As a budget traveler what I'm looking is an economical comfortable problem free place to stay and as long as I get that I'd be happy. My verdict after staying here is that unless saving money is your number one concern then go elsewhere.
I stayed here 5 nights after booking on Orbitz where the 5th night was free and with a $75 coupon ( you can always find some coupon code for Orbitz for multiple night stays ) the total cost came to $30 a night, including taxes!
I arrived at the hotel close to 11p.m. to check in and commented to the clerk that as was listed on the Orbitz hotel room description that I wanted a room with a microwave and fridge. The clerk responded Orbitz should not be listing those on the room description and that they have no way of knowing which rooms have them! The clerk asked me what I wanted to do about this problem, and I said I was willing to go to the room to see if it had a fridge. This was not acceptable to her and once again she asked me what I wanted to do without an ounce of any regard for customer service in her demeanor. Now I am not the most demanding person and always treat people with politeness and I can say this was the worst customer service I have ever encountered from anyone in the service industry.
Finally she offered to have the shuttle bus driver look in the room when in got back from the airport in 15 minutes.
Twenty minutes later the clerk summoned me from the couch in the lobby to inform me that the room did not have a fridge, but I could come to the front desk at 7 a.m. the next day and maybe they could find me a new room with fridge.
Resigned to take the room on offer, what do I find upon entering the room. A fridge!
The room itself was okay, seemed clean enough and bug free. The bathroom mirror had a large crack and the bottom of the bathtub for mushy underfoot as though nothing was supporting it.
The bed sheets had many holes and cigarette burns and the TV was classic budget hotel style about a 20 inch CRT probably a number of years old. There was free internet but you could only pick up the wireless signal from the lobby area.
The bed was very soft ( or worn out? ) and sagged greatly. I had hurt my back a few days before and found after the first night's sleep my back was now worse! For the rest of the stay I had to avoid sleeping on my back.
Room service had the annoying habit of knocking on the door at 8:30 in the morning and if you weren't ready for them your room was likely not to be attended too later. I took to the habit of taking my own clean towels from the carts left in the hallway.
My overall impression is that after changing hands from Holiday Inn to Wyndham to now being independent that this hotel is being run into the ground, with the minimum amounts spent on maintenance or staff.

As for the area, it was a safe neigbourhood. There are limited restaurants within walking distance. A Hooters in next door, an Outback Steak house a short distance east, a thai restaurant and a breakfast and lunch only diner across the street to the west. There is also a Dominick's Supermarket at the intersection of Cumberland and Higgins. TIP- if you need a 1-day CTA pass you can get them here, most CTA stations don't sell them.
The hotel is a full 5-minute walk to the Cumberland CTA (public transit) metro station, and to get there you must walk along portions with no sidewalk ( gets muddy when it rains) and cross a busy intersection where drivers are not paying attention for pedestrians - as there are so few. Be careful.
Or you can park in the lot for $4 for up to 12 hours or have the shuttle driver take you.
The Blue Line runs 24 hours a day and takes about 35 minutes to the LOOP or less than 10 minutes to Ohare aiport.
If you are taking the "EL" downtown please be advised that during the spring / summer of 2009 they are working on the line on most weekends from 10 p.m. Friday to 4:00 a.m. Monday and so during these times you must transfer to a bus to take you into the Loop. After they finish upgrading the line sometime later this year the ride downtown should only take 30 minutes.
Overall I would not want to stay here again , but considering the price was less than a hostel might charge you for a non-private room without a bathroom, maybe I might consider this place for a traveler needing to save money as #1 priority.

We just completed (me, my wife and two other couples) our stay at this hotel and I could not wait to write this review. For the price I was not expecting the Ritz, but this was just horrible. I actually lost all hope when the picked us up in a dilapidated white van. When we got to the hotel the receptionist was rude and actually acted put out by checking us in. The room smelled musty and moldy in fact we had to switch rooms after the first night because the hot water in the bathroom sink faucet and hair dryer did not work. The second room was not much better. The AC worked sporadically. As others have stated the internet was still down as of April 26th. The continental breakfast consisted of stale packaged donuts and less than average coffee. When they clean the rooms the large full garbage bags sit in the halls for a day or so. My wife and I requested other pillow (only three provided) that never showed up even after two requests. Our last night (Saturday) my wife was pretty sure she saw a prostitute leaving out the front door which would not surprise me. The other two couples we visited Chicago with reported similar room conditions and were just as unhappy. The owners and staff (except for one shuttle driver who was actually very nice) of this hotel just do not seem to care. My goal is to get the word out this hotel on every blog and review site I can so other people do not make the same mistake we did. The only bright side of the hotel was Spuntino Pizza directly across the street which served both the best stuffed and thin crust pizza I have ever had at a very reasonable price.

I made this reservation online through Expedia.com. The outside of the hotel is deceiving. It looks okay, but when I went in to check in, OMG! It was smokey and the office behind the desk was filthy. The garbage was overflowing and it looked like the floor was never vacuumed. When I got my room key, on the way up the stairs, the floors were not vacuumed, the hallway walls were scuffed and the wallpaper was peeling off the walls and the doors were dirty with scuff marks and dirt. Window seals were full of cobwebs and the floors on the way to the room looked like they were never shampooed. When we got to the room, which was supposed to be non-smoking, it reeked of smoke. The bottom drawer of the chest was missing and the floors were dirty and the windows were greasy looking. I went back to the desk and complained and they changed the room to the first floor. I went to my conference and when I came back at night, all of the doors on the main floor were open, main door, fire exits, emergency exits, all of the ones on the first floor were open. No screens on the entry of the doors just wide open. Anything could come in the hotel, animals, bugs, etc. I did not feel safe in the hotel because anyone could come in at any time. Housekeeping was not 24 hours. They were not there at night. What kind of hotel doesn't have 24 hour housekeeping. This one doesn't, that's for sure. I was fed up, I checked out the same night. I refuse to lay my head down in such a disgusting and filthy place. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone. I was embarrased to have my friends to come visit me at this place when I was there. I complained to Expedia.com and they refunded my money and I told them to take this hotel off of their list because it would make them look really bad if they recommend this hotel to anyone. I arrived there at 3:00 p.m. and I left at 9:30 p.m. to drive back home from Illinois to Michigan that night. I refused to stay there.

The room rate was cheap, and that is exactly how I would characterize the hotel. Least firm hotel bed I've ever tried to sleep on, seemed you had to pay for basic tv, and bottom bed sheet wasn't fitted so slid off all night. Luckily, we only needed the room from 9pm to 4am because we were using it as park,sleep and fly. Only nice thing about the place is the shuttle driver - exceptionally nice and helpful man. We probably save $30-50 staying at this place as opposed to another O'Hare area hotel, and in the future that savings wouldn't be worth it to me. Won't stay there again.