but they have all the alcohol you can take, you can drink in the lounge and watch the flat screen or take the drinks up to your room!
One more star for the alcohol!
I'll keep this short. The location is good, the rooms are a mixed bag, and the elevators add ten minutes to any trip outside your room. Additional annoyances are the cleaning personnel knocking on my door at 8am, and the bathtub barely draining. Not a good value.
I stayed at this hotel for NYE with my fiance. We had a pretty horrible experience. I am just going to go over some of the points so that this review isn't way too long.
Room: The room was clean, spacious and the view was pretty. The bed was not the most comfortable (the sheets did feel like polyester). The walls of the room must have been paper thin because we were about 3 rooms away from the elevator and I could actually HEAR people's conversations who were in the elevator. I could also hear other people in their rooms (I know it was a holiday weekend and some partying was going to be expected, but I could hear normal conversations!) and of course I could hear people in the hallway. Also, like Bruce N. said, I could definitely smell that marijuana. We got into bed at 2am and couldn't sleep until 4:30 due to the fact we could hear everything going on on our entire floor.
Elevators: Wow, what a mess. We definitely waited 15 minutes for the elevators each time we needed them. We were on a pretty high up floor so there was NO way I was walking down 30 flights of stairs. That was horrible. One time when the elevator finally came and we got on, we got stuck. Yup.
Food: Room service food was OK at best. It was way overpriced for what it was. When we were finished with our dinner around 7:30pm we left it outside our door for room service to clear away. When we returned to our hotel room that night around 1:30-2am, our food was still sitting there. Gross.
Check in: My fiance checked us in so I'm not positive how smoothly it went, however I do know that the room I booked online was not reserved for us. Thank god they had an extra room because there was no way in hell I was not staying there after I had booked it and driven 4 hours to Chicago.
Parking: When we first pulled up to the hotel we had been driving for nearly 4 hours. I knew that it was a holiday weekend and it was going to be busy in the hotel. Hotel 71 has a parking garage right next door and it's very convenient.... that is if it isn't full. It was full, they wouldn't allow us in. The hotel was not sold out, why was it full? Thankfully the hotel next door valeted our car for us in their lot across the street. It did save us from walking a few blocks in the snow.
I think that covers it. I would definitely not waste my time or money staying at Hotel 71 again. The walls are paper thin, the elevators do not work properly and there isn't even a restaurant or bar. The location is only decent because it is nearby to the El and some shopping (which is why I gave it one star). You find much better for your money.
I stayed at the hotel last year for a business trip. It was also my 1st time in Chicago. I kinda like the hotel tho.
The good: The hotel is clean, decor are not bad, located right off public transportation, downtown setting, great view from my room (don't know if this goes for all rooms), closed to everything with walking distance.
The bad: Lobby is kinda small. The people talking next door and I could hear. (thank god I didn't hear anything 'else' at night.) Hooking up internet was a pain.
Overall, i would go back again.
I think it's pretty great.
If not for check-in, I would have given my experience at Hotel 71 five stars. The premium room was great for what we paid, stylishly furnished, comfortable, quiet, and with an amazing bathroom (seriously, can I take that back to Boston with me??). The location could not have been better; we bought 3-day CTA passes and barely used them since we could walk almost everywhere. Prompt and friendly housekeeping and a fantastic 12th-floor river view were icing on the cake and even the elevators were never a problem (!!).
Now for the bad part: check-in. I'm relatively young already and look even younger, which I think wrote "take advantage of me" on my forehead. When we checked in, we were asked if we'd reserved a premium room with one king, to which I responded no, we'd requested two queens (I was traveling with my brother). He paused for a minute and told us he'd given us a city view and sent us up to the room. Well, it turns out he'd given us a standard city view (which wasn't even available on Expedia, but we booked anyway since we got a deal on the premium room). At first I thought I wouldn't complain since it was probably because they'd gotten the wrong information from Expedia, but I looked up the price difference ($70 per night for four nights) and marched back downstairs, determined either to get the premium room we'd paid for - or at least a standard river view - or to receive some sort of compensation. Another staff member was very friendly and apologetic and put us in a premium room. Halfway there, I realized I hadn't mentioned needing two queens and, lo and behold, there was only one king. I elected my brother to go down to the concierge this time and they finally put us in the room we'd requested: a premium river view with two queens. Since the room we'd originally reserved was obviously available, I'm not sure why they didn't just put us in it in the first place.
That being said, Hotel 71 was indeed a great place to stay in Chicago. If you can, stay in a premium room. There is a BIG difference, and I should know!
