Congress Plaza Hotel at Grant Park

Gentle, calm, efficient, friendly staff. The experience included everything I needed.

For a downtown Chicago hotel, this was poor. The "tower" my room was was more run down than my college dorm room. Unpainted fixture, kind of holding the door to the adjacent room closed, looked like it would fall off with any contact and there was no deadbolt. Looked like it hadn't been painted in decades. Bed linen were discolored (soiled?). Room had a "funky" smell. The front desk couldn't supply a wake up call. A genuine disaster!

always stay there. old but nice. good location on michigan.

My boyfriend and I stayed one night at The Congress and we couldn't have been more pleased. The location is very convenient, right on Michigan Ave and within walking distance of any attraction you would like to go to. Being across from Grant Park was amazing too. The men who valeted our car were amazing. They were very helpful and understanding that we had no idea where anything was in Chicago! They gave us directions to the places we wanted to go and told us they would be there at all times if we had any other questions. When we walked inside to check in we were blown away. The lobby is so beautiful, very intricately painted walls, beautiful chandeliers and big red comfortable couches! The only problem I did have while staying here was we had a little trouble checking in. The woman who I dealt with was not very friendly and when I had trouble with my credit card going through she was not very understanding and told me "there's nothing I can do for you" that bothered me because I spent a good amount on the room for the night, so I was expecting for them to find something to do for me. Upon arriving in the room we were stunned, it was so beautiful, it reminded me of old, antique beauty. The bed was huge and extremely comfortable! All of the decor was unbelieveably beautiful. The bathroom was a bit tiny for our liking, but that wasn't of the biggest concern. The view from our room was indescribable. We sat in front of the window for about 30 minutes just looking outside. You are right across from the Buckingham Fountain, you can see all the skyscrapers and Lake Michigan. It was breath-taking. There were many restaurants and places to shop within walking distance of The Congress, it was very easy to get around. We had so much fun and it was such an amazing place to stay, it was well worth the money spent, it is a great place to create some lasting memories, with family or with a significant other!

Outside of the convienent location,this hotel was not worth what I paid for it.There were no ammenities,the room didn't even have basics like a small fridge or microwave,nor did we even get a garbage in the room.there was one smalll trash can in the bathroom but they didn't even bother to put a bag in it.we couldn't control the room temperature so we were very hot the whole time. I spent over a wk. Deciding where to stay looked at pictures,videos and reviews,and was very dissappointed to find out they were very misleading.our "room with a lake view" was very disappointing as the lake was almost a mile away.not to mention their website didn't mention that we would have to pay an additional 75$ to park the car for the 2 nights we were there. VERY dissappointed in the whole experience and would NEVER stay again or refer any friends/family there.

FIRST TRIP TO CHICAGO IN OVER 40 YEARS. THE HOTEL WAS LOCATED GREATLY CLOSE TO MASS TRANSIT AND WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE OF A LOT OF ATTRACTIONS. ONLY PROBLEM WE HAD WAS WE COULD NOT REGULATE THE TEMPERATURE IN OUR ROOM. UNSEASONABLE WARM FIRST 3 DAYS AND COULD NOT GET ROOM TO COOL OFF. WOULD STAY AGAIN IF NEEDED. STAFF WAS VERY FRIENDLY AND GREAT SERVICE

The place is huge. We were on third floor. Lobby is nice with beautiful intricate mosaics. We also saw a couple of the ball rooms which were spectacular. That is where the impressing part ends. Our room was through a maze of corridors that had poor signage on where to go, endless doors and cubbys. I appreciate the age, however this is so old that its creepy. Our room had about a 15 foot ceiling. The lighting was very dim, there was a large closet with a door in it to access plumbing. It was just too creepy. The smell of the entire wing reminded me of my grandmas. Not bad; just old. We will not stay here again. The rate was pretty good, but we got what we paid for. Location is great if you want to stay at south side of town near grant park and millenium park. If you want to be in the heart of action on michigan mile, it's about 1 mile walk. So location can be considered good depending on what you want to do.

Beautiful example of grand 19th century Chicago hotels but has not been modernized or updated in a very long time. NOTE: there's no central air or heat. All HVAC for the room is centrally controlled -- no controls in room. If the room is too hot or too cold or too stuffy, you have to live with it. In our room: rotting woodwork, peeling and cracking paint, peeling and stained wallpaper, sunken and loose outlets and wall switches, threadbare carpet with burns and stains, rusting metalwork (door hinges, radiator). Although it may have been clean, the room was so decrepit and worn that we could not tell -- in its dilapidated state it looked and felt filthy. That combined with the inability to moderate the room temperature or ventilation, and we had to leave (we had kids, and it just wasn't a healthy environment).

Maybe years ago a large majestic hotel was of great value, but today it seems superfluous. The hotel was fine but was too big too old too spread out and I felt that it lost its personality...and even the personnel seemed disenchanted with it, or maybe just disinterested. Either way, it felt like an antiquated used to be site. Decent beds. Decent to good location. Decent value but don't expect charm or luxury bc u won't find it.

Appears to have once been a grand hotel but a lot of shotty half-remodel jobs; bedding and bathrooms clean enough, but everything else needs some sincere attn. Also, non-smoking room smelled very very strongly of air cleaner.