My wife and I stayed at Hotel Allegro on a Friday and a Saturday night. We are generally fans of Kimpton hotels - we like the decorations and style that most of their hotels exhibit. Hotel Burnham in Chicago is a particular favorite, for example. We found Hotel Allegro to be a typical but unfortunately underwhelming Kimpton.
First, if you're in Chicago to see a show, Hotel Allegro has a decent enough location - it's walking distance to the Ford Theater and the Palace is right next door. There are restaurants, pharmacies, shopping and more in the immediately neighborhood.
The staff was friendly and helpful at all times.
Par for a Kimpton hotel, the room was just large enough for a bed and a small desk. The bathroom featured a tiny sink and a decent shower. It was clean and had a modern feel. We found it strange that there we only two tiny pillows on the giant King bed (and none to be found anywhere else in the room.) It had a large, flat-screen TV (although we never turned it on) and strangely, it had two closets - one tiny, angled one where the iron and hangers were located - and a larger empty one with a shelf and rack to which we moved the hangers in order to unpack.
Also par for Kimpton, the hotel was noisy. It is my opinion that rude guests are attracted to Kimpton's frequent discounts. Hotel Allegro had it's share on Friday night - about 2AM, noisy guests returning from the bars were shouting and laughing in the hall. We heard numerous slamming doors. At 7AM the clock alarm in the vacant room next to ours started blaring (it was REALLY loud). We notified the front desk but apparently they didn't do anything because it went off on Sunday morning at the same time. Considering how obvious it was on the face of the digital clock that an alarm was set, it's disappointing that housekeeping doesn't include this in their to-do list to check when a visitor checks out.
The room was very clammy the first night. Even though the air conditioning was running, we found the bed and air to have a heavy, damp feeling which was uncomfortable. The second night, however, everything was fine. Because Kimpton tends to renovate old hotels, it may be that the outside weather (which was very humid) was leaking in - but this was the first time we've experienced that in a hotel with air conditioning.
Also, we were extremely disappointed with parking fees -- $44/night! This isn't necessarily Hotel Allegro's fault - we made a point to check out prices at other hotels and generally it seems everyone has raised their nightly rates. That said, one block down the street was a public ramp that offered parking for $32/night. We self-parked and ended up saving a bunch of money since we took our car out early on Sunday - we paid $12 for the second night which is a real deal. Walking one block with our luggage to save $40 was well worth it.
So, our stay at Hotel Allegro was a mixed bag. We liked the location and the staff. We generally liked our room although the hotel was noisy at times and was clammy one night. We got a great deal compared to other hotels in the area - so it's easier to look past the problems. If we had the choice, we would probably stay at Hotel Burnham over Hotel Allegro but if another good deal popped-up for our frequent visits to Chicago, we'd certainly consider this hotel again.
