We stayed one night at the Residence Inn after calling and receiving a good rate. We have stayed at many hotels in Chicago, and this topped our list. When walking into the hotel it doesn't have a lot of fluff like larger, grander hotels. As for security, at the ground level you go up to the lobby floor and check in. Then you have to take another set of elevators to your floor. The doors to your room is very heavy and seems like security was in the design. The staff is very nice and friendly. Staff even took the time to get a dog traveling with his family a bone. Our room had everything you would want in a room. They had clean silverware, bowls, refrigerator, microwave and other extras. If I had to give a negative it would be that the pool on the smaller side, with a deepest at 4 feet. Don't hesitate as this is a great find in Chicago!

This is a brand new Marriott Residence Inn! It's very comtemporary decor, very clean and brand new! Nice location. Not bad walk to Navy Pier. Taxi to/from O'hare was $36/$40. Breakfast is really nice and better than we expected. There are plasma TVs, business/computer/Internet fax area with nice view. All staff was there to help. Door men and Bell staff were on top of our every need...opening doors, hailing a cab, giving suggestions and directions. Beds are comfortable. We were on 12th floor and pretty good view. Did not visit pool area which is on 27th floor. CVS is right on corner around the block not far at all. Can buy things to cook in your suite and beer/liquor and snacks. Beer, juice and snacks are very expensive in Marriott R.I. mini market. $5 for a single bottle of beer and $3.25 for small bottle of Ocean Spray Cran/Grape juice...ouch! This hotel is connected with another Marriott hotel the "Springhill Suites" I think it's called and it's right next door and obviously brand new too! Great cost and location. I highly recommend. We stayed Thursday, July 3 - Saturday, July 5 and got a late check out of 2pm! Regular check out is 12Noon.

I went to Chicago for Memorial Day weekend—I was originally going to stay out by O’Hare but I did my shopping and came across a great deal on the Residence Inn in the River North section on Marriott’s website. Since I was dreading hour-plus El trips back and forth and I was planning on spending most of my trip downtown anyway I made the reservations. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more convenient and amenity-laden hotel for the price—it’s just off the Magnificent Mile and the Loop, and an El stop is only a couple of blocks away. The only thing that's weird is that one building contains two hotels--one side is the Residence Inn, the other is SpringHill Suites, both Marriott properties.

This is a brand new (opened in April 2008) all-suites hotel, containing full kitchens, free Internet, flat-screen TVs and gorgeous décor. The hotel offers a free grocery delivery service as well as delivery from local restaurants if you don’t feel like cooking or going out. If you’re a baseball fan the nearest El stop is on the Red line so you have easy access to both Wrigley Field (Cubs) and U.S. Cellular Field (White Sox). And don’t worry about walking around at night—this is a very good area. The staff is excellent and friendly. Eating out around here can be pricey (seriously, people, you know you're going to get ripped off for hotel food, why bother eating it?) so definitely take advantage of the kitchen--there's a Jewel/Osco supermarket right near the El station. If there was any quibble it was that there wasn't a remote printer that you could connect to from your room; you have to use the business center where there's only two workstations, both of which seemed constantly occupied by people spamming each other on Facebook. Nonetheless I would absolutely stay here again and would recommend it to anyone wanting to stay in downtown Chicago who doesn’t want to sell their firstborn to afford a hotel room.

Overall, this was a good hotel and a good location. I include the word "overall" because we did have a couple of issues. This is a great hotel for families with kids or for business travel but do not expect "luxury hotel" services. We love the Marriott line and stay at Marriotts more than any other hotel but we do usually stay at "regular" Marriotts or JW Marriotts so if that is what you're used to just be aware that there is a noticeable difference in the level of service. We booked a 2-bedroom suite for 5 nights for a family of 4.....mom, dad, 2 teenaged boys. I would stay here again when we are traveling with the boys. If it were just for us, I have other favorites in Chicago.

THINGS WE LIKED:

The location is good. Easy access to the "L" which we did use. Central location if you're shopping, site seeing or there on business.

The rooms are spacious and nicely appointed. Good decor and the pictures shown online are accurate.

Free breakfast in the morning

Bathroom....always like to have a sink area that is separate from the toilet and shower and these rooms do have that

Good laundry facility -- 8 or 10 front loading washers and dryers that do a good job for $1.00 per wash and $1.00 per dry

Good fitness center

Free wireless in the rooms that worked well

Nice new flat screen tv's in the living area and bedroom

Loved having the full kitchen

Our rooms had a desk and a kitchen table so there was great workspace

Friendly / helpful staff


THINGS WE DIDN'T LIKE:

location....a huge hotel is being built directly south of the Residence Inn. If you end up on that side of the building, you do not have a cityscape view at all -- the windows are dusty and the view is construction and, if you're high enough, roof tops. Our original 2 bedroom suite had this view and I asked to be moved. The front desk manager was MORE than accommodating

The "living room" furniture looks good but our layout was horrible for watching TV....the chair is comfortable but the "couch" is really not good for sitting on.....although it works well as a sleeper

No mirrors in the living area.....always like to have that in case we are all getting ready at the same time

No room service -- but we knew that going into it and stocked our kitchen. They also do have some snacks/beverages for sale near the front desk

This is a new hotel and the some of the staff is new to hotel work and it shows. I had dealings with 2 different front desk managers -- both named Katie -- who were fabulous but when I checked in the person at the desk couldn't answer what seemed to be basic questions about the hotel/location, the valets never asked if we needed a cab (but cabs were readily available)

The card-keys were a serious problem for us. We went through probably 10 keys....I know, I brought them all home because they say now that you need to destroy them yourself to protect your credit card info.....we were diligent about keeping them away from cell phones, etc but they kept de-magnetizing or something and we had to replace them which meant heading back down the elevator to the front desk.

No pay per view movies or video games. If you bring your own video game system you can hook it up to the tv

TIPS:

If you want a good view while the adjacent construction is going on, request a room that has windows other than on the south side

When we switched rooms the manager showed me some rooms on the Springhill Suites side of the hotel. They have corner king rooms that face north/east and you actually get a glimpse of the river and the lake. The view was great but I liked the decor of the Residence Inn better......the Springhill Suites is very "retro" but I'm of the age group that already lived with that furniture once in my life so to me it just looks old :-)

Parking is $41 day if you valet park but there is a surface lot directly west of the building that is less than $20