Chicago booked up so with great trepidation reserved room at Congress Plaza Hotel - it was welcoming - clean - there WAS hot water - wonderful location - lovely room with bay window looking towards Lake Michigan - strikers not in evidence - food good in breakfast room - nice bar for nightcap - all good.

Unfortunately I stayed at the Congress Plaza for 4 nights while visiting the NRA Show. I can sometimes be over critical and judgemental when it comes to staying in hotels because I work in them, but this was by far the worst ever. Not sure where to start, it is old, workers on strike outside the entrance screaming "Shame on You!" while you are walking in, old and dirty rooms, AC was not working, and a used bar of soap from the previous resident was still in the shower with accompanying dark hairs!!! not a pleasant stay. I would have gone don the street to the Hilton, but they were fully booked because of the show. Breakfast I have to admit was ok, but that was the only decent offering in the hotel. I tried to spend the least time possible in it, so didnt see anything else. Internet is available in the rooms for 9.95+ per day. While I was there it was down for a good part of one day...still got billed for it though.

My advice is not to go.

I read the reviews of this hotel and was a little hesitant to stay here, but we had no choice because everything else was booked because we decided to stay an extra day at the last minute. The hotel workers were still on strike and would ask you "did you have a nice sleep? Don't you feel dirty?" when you walked out of the hotel. Well, I did feel dirty. The employees at this hotel were the rudest bunch of people I have ran into in a while. Maybe because they were scabs and crossed the picket line.
Our room was extremely hot, even though it was about 68 degrees out side. The "air conditioner", and I use that term loosely, was the equivalent of me blowing out while sucking on an ice cube. I called housekeeping and they were very rude and said "why don't you open a window?". Wow, how helpful! Then when I had called room service for the fourth time and kept being switched over to the front desk, he said "Well, call back later, maybe they're busy." I'm surprised at the lack of concern for their guests. You cannot call down to get your car from the valet, you have to actually come down and hand them the ticket before hand. When we did finally reach room service, we order Lobster Bisque, or rather a soup that they hung a lobster over the boiling water so it kind of smelled like fish...and Iced Tea. They didn't bring us sugar or sweetener, salf, pepper or even a tiny cracker to go with the soup. I wonder if everyone was on strike? Even the cooks. The room was pretty clean, if not really old and the bedspreads were from the 70's. The small bathroom had a cracked sink that was barely holding on the the wall and we had the "fun house" shower. In the middle of a warm stream, the water would turn scalding hot and burn you, then when you finally got it back to warm, it was shut off the hot all together and be ice cold. You had to shower in a hurry and if you have children, DO NOT put them in there alone! They could get seriously burned.
Do not stay here. It's frightening and you can tell the workers who have crossed the picket line, hate you.

This was absolutely the worst hotel I have ever stayed at. As I walked into the hotel the cleaning crew was on strike. Not a good sign!! The hotel room was old, dirty, and it smelled. The A/C didn't work, the alarm clock was broken and only one lamp worked. Yes this is a cheap hotel and not a bad location but for only a couple of dollars more you can at least sleep at night.. I would run from this hotel not walk.