I stayed at the Crowne Plaza Chicago-Allerton on Friday night. It was a great location to all the clubs and bars. We walked about nine blocks to get to Sound-bar, Y, RiNo, Spyclub, etc.

FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND:
My friend and I took the subway from O'Hare to the Chicago (Red line) stop and walked about 3 blocks to Michigan Ave. Once on Michigan we began out search for the Crowne Plaza to learn that it is NOT on Michigan Ave technically--the enterance is on Huron. The Nine West shoe store shares the same building and its front is on the Mag Mile. When we entered the Hotel, we learned that check-in is on the THIRD floor using the elevator on the right. If you wanted to go to your room, you had to get on another set of elevators on the third floor. To go to Taps or the lounge, you got on the elevator on the first floor to your left.

THE ROOM:
Very small. We checked in at 5PM and that's the only avalable room they had. My friend saw it and had a fit, but I didn't care because we didn't spend so much time in it. It had a standard bed (full), a small desk, and a TV on a TV stand. The linens and towels were white and clean. The bathroom was quite nice with marble-ish floors and a see through glass shower. On, the floors are very slippery! The room was very clean and stocked with the following:
-Shampoo, conditioner, soap, lotion, and shoe polish
-Hair dryer and make-up mirror
-On the bed was a linen spray and earplugs
-Iron, extra blanket and pillow in the closet

STAFF:
Helpful, if not a bit sarcastic. They at least knew how to get around the city. You can also leave your luggage there after check-out to walk around the city.

We tried one of the anonymous low priced-room hotel finders for the first time last weekend. Our room was very narrow and very short. It had a double bed, a hollow end table, a tv/cabinet and a hanging desk with a chair. We had to knee walk across the bed to get to the end table on the other side. The windows didn't fit so the air was frigid. The bathroom had no where for personal items, there was a small sink, no vanity, a toilet, and a shower, no tub. We had been promised no less than a queen sized bed and other standard features. We talked to other guests in the bar and 3 others were staying in the same kind of room. All were paying more than we were so it wasn't just because we were trying to go cheap for the weekend.

Entrance to the hotel was ground level, freezing in there. Elevator to either floor 2, restaurant/bar or 3, the lobby/check in/out. Then cross over to elevators going to the guest rooms. Long waits for elevators. The room was nicely appointed but extremely small.

When we checked in and were told it was a petite classic I asked what size bed? double. I said we need to have a queen sized bed, we have a confirmation. Ok, queen it is. The bed was a double bed with a queen-sized headboard.

This was my first trip to Chicago, and if it's yours, please make sure you know where to go once you get off the train. It was very hard to find on foot, since we weren't from there, and most of the people we asked were either tourists themselves, or people that lived there, and weren't friendly.

After we finally found the hotel, check-in was a breeze. We went to our room on the 12th floor, opened the door, and came to soon realize that claustrophobia was going to be a problem. The room was absolutely tiny. I felt like I was in a closet. You can barely walk around the bed to get around. That's all it was- a bed, a tiny desk and chair, and an armoire. The bathroom looked very spacious, but I would only recommend this room for someone traveling for business by themselves. I was with my husband for our two year anniversary. We went downstairs to see how much a suite was.

First of all, I would recommend everyone using priceline.com and bidding for their rooms. We got ours for $60.00 a night. The upgrade to a suite was $60.00 more a night, but trust me, it was worth it. It was very spacious, two tv's, a couch, and a desk.

The hotel staff was very friendly, especially the Concierge. Watch out for the maids though. We had to leave the privacy sign on our door the entire time we were in the room because they would just walk in without any notice. I guess they just assumed it was vacant.

I would love to go back to this hotel. Everyone was the best and helped us find the easiest ways around Chicago. Will be back again!

We were awarded this hotel through one of our regular Priceline bids. We've had our share of horrible experiences when bidding for hotels, and after reading some of the reviews on this site, we were prepared for the worst. We were pleasantly suprised, however...

Overall, staff was very polite-- even the front desk. Yes, they tried to upsell us a suite upon checkin (which we gently refused). But when we were done, we had a "handicapped" non-smoking room with a king bed and a rollaway for our daughter. An ideal situation for our family of 3..

We had plenty of towels, the room was clean, and we never had to wait long for an elevator (and the hotel was completely booked).

Yes, the elevators are small, the halls are narrow, and the rooms can be tiny (judging from the fire escape plan [hint-- ask for a handicap room!]). But overall this was a great experience, especially for the price we paid.