This is not a well-known hotel in Chicago, but it's really interesting.

The location is ideal for just about any purpose: just off the magnificent mile, a block
from the red line subway and a few blocks from the El.
The hotel is not super-noticeable from the street; the entrance is
on street level but the hotel lobby is 6 floors up on the
elevator.

The rooms are not just suites, they're really large suites -- with
a well-equipped kitchen, a living area with sofa and bath, and a bedroom
with full private bath. They have nice views of the city and
are well-equipt (big screen tv in the living room, large
tv in the bedroom).

One thing that's a bit strange about the place in this
age of niche-marketing is that
it caters both to budget-conscious tourists with large families
and to business travelers on long-term stays who are using
somebody else's money.
So on the one hand they have wifi and internet in the rooms,
and an enthusiastic full-service business-savvy front desk; on the other hand, they
have a mini-market that has basic cooking staples, and they
have a *coin laundry* (try finding that in a Marriott Courtyard!).
During my stay, they managed to cater to both groups
quite well.

My only minor complaint was about breakfast --
yeah it's complimentary, and they have a lot of staff on hand
to try to make it run smoothly. But it brought back bad memories
of summer camp: mobs of people pushing into a tiny serving room to
scoop out something from an industrial-scale vat of
scrambled eggs. They have a dining area, but it's much too
small for a hotel this size, particularly given that the breakfast
period is fairly brief.

My wife and I returned home today from Chicago. We stayed at the Homewood Suites for five days. The service was amazing. We were a little early arriving so the door man stored our luggage until it was time for us to check in. The door men were very helpful. They informed us of great restaurants and the best way to get where we were going.

The breakfast was good. We had some problems with one of the hostess on one morning. She was a little unfriendly. Other than that all was well. There was plenty of food to choose from and it was decent quality.

Wasn't into the Manager reception. We always had plans so it was not an option for us. We walked by one night and there was several people taking advantage of the free meal.

The room was nice. We had a great view looking South. We were on the 17th floor. From our room we could see the Sears Tower, United Center, and Trump Tower to name a few. I got to see a lot of construction going on over at the trump tower. The Trump Tower is one of the coolest buildings I have ever seen.

Having a kithchenette was awesome. We had a pizza from Giordanno's delivered the first night. We ate half and put the rest in the fridge for the next day. So on the third day, we had a pizza from Gino's East delivered and did the same. By the way, we thought that Giordanno's was the better of the two.

For the most part, everyone was friendly at the HWS. It really made our stay enjoyable.

Homewood Suites has got it all: great location for restaurants, shopping and attractions,comfortable suites,free breakfasts and internet,friendly staff,etc. A super place to stay in Chicago.

This is one of my favorite downtown Chicago hotels in its price range (~ $200/night on the weekend).

PROS:
* The rooms really are suites (with a door you can close to separate the bedroom from the living area).
* The living area has an HDTV, with hookups for laptops if you're hosting a small business meeting in your room.
* There's a nice kitchenette complete with stove, fridge & sink (great if traveling with kids)
* The free breakfast buffet was excellent.
* All of the staff members we encountered were very friendly and helpful.

CONS:
* The only negative thing I can say isn't really even a big deal at all, but I'll note it anyway... even though the room comes with an HDTV, there's no HDTV content. For example, instead of ESPN HD, you get standard-def ESPN stretched to fit the bigger screen.