I do a lot of travel for business and was so pleasantly surprised the first time I stayed at Hotel Felix for a trade show. It was very cool and sleek, modern. i understand it was recently renovated. I will DEFINITELY stay here again when I am in Chicago. It wasn't right in the middle of the city, a little further out, but had a nice neighborhood to walk around in with some bars/grills to walk to for food and a Starbuck's just a couple of blocks away.

Next time I'll take some pictures to post with this review.

We stayed here for a long weekend in June. While the rooms are truly tiny (my husband and I had to actually discuss where to put our two carry-on suitcases), the bed (and the sheets) was truly the most comfortable bed I have ever slept on in a hotel. The room was quite clean. I had asked for a "quiet" room, and it was. We did notice that you could hear the maid in the room next door cleaning, but we could never hear the other guests. There is free coffee in the morning, but no breakfast (we went to Whole Foods instead). The toiletries were a convenient size for airports (easy to refill). The location, once you learned your way around, is excellent- near to many bars, restaurants, the El, and other points of interest. We used the free Internet to help us plan our stay. The staff was friendly and gave good suggestions for eateries, but was not so successful as a concierge and getting tickets. We paid a reduced rate and were quite satisfied.

We stayed here after winning a bid on Hotwire, actually paid 1/2 of what their website was offering. The restaurant still isn't opened, but we typically don't eat at hotel restaurants anyway. Very nice room, large HDTV, soft comfy bed, lots of hot water and great water pressure. Some here had complained about the outside noise, it is somewhat noticeable, even on the 10th floor, but it is in downtown Chicago so it didn't bother us and we were able to ignore it. Others had mentioned that the rooms were small. I agree, but I didn't think it was tiny. It actually reminded us of European hotels. There was plenty of room for 2 adults and ultimately it's just a place to relax for a few days.

One thing that really impressed me was that the previous occupant in the room had significantly scratched the wall. Maintenance came by, evaluated the damage and said he would take care of it. We went out the next day and when we came back to the hotel the wall was repaired and we couldn't even smell the fresh paint. Nice work.

When we first arrived we requested an iron and it was delivered within 10 minutes. After returning from dinner on the final night of our stay, we stopped by the front desk and requested a fridge and it was delivered to our room in 5 minutes. Again, nice work. I've stayed at hotels were it's taken over hour to get a request filled.

There's plenty of places to eat in the neighborhood all within walking distance. There's a Whole Foods store, McDonalds, Hard Rock Cafe, Potbellys, Fogo de Chao, just to name a few.

If you don't want to pay $42/night for valet parking, I would recommend using the parking garage around the corner (on N Clark between Huron and Erie). It's only $23/night.

Look, I liked the Hotel Felix overall. My gripe with it is that you can get better for your money elsewhere in town. I liked the lobby bar, the doormen were all incredibly friendly and helpful, the front desk staff were pleasant. And the beds were absolute heaven. You literally sank down into them (they were so fluffy and soft I wondered if you could make snow angels). However, I had a gripe with the way the lobby area smelled, like sickly sweet flowers or something. I don't know if they are scenting it or if it's leftover from all the painting since the hotel is new, but it can't be all that eco-friendly, and isn't that the hotel's whole spiel? And the rooms. Geez, very small. Incredibly small even. Not what your expect for a 4 star hotel rating. I know the management has claimed in the past that this is because it is in a historic building, but one of the hotel staff told one of my traveling companions that is was for energy efficiency. I consider myself pretty environmentally-minded, but I just wasn't buying it and I don't think many people will be happy with it. You should not stay here if you have kids or want to be noisy, the rooms are just to small to allow any of that. My other gripe was the shower, it should haves some extra shelves in it or something besides that dinky one in the corner that is filled up with the freebie shampoo and conditioner. The sink should have a towel bar under it and the bathroom needs more shelves. There should be a coffeemaker in every room, it's just something people expect for a 4 star hotel. If you are sensitive to noise your should get a room above the 9th or 10th floor, the street noise is noticeable. I also liked the location since it was a pleasant walk to Michigan Avenue and the block it is on is less touristy than nearby areas. There's also some pleasant places to eat and there's a Whole Foods, 7-11, and Walgreens all within a couple blocks. Another thing I liked (and this is strange) is whatever the bathroom floor material was, it looked like stone or something but it wasn't slippery at all. Nice touch. Overall, a good stay, but the rooms are the big gripe.