This hotel is in serious need of a renovation. It is an extremely old hotel with a musty smell. I just got back (7/12/07) from a conference and stayed in this hotel and what a big mistake!!! My admin. assist. made the reservations and when I was about to leave on my trip, I search for this hotel's review and I knew I was in trouble. The previously reviewers were all correct on this hotel. The ones that gave it anything above a 2 star were smoking crack when they were there or when they were writing their reviews.

My room (&44) was very small and extremely dated. It looked into a psuedo-atrium werher I could see everyone else's rooms through their uncovered windows. The room had no refridgerator and had terrible TV reception, even though it was cable. The room's ceiling had water stains, cracked walls and ceiling above the curtains, no tub (just shower), non-working light in the shower, rust build up in the shower light casing, un-even carpeted floors. There was also no "DO NOT DISTURB" sign in your door and no visitors magazine that would give you some idea of the surrounding areas (most hotels who charge $140/night have these!!!). Not only that, the peephole on he dorr was painted over at least 5 times so you couldn't see who was at your door. How unsafe is that. !!!

How can they havea hotel like this on Michigan Ave??!! Everyone on my elevator rides were complaining about their rooms.
If you are going to Chicago, go to the Hilton, that is two blocks south on Michagan Ave. It is 10 times better and its about the same price. Avoid this place like the plague.

Please see my photos if you don't beleive me.

I booked my trip through hotels.com and when we arrived at the Congress Plaza hotel in chicago we were very disapointed. The hotel is extremly outdated and dirty. the furnishings does not match the carpet is old and worn out and raised in the middle of the floor, The closet needs paint badly, the closet, doors, woodwork, walls and ceiling had cracked chipped paint everywhere. the bathroom has stained sink and toilet and the porceline on the tub is cracked. there is no regulator on the water so the shower releases extremly hot water or freezing cold at any time during your shower. the tiles in the bathroom are old and worn. there is no vanity in the bathroom and the sink has no countertops. the bedspread looks like the first bedspread I bought when I was 21 in my first apartment ( cheap) the room had 2 old ugly outdated pitcures hanging and uncoordinated colors throughout the room. they give you 2 full size beds instead of 2 queen size as i requested. The beds has spring matresses and very unconfortable. If you sit on the side of the bed it goes to the floor. My stay there was a nightmare and when I complained i was told it was nothing they could do. on the web they advertise newly remodeled rooms and they show the lobby and conference rooms. Don't be fooled like we were. The lobby is not representitive of the conditions of the rooms. It looks like 2 different owners own the hotel and the lobby. Terrible is not a strong enough word to express my time in that hotel. We left the next day and paid $391.00 to stay at the Silversmith because we could not stand another night in that nasty hotel. The Silversmith I would recomend to anyone it was beautiful and confortable clean everything we expected for our stay

This was the best bang for our buck this weekend, so I was able to get past the fact that the hotel workers were on strike picketting outside the hotel, along with the fact that a good portion of the guest rooms were being rehabed and it was a tad dusty. However, we were assigned a room that was the fire escape, as in in the event that there was a fire, everyone on our floor would have to come through our room to get to the fire escape. When you turned the lights off in the room, they all went off! Either all off or all on! The shower has very low pressure, and did not drain, so you end up standing in 3-4 inches of water. Upon returning to the hotel after our night out in the city, we attempted to get a can of soda ($1.50) from the vending machine on our floor, but it just took the money and produced no soda nor a refund. When we attempted to alert the front desk, we had to call 3 times before anone answered. When we finally did speak to someone, they did not offer a refund, but said they would put an "Out of order" sign on the machine, but for the rest of our stay, it never received one. The onsite restruant is also closed for lunch (even on Saturday!). All in all, you get what you pay for, if that.

While visiting my brother in Indiana we decided to stay in Chicago one night to see the sights. The Congress was recommended by a colleague but when I checked it with trip advisor the reviews were dreadful and i wasn't looking forward to my stay. When we arrived the room was not yet ready but we expected this as we were very early, they kindly took our luggage to allow us to go see the sights. The location was just spot on and a short walk away from most sights and faces onto the lake. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful at all times during our stay from Marco the bell captain to Sheila the conscierge (3rd generation Irish!). Breakfast wasn't included but was well worth the extra €12 or so, with a wide selection of both hot and cold food available from the buffet. The room was basic but clean with a very comfy bed, better than I expected with a nice view. Overall we had a very positive experience.