Depressing.

Dingy, worn, gloomy, depressing, old, faded, tired, shabby. Location's good, but this place needs a major overhaul. The room was clean, but that's about all I can say that is positive. I'm not big on luxurious accomodations and a doting staff. All I usually want is a clean, comfortable room in which to crash after a long day running around town. However, this place depressed me to the point that I actually dreaded going back to it at night. One other reviewer described it a "creepy". I agree.

Creepy, creepy, creepy

My daughter and I went to Chicago for an overnight business trip. Upon first arrival, we were pleased with the lobby and staff. Our first room was on the 11th floor. There were ceiling tiles missing, paint cans in the hallway, and an overall rundown look. When we opened our room we were equally appalled at the rundown condition (chipping paint, old furniture, very large windows with unoperating drapes).

After complaining about the condition, we were moved to the sixth floor, which was only slightly better than the 11th. We had two bedrooms but had to sleep in one because the drapes were again not working in one bedroom and had to be left open. The water from the bathroom faucet was yellowed, and the electric heater in the living room was not operating.

As there was a large convention in town that weekend, hotel rooms were scarse so we ended up staying for fear if we left we would have been sleeping in our car. (might have been better)

Made our stay in Chicago wonderful.

I wasn't sure what to expect of the Congress Plaza after reading mixed reviews of the hotel however we were more than pleasantly surprised with both the room and the service.

The view from our room was breathtaking and is the first thing that grabs you about this place and stays in your memory. The other is the helpful and polite staff from the doormen up.

The hotel is a stones throw from Lake Michigan (which was clearly visable from our room) and the Buckingham Fountain and the major shopping attractions and public transport.

The room was well equipped with two beds, a tv,and was clean and comfortable ( things that were important to us travelling from overseas).

The hotel offers an onsite restaurant which we visited for breakfast of a morning and this restaurant will even do up a take away meal to eat in your room if you so desire. The prices are very reasonable and it is very convenient to have this on the premises.

We believe that the service, room and view and central location of this hotel made our stay in Chicago one of the best that we had while travelling through various states in the United States.

Bates Hotel revisited

A friend and I stayed at the Congress over Labor Day weekend..I wish we would have seen these reviews before we booked it. The only good thing was the view....Buckingham Fountain...except we had to look through jailhouse sized windows to see it. We, too, only had one elevator...rated for 10 people capacity. When checking in, the line was so long we had to go sit in the bar for over an hour for it to dwindle down. I understand the hotel is old..but certain things can be done to maintain. All wood work was chipped and dirty. When we opened the door on the 12th floor we walked back in time..60's-70's maybe. Two king sized beds (which was fine) that were 30 feet apart. There wasn't much furniture in this huge room which, from what we could tell, was 2 rooms at one time and they knocked a wall out. The carpet was all buckled where the wall once stood. Two sprinklers were hanging out of their openings, the light over one bed didn't work and the one over mine was filled with dead bugs. There were 4 windows...all 2' x 2'....prison windows. There was one big dresser against the wall with an old TV on it......it didn't swivel....so the room was so big, neither person could see the TV picture. The bath room was bizzare. There was a small door located 3/4 of the way up on the wall...it was painted shut and you could see pry marks where others had tried to open it. We decided Jimmy Hoffa was probably there.

Everything in the gift shop has been there since the beginning of time as well.

To sum it up......we stayed out as late as we could so we didn't have to stay there. We asked another guest who was sitting in the bar what his room was like.....in one word he said "crappy".

Old glory

i had a chance to stay at this old glory recently

rooms were large and clean staff was friendly very conveniently located and best of all price i paid was well worth it

Wonderful View

We stayed at the hotel for 3 nights. We asked for a lake front room on one of the higher floors and we got a beautiful view. You could see the Navy Pier, Buckingham Fountain, Lake Michigan, Grant Park and the Museum Campus. It was really breathtaking.

Like the other reviews, I agree that the wait for one elevator was pretty long. It was a good thing we were on the 11th floor because by the time it got down to the 6th floor it was usually filled. Also there was a wait to checkout for some people, but we took advantage of the automated express check out.

The bathroom was not the cleanest and it was pretty run down looking.

All in all we were really happy with the hotel until we tried to get our car from valet. We went out to the give our ticket to the valet man only to hear people yelling at him because they have been waiting an hour or more. I had a feeling we were going to have a while to wait then. We ended up waiting over 1.5 hours. After 45 minutes I was pretty upset and went to the check out counter to see about a refund ($23 a night). Of course, then I waited 20 minutes for my turn in that line (1 person behind the counter.) This was a Sunday around check out time though.

I would still recommend this hotel. It was beautiful inside and out.

Worse than any Motel I've ever stayed at...

It was the worst week I've ever had at a hotel. Bugs on our ceiling, lack of housekeeping (our rooms wouldn't usually get serviced till 4 pm or so) and long waits in line to check in and out of the stupid place. They have one person doing valet parking so it'll take half an hour or more to get your vehicle. The people were rude and slow, and when we were promised a rebate for our troubled stay, we received nothing. So my advice to anyone visiting Chicago who wants to stay in a NICE place? Any place is probably better than this one, so don't hesitate to stay at a Travelodge!

Not recommended

Elevators not working properly, problem with plumbing in our bathroom. I wouldn't recommend this hotel to anyone, especially if you have allergy to dust. It's a really run down hotel.

Do Not Stay Here

The hotel itself is old and run down. The elevators do not all work making the process of getting to your room very difficult. The management is condescending and rude even after they have made a mistake. Staying at this hotel was a mistake, and hopefully you will not make the same one.

Struggling

I knew nothing of the Congress Plaza before I stayed there for a long weekend. What attracted me were the cheap prices and good location. It soon became apparent that the Congress Plaza struggles in many areas. First of all, they had one check in person during the afternoon which made waiting about 30 minutes long. Then they booked me in a King room when I had asked for two doubles. They remedied that but not after another half an hour. We then discovered that they had one working elevator for the whole south tower which contains somewhere near 500 rooms. Elevator waits took sometimes 20 minutes because they were filled or stopping on every floor. One employee was extremely rude serving as an Elevator monitor so to speak. Should there be an elevator monitor in the first place? On top of all that, dont expect much in the rooms. They are minimal and have old goods. The TV was from the 80's and had a remote control attached to the dresser...I haven't seen one of those since I stayed at a Bates motel type place and suffice to say, added to the whole ambiance of dissapointment. Yes the Congress Plaza is cheap and is decently located but you deserve better when traveling to Chicago. I will not stay there again and suggest you dont either.