It's fair to say that this wasn't our first choice for our second two nights in Chicago, being a fair way out of town, but the Days Inn Lincoln Park (where we stayed earlier in the trip) did not have availability when we were booking.

However, we were pleasantly surprised by the Super 8, which apparently does a good trade amongst people visiting the nearby Loyola University.

Although the reception has all the glamour of a petrol station booth, the clerk was friendly and efficient. Our room (on the third floor) was very spacious, including a fridge & microwave, and there was lots of room for re-packing our bags prior to the long flight back to Australia.

The hotel is about a 6-8 minute walk from Jarvis Station on the Red/Purple lines, but has a couple of buses (147 & 151) that stop right outside. Although we arrived by train, we mainly used the buses to get around once we realised how much closer they were.

The breakfast selection was reasonable, but in a very small room. On the first day, our timing was such that we could sit down and eat there, but had to take things back to our room on the second. Given the limited capacity, providing trays for people to take breakfast to their room would be a good idea.

The only downside was the strong smell of disinfectant in the corridors, although I guess this at least reflected a thorough approach to cleaning.

Overall the stay was nice. Yes, the hotel had a distinct smell of Febreeze which I figured was to cover up the smoking rooms or previous occupants who for whatever reason smoked in the room. The location was ideal and the hotel staff were very helpful and pleasant. I have read reviews that talked about the small bathroom, dorm style microfridge, and holes in the sheets/comforter. Yes, I witnessed this firsthand; however, the hole was very small and the bed linen and the bathroom were absolutely clean!. Let me be honest, I'm a recent victim of bedbug bites as a result of staying in 4-5 star/diamond hotels on the East Coast with an average cost of $200 and up per night. So trust me I inspected this room head-to-toe with a keen eye and a flashlight. This was the first time in many months I was able to get a good night's sleep while staying in a hotel. By the way, the mattresses where still new, purchasing tags still intact. I'm not sure if this was a result of recent renovations or if they also had prior problems with bedbugs or such. Either way I would definitely stay here again. For the money, this is by far the best.

If you are looking to visit Chicago and you don't want to pay a ton of money to stay, I recommend this Super 8. The rooms were clean, and the bathroom wasn't too cramped. There was a microwave and a fridge. The motel provided free parking (also not easy to come by in the city) and was about four blocks to the El (Red Line). The motel was just a few El stops from Wrigley and three blocks from Lake Michigan. It isn't in the heart of the City, but since the train is so close, it doesn't really matter much (at least it didn't to me).

This hotel is ideally situated for those wanting a spotless bedroom, with microwave, fridge and bus and train service to downtown. The former literally stops outside the hotel and takes about 50 minutes to Downtown. The latter is a Red Line train and is about 5 minute walk from the hotel, and also goes downtown. A weekly ticket for bus/train costs just $20.

The hotel staff were okay, but not over-friendly with the exception of a guy called Mehta. The hotel has a small reception and breakfast area, we took ours upstrais and ate in our room. It is very clean with safe parking under the hotel building itself. This is a very 'safe' area, and you can walk anywhere anytime as far as we are concerned. The view out of our window was the next building's roof! But, we loved it here, it was just what we wanted. Good value considering its closeness to Downtown. The room itself was excellent though.

This is situated in 'Universityland.' We liked the area and would happily stay here again.