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The Write Inn
Categories: Event Planning & Services Hotels Hotels & Travel Hotels Hotels & Travel Bed & Breakfast Hotels, Bed & Breakfast [Edit]
211 N Oak Park Ave(between Erie St & Ontario St)
Oak Park, IL 60302
(708) 383-4800
- Nearest Transit:
-
Oak Park-Green (Green Line)
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- Paid
18 reviews for The Write Inn
18 reviews in English
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Review from Jon T.
Santa Monica, CA
12/2/2010
This hotel is conveniently located in Oak Park.
The 2 cool things are the Bistro - nice french restaurant.
Good breakfast nice chill bar at night.
The second cool thing is the old timey spring door powered elevator.
If you are a fan of old timey elevators then stay here!
If you are a fan of fancy new rooms then do not stay here!!!!
The rooms are on the other side of awesome.
Do not get the pullman railroad style rooms unless you can't afford anything else but if you're that broke then stay at the Y or sleep in your car!
The pullman room is supposedly modeled after a train car room which maybe cute on a train but in a hotel not so cool. Room is a bed with tv at the end, no nightstand and heat that does its own thing.
The standard room is more like a normal room but nothing fancy now, no flat screen or ipod alarm clocks here but it is quaint and plenty of shopping, food, etc a few blocks away. -
Review from Andrew A.
Oak Park, IL
5/7/2011
It has some historical charm, which means the rooms have a moldy funk that seems to follow you. When I moved back to Oak Park from San Francisco, I lived here for about a month. The staff were nice enough, although after a week, should have at least recognized me.
There are few competing hotels in the area, but that is changing, and I hope the Write Inn can read the writing on the wall. I regret recommending the place to out-of-town guests who later went to a downtown hotel. -
Review from Jeff S.
Simi Valley, CA
5/31/2011 4 Check-ins Here
It's a motel 6 quality place with a Mariott kinda price. The place was built as an SRO hotel decades ago. SRO means FLOPHOUSE. The rooms, while not unclean are the same size as they were when the place was built to house transients.
Quaint means run down in this instance.
Charming means so freaking tiny you can't move.
We had to stay here as there wasn't anywhere else available in town for the saturday night of a holiday weekend. The Queen bed was not a queen bed, it was a full.
Plumbing needs work, you shouldn't have to hold the toilet handle down for a full minute to get it to flush toilet paper. Showerhead is older then Jesus.
and while it wasn't a problem for me, the parking is 2.5 blocks away- it is validated.
Not a zero star experience, but 1 will do. The hotel says in it's propaganda that it is to evoke the feeling of struggling writers.
Struggling writers tend to be broke, and don't practice the best personal hygiene, and that is the sort of feel you get here. Stanky old me locked away in small little rooms and very very angry as their lives suck.
stay elsewhere unless you simply must stay here. Wi-Fi is free now. -
Review from Laura H.
San Francisco, CA
10/28/2011 1 photo
Terrible. The hotel itself was wasn't the worst: they let us check in late, and the room seemed okay. Plumbing connected the sink heat and the shower, causing some awkward showering situations.
What made it miserable was they way they handled the bed bugs: I noticed the bites two days after our first night, but thought maybe it was a bug that came in through the window. A day after our departure (a four day stay), was when the bites started showing up on me and my boyfriend (we had parted ways after our stay in Chicago, meaning that our last shared point was the Write Inn). I called the Write Inn to explain that is was obvious that bed bugs were in their hotel, and they responded with the following: "well, that last few folks who stayed in that room haven't complained"... Well, no shit... It takes a couple of days for the bites to show up! "well, how did you get here? You might have got them on the plane" Does it matter?! Even if we got them before we showed up at the hotel, their hotel, they probably have bed bugs now! "We'll investigate and we'll call you back"... No call.
It's clear to me that this hotel doesn't care if their hotel has bed bugs. Any decent hotel wouldn't try to blame their customers, and they've obviously decided to ignore warning signs.
It's now a week and a half since I departed from the Write Inn, and the welts are just starting to fade. Don't make the same mistake. -
Review from roger h.
Chicago, IL
4/5/2011
The other reviewer are on point here. This place is just awful. Shame on the owners for not utilizing the potential here.
The rooms are freezing cold, they charge you to use WiFi in your room, and the manager is downright rude! I could go on and on but bottom line, It really could not get any worse here. I will recommend any other hotel in the area over this craphole! It actually felt like I was sleeping in a transient hotel.
And yes, the carpets are gross. Don't even think about walking around barefoot unless you like the idea of ringworm. Nasty!!! -
Review from Katie M.
Cary, IL
9/12/2011
Oh dear... the Write Inn. This place is so horrible it makes me laugh. I stayed here about 5 years ago with my husband and it was the worst hotel experience of my life! Do not let anyone who tells you that it's nostalgic or charming fool you. They call this place The "Write Inn", like it has something to do with Hemingway... they are just trying to find a way to tie this creepy Motel-ish place into Oak Park's history as hard as they possibly can. The room was awful, the whole place felt dirty and there was virtually no one there. I noticed around midnight that there was only one pillow on our bed. Since there was two of us, I called the front desk to let them know that we would be needing another pillow.
Want to know what the response was? "Come down and get one by the front desk". So I left my hotel room, took the elevator (which paused several times as though it might break) to the front desk and waited in the lobby for the front desk clerk to get me my pillow. Not to mention I was pregnant at the time. Horrible experience, I would never ever go back and I warn everyone I can about this place! -
Review from Darla F.
Los Angeles, CA
8/3/2009
Me and the Evil Stepsister - alone in a hotel room. Two requirements -- one) separate beds and two) walking distance to decent bars or restaurants so we can run away somewhere and hide from each other.
This hotel filled those two basic requirements perfectly.
Beyond that, the room was quite large and appeared to have been decorated around 1970. The television received 10 or 12 channels, one or two of which occasionally were cable stations -- not quite sure how that worked exactly. The bathroom was large and almost clean. The carpet was stained. The windows opened but would not shut. The elevator worked but was quite slow and a little like something from an old slasher movie. Some of the employees at the front desk found my existence an annoyance, others found me charming and were quite conversational. The location is perfect. The housekeeping staff fast, in fact so fast none could take the time to clean out the BUGS in the light fixture over the shower despite my repeated requests. The price was such that I cleaned out the invaders myself.
Though I did not eat in the restaurant I did sneak in there one afternoon to avoid you know who. Someone with a very decent voice was covering popular French songs from the '50s, apparently the restaurant has live entertainment on the weekends - the waiter refilled my iced tea glass frequently without giving me sarcastic eyeballs for taking up a table and not eating anything.
I must mention that the parking lot is one short + one medium block away from the hotel. It's a municipal lot with LOTS of rules and if you don't abide by them you will get a fat ticket. I heard two people complain about theirs (tickets that is) in the lobby to the staff. -
Review from Aaron A.
Chicago, IL
8/22/2009
Here is the deal.
FANTASTIC bar. Hemingway was born right down the street- it does not get netter than that,
The hotel is a great place to crash after days of driving from the west coast. It feels like home and all the people working here make you feel it too.
So happy this is our first experience in the Chicago area The neighborhood is amazing as well are the people who live here.
You are guaranteed to ave a nice stay at The Write Inn.
you've just been yelped in. -
Review from A L.
San Francisco, CA
11/25/2007
I have stayed here several times. While it has a very cute ambiance, especially in the lobby, bar, and entry room, the rooms themselves are lacking. They are extremely tiny and very very old. And my most recent stay was in a specially named room which, while larger than the average room in the hotel, was COLD. And despite my turning on the heat to 90 degrees on high fan for 5+ hours, the room never got above 40 degrees F when it was less than 32 degrees outside. Brrrrrr... Oh, and they want to charge you to use the internet in your room.
The staff is super friendly though. That definitely is one of the better parts of the stay. -
Review from ms. O.
San Jose, CA
8/30/2010 1 Check-in Here
Mediocre rooms, nasty carpets.
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Review from Joshua L.
Indianapolis, IN
10/23/2007
Many problems with this place. When planning for our recent wedding, my fiancee and I made the mistake of choosing the Write Inn.
Oak Park doesn't have a lot of hotels, so when we were booking for our wedding, we were happy that we were finding something in town. However, we found customer service here extremely lacking.
We reserved a block of rooms for our wedding and nine out of ten people calling for those rooms received wrong room rate quotes, denial that the block existed, rudeness, and a general runaround.
Then on our wedding night when trying to check in still in our tuxedo and wedding gown we started getting crap from the clerk about how we should have called them ahead of time to let them know the credit card the room was reserved with had expired by then. This was when they had our phone information for months *and* the current credit card in hand, ready to go.
Overall, unless you really have to stay here, the uniqueness of the hotel does not overcome the lacking service staff. Given the chance to do this again, we would have skipped this inn entirely and used one of the superb local bed and breakfasts. -
Review from kathy e.
Oak Park, IL
12/9/2010
We had a very unpleasant stay at The Write Inn recently. We found the rooms lacking to say the least. We knew that it was an old hotel when we booked but it could be such an Oak Park charmer! The carpeting looked like it should be inspected by the health department! What we felt was worse than the ambiance was the staff's attitude; unfriendly and unhelpful. It is too bad that the ambiance of the hotel doesn't match the ambiance of Hemminway's Bistro (hotel's restaurant which serves excellent food).
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Review from Hannah Y.
Alexandria, VA
9/22/2009
The inn itself is quite charming, near the Lake Street neighborhood with all the shops and boutiques. They have a bistro inside that holds a Champagne brunch on Sundays with live jazz music.
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Review from Patricia B.
Chicago, IL
11/27/2005 2 photos
This is one of those "must see" places for ("way too cool for our own good") artist types (like me!). This is a small but charming hotel that has a restaurant called "the Hemingway Bistro." Yup, it is indeed named after and in honor of the great scribe himself, Ernest Hemingway. This hotel/restaurant has good food and pretty reasonable prices, and it's located in a very popular section of Oak Park. There's a lot to see and do around here.
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Review from Susi D.
Bolingbrook, IL
7/18/2008
The hubby and I stayed here for V-Day one year a while back and I thought it was quite nice. Its got the antique thing going on which is fine. There's a really old elevator that wasn't working when we were there (antique as well perhaps?) and then a more modern one hidden off in the back so you don't HAVE to walk up the stairs unless you want to. We got one of their "signature suites" which was quite large. Had a little sitting area and mini-kitchen. The bathroom was the best...it had this giant tub that you had to climb up a few steps to then step down in. Ahh. It had jets but we couldn't get them to work. Oh well. It's just close enough to downtown OP and all that action but just far enough to not have that action be really distracting or anything...
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Review from bridgette k.
Chicago, IL
3/25/2009
Elderly people work the front desk. Charming building. Cozy rooms. But they are tiny. Huge bathroom. Cocktail room/restaurant in the inn. Comfy stay. Its the history of Oak Park and it shows. Close to everything in town.
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Review from Heather b.
Chicago, IL
5/16/2008
The Write Inn is a definate boutique hotel in the heart of Oak Park. There are plenty of great restaurants just one block away. the hotel rooms have been entirely updated in early 08. Head to Toe. I do know that. There are many thoughtful details in the hotel decor to keep it true to its antique feel, like the other review said. The restaurant in the Hotel is very good too.
The people working there are nice and knowledgable about the area. they were able to direct my husband and I to the train (two blocks away) to go to Downtown chicago (an easy 20 minute train ride) and besides, when you go to chicago, you've got to ride the EL!
I would give this 4 stars but since the room and hotel improvements, i'll have to give it a 5. -
Review from Jennie L.
San Mateo, CA
4/26/2010
Overall, a disappointment. It's a shame because The Write Inn has so much potential. It's in a great location, right next to the park in downtown Oak Park. The outside and lobby is historic and charming and it has an apparently good restaurant. We were in a signature suite, supposedly one of their best. The room was pretty awful. I've stayed in older hotels before and there is a difference between charming and old and tired and old. Unfortunately, the last renovation/redecoration seems to have taken place in the 1980's. Picture cheap oak and brass furniture and dried flower wreaths. The lighting sucked in both the room and the bathroom and in the entire space there wasn't anywhere to put a suitcase and open it (except the floor in the middle of the room). The room overlooked an alley, trashcans, and a very dirty back yard - charming. The entire place was totally depressing. We requested two cribs (we have 14 month old twins). When we arrived they weren't in the room. Eventually they brought one crib that was missing an entire slat on one side and told us it was the only one available. When we explained that we really needed two as our babies wouldn't fit in just the one (broken) crib they offered us a cot. Needless to say, we ended up with a baby in the bed and didn't get much sleep. For this, they charged $180 a night (and tried to charge us $20 per crib per night). The several people we encountered at the front desk were fairly apathetic as well. We have family in town and my parents have gotten stuck here several times when The Carleton (much nicer hotel) was full and it's been pretty much the same every time. I'll avoid this place in the future, even if it means staying farther away. It's really too bad ... Oak Park is so charming, it really deserves more than one good place to stay.
