First, I have to share that we got a great deal on this hotel. I wanted to stay there on my last trip to Chicago a few years ago but didn't want to spend the money. This time I chanced into a 50%-off rate on the hotel website and booked a Select King. Since I spent less than $300 on three nights please keep in mind that I could have had a different view had I spent full price.

The location is perfect and the Carbide and Carbon is impressive if you are into architecture. You are so close to Millenium Park that it's easy to take a quick walk over at sunsets and watch the skyline change on the Bean.

We checked into the hotel around 10pm after a flight from the West Coast and my first reaction was that the place was way too trendy for us -- we were wearing polartech and hiking boots. (But that was the only time I felt this way because we used the revolving doors straight onto Mich Ave after that and didn't go through the lobby again.)

We were told there were only two Select King rooms left, one on a high floor but next to the cleaners' closet and one on a lower, traditionally renovated floor without rock memorabilia. We opted for the lower floor -- the 13th, I think.

The room was fantastic, on the northwest corner of the hotel with a view on one side down the river to the Merchandise Mart and on the other side down Mich Ave. Not a lot of space in the room but enough for two people. Yes, it bothered me that I couldn't put much in the frig because of the mini bar set up, but I also didn't ask the hotel for an alternative so there might have been one.

The bed was very comfortable with a pillow-top mattress and the bathroom was huge. We did have a graphic of the Beatles in the bathroom and a mirrored pic of David Bowie in the bedroom so our room did have a bit of a rock feel to it.

And the room was quiet from inside noise! Of course there were sirens and street noise, but I didn't hear anything from inside.

I know the city well so we did our own thing and didn't eat in the restaurant, go to the bar or ask the concierge for help so I can't comment on those.

Overall, I would definitely stay here again, especially for the price I paid. It's a great hotel and you can take the 'hard rock' side of it as seriously as you want to.

The upside - the rock and roll memorabilia is very cool, the bar and lobby has a great ambiance, the drinks were very well made, the bar waitstaff was prompt and efficient and the rooms (at least the one I had) are very large and comfortable with nice amenities (although it was weird having John-Paul-George-Ringo watching me in the bathroom!). The downside was the rooms are dark as the lighting is poor. The hotel restaurant was a real downside. Service was slow and the food was consistently delivered cool or cold, not hot. Relative to the experience, the hotel was on the expensive side.

My wife and I took our 2 kids (18 & 13) and our small dog to Chicago for the weekend from Metro Detroit. We take this trip almost every year. This time we decided to try somewhere nicer than our usual Holiday Inn.

First the positive: The location is great! Right on Michigan Ave, a block and a half from the Chicago River and just over 2 blocks from the Art Institute. Dog "friendly"

Now the bad part: We checked in and were told that we could not leave the dog unattended at any time - in other words, we could go nowhere as a family. The manager had me sign a waiver to get around that issue. We were then checked into a smoking room even though we requested a non-smoking room. 30 mins later, that problem was corrected. We were surprised to see that both rooms (not suites) could barely hold the 2 queen beds and still have room to walk wround them. (They never showed a room in the photos with 2 queen beds) . Both rooms had beat up furniture and looked like it had seen its day (however the beds were comfortable and clean). In addition, our air conditioning was non-functioning. When I mentioned later in the day our dissappointment in the room(s), the manager apologized and said that he had a suite that was empty and we could have it - that is if we wanted to pay the cost difference! (Let's see here...you have unhappy customers, an empty, unbooked room but instead of making the customer happy, you insult them by asking them to pay!) When it came time to walk the dog, we were told that the closest grassy spot for her was FOUR blocks away! Not very dog FRIENDLY - perhaps more dog tolerant. Two of the five elevators that we stepped in throughout the weekend never moved - just closed the doors and sat there. If you wanted a stack of 3 pancakes from room service, that will be $11. - the prices go up from there.

All in all this hotel is in a classic historical building (the carbide and carbon building) and in a great location but this hotel is riding on it's name and is really quite poor with a front desk staff that has very few customer service skills (the baggage guy and consierege were very nice). We look forward to going back to our old stand-by Holiday Inn.

Top notch attention to detail from the catering team to the audio-video folks. Excellent property in a great location, good rates and a sales staff that will work with me to get my business. Overall, a great experience!