This place is amazing. From the moment I made my reservation, the staff could not be more accommodating. I called in advanced to the concierge for information and it was waiting for me upon my arrival. The front desk people were wonderful and so patient as I wasn't comfortable with the my initial room. Between the bell staff and front desk they must have shown me at least 8 rooms with various views and layouts. They all had the patience of saints and without one bit of attitude. In fact, I could not believe how incredibly kind and understanding they were. Every morning I was greeted by name by the doorman and the bellmen. When it rained they offered me an umbrella the moment I entered the lobby from the elevator to go outside. The room service staff was great arranging food for me according to dietary restrictions. The gym was well appointed , but sadly I didn't get a chance to work out. The concierge managed to get reservations for dinner at a restaurant that it takes weeks to get into. AMAZING!!! The hotel is right across the street from Trader Joes so if you are hungry, you can get a bite to eat or pick up snacks. They have two business centers for guest to use and free internet.

I decided to stay at this hotel because I couldn't bear to stay down the street for a convention I was attending and wanted more of a small boutique hotel. In fact when I brought my friends over for a drink at the bar, the entire group was lamenting why they didn't stay at the James instead of the Mariott where everyone was congested from the gross chemicals they used.

My room was great and I had no issue with noise. In fact it was very quite. The room smelled great ,was clean , chic and well laid out. In fact all of the 8 or so rooms were very well laid out in their own way. Just to prove how cool the James is, Bravo's Project Runway was casting their 7 th season and Tim Gunn and the PR staff were staying there and I even got to talk with Tim in the lobby. I am a former concierge of 5 years so I know the level of service guest expect. The James was exceptional in every aspect..Everything about this hotel was beautiful, unique and well done.

Stayed at the James Hotel (seventh floor) for five nights in April 2009. The hotel was in a perfect location, very close to everything. Walkable places included the Magnificent Mile, John Hancock tower, Millennium Park, Navy Pier, Aquarium, Sears tower etc. etc. The staff were always polite and very helpful. The rooms were of a decent size with a very comfortable bed and some nice touches including plasma tv and kiehl's bath products. Only negative was that we were woken early each morning by traffic/bin men - not a bad thing as we didn't want to waste our holiday! I would highly recommend this hotel to anyone wishing to stay in Chicago on either a business trip or holiday. Can't wait to go back to Chicago and would definitely choose the James hotel again!

In fairness to the James, I arrived reluctantly and fully prepared not to like the James after being transferred from the Affinia due to a booking error at Affinia. (The James and Affinia are operated by the same group.)
The initial service and cleanliness of the James did impress me and I started to think that it might be as good(better ?) than a stay at the Affinia after all.The decor was plain and simple , but comfortable, and the rooms were nicely cleaned each day.Great mattress, quiet room and free internet, were all good.There was a nice, big flat screen in the room, but the closed-captioning was on, and no amount of button pushing could turn it off. It took 3 requests and 2 days to get the hotel to turn it off. I did not go to Chicago to watch TV, but after walking around for 6 or 7 hours, its nice to veg in front of the tube and have a drink or two before dinner.The closed-cap is really annoying and for the prices charged for a room, and the James' upscale presentation, everything should work correctly , or be fixed pronto.
Then the bathroom faucet knob fell off late at night, and we could not turn off the water.The "engineer" as they called him , did arrive fairly quickly to fix it , but it seemed forever, laying in bed trying not to fall asleep, waiting for the guy to show up.
I asked at the front desk about a long distance call and was told it would be ~$4 and change. In reality the charge was $13 something on our bill. I complained and the hotel adjusted it.
On our last night , after an evening of excellent dining and great blues bars, we got back to the hotel late and wanted to watch TV for a bit before calling it a night. The TV died a minute or two after we turned it on and refused to turn on again.I did not bother to call the front desk, by this point it was too late and I'd had enough of dealing with little problems at the hotel.
There was also an error with our room billing charge that turned out to be another mistake on Affinia's part.
The James was OK, the little problems were annoying, taking the glow off of what could have been a more enjoyable stay.If we had paid regular rate(the James honored the Affinia's special rate of $149), I would have been much less happy. The Affinia's handling of my reservation and subsequent transfer to the James has left a bad taste in my mouth.This is not the James fault, but between the hotel problems and the reservation problems, all under the care of the same group of hotels, our stay was just OK.

The James is a very cool, well-appointed hotel. The room service was perfect and reasonably priced for breakfast. The amenities and decor are wonderful (plus there's a huge big flat screen TV), as is the location. But...if you have an lower floor East facing streetside room, like I did, good luck getting a good night's sleep. It was VERY noisy. The street noise went on most of the night - motorcycles, trash trucks, etc. Even with earplugs in, because my room was so small, I was awakened one night at 4am by a dog barking (do they allow pets?), and another night by people talking loudly in the next room. Then, because the shades don't completely cover the window, the sun streamed in too early in the morning. I got a Hotwire deal, so maybe not the best room (they couldn't switch me the first night after I'd been waiting since 10am to check in), but that means I can't recommend this hotel. Probably not what they hoped for when they made the rooms available on hotwire.