The hotel is right on Michigan Ave. which is the main walking street in Chicago , very close walking distance to the Magnificent Mile . Walking distance from Union station and subway stations to Midawy Airport.

Overall my stay was perfect. Highly recommended

Essex Inn is a great hotel for a good price. We were in Chicagi mid summer and the temperature was very good. But we were also glad the hotel had a pool (which had flags from all over the world above it!). And to get to Lake Michigan, you only had to cross the park. In this park is also the Buckingham Fountain from the tune of Married with Children. The people at the hotel are helpful and very nice. The Essex Inn is close to a stop of the hop-on-hop-off bus. The subway is a few minutes walk.
It's not IN the city centre, but you got the city feeling when you step outside.

my 9 yr old son and I went to chicago for a fun weekend, one must to my son was a pool, I wanted to be downtown near the sights. We found the pool to be very clean and the temperature good, the room was clean and comfortable, the staff very friendly and helpful to both my son and myself, directing us to good food and fun sights, my son said that he wants to come to Chicago often and he feels the only place to stay is at the essex inn. I feel for the price there is not a better choice of lodging in the city.

This is truly a terrible hotel; only the price and location are good about it. The management is not at all responsive to guests' needs (I was at the front of a long line of guests waiting to check out while the guy behind the desk fumbled on the telephone for several minutes). The room was not cleaned entirely from the previous guests (an old plastic glass of water, used conditioner), a guy who ostensibly worked for the hotel barged into our room to "check if our telephone book was up to date" even though we told him we did not need the phone book, the room was not cleaned until five pm just when I wanted to relax after a long day. Really I could go on. Deeply disappointing.