Ohio House Motel — Hotel in Chicago

I'm torn on what to rate this place, so I give it three stars. In some aspects I give it 5 stars, in some I give it 1 or 2 stars. I'm going to put my conclusion first since this will be a longer review:

CONCLUSION: If you're on a budget and want a decent place to stay right downtown, this place will be perfect for you. If you're willing to spend a little extra money for a considerable leap in quality - go ahead and spend that extra money because it will be worth it. (NOTE: something which I did not see in the booking website was that THERE IS NO TEMPERATURE CONTROL IN THE ROOM! This may be a game changer for you.)

Now I'll get into our experience and pros/cons.

Our time here was fine. We had some hiccups and unexpected things to deal with which we weren't too happy about but the staff was excellent about handling it all.

The first issue was that upon our arrival our room smelled like someone had been smoking some green a day prior (it's now legal in IL but the motel was non-smoking) - it wasn't strong, but it was noticeable. The staff was very quick to respond and willing to move us into a different room, but when we returned later that day - we no longer smelled it, so we stuck with the room (the staff had aired out and sprayed a de-oderizer while we were out).

As I mentioned before - there was not temp control in the room which was a first for me and I've traveled to a lot of places around the world. Theres no window or wall unit or anything. We had to keep the windows open at night because we were quite warm and couldn't sleep well and having the window open in a big city didn't make it any easier.

The website mentioned that there was free parking - which there was, but when we came back from a dinner we drove to, the lot was completely full. I asked the person at the desk what to do and she said to try and park in a back corner space which we weren't able to fit into. She asked us then to double park and give her the key to our car in case it needed to be moved. This was very new for us and made us pretty uncomfortable as there was no prior trust established or valet service advertised. I guess this was actually a pretty common occurrence for parking in downtown Chicago - the person on staff quickly made us comfortable and we felt we could trust her after some questions we had. They did an excellent job in handling the vehicle and even parked it for us when a space opened up the next day.

PROS: The free parking is hard to beat, if you want to stay downtown the location is excellent (an easy walk away from all the popular spots to visit), the staff we interacted with was phenomenal, everything that needed to be clean was very clean, the bed and pillows were very comfortable, the room had all the amenities that a hotel room should have (outside of the temp control of course!).

CONS: As mentioned, the biggest con for us was the lack of temperature control in the room. The building's not in the best condition (its an old building and it looks like they've renovated recently, but there were still areas of the outside and the room where the building's age was apparent), the shower/tub knobs were quite old and difficult to get a good temperature going because they were leaky and loose, the shower water pressure was also quite low. There were also parts of the room that were on the dirty side of things - in our case the windows and screens were dirty when they were opened, there were also some stains/wear and tear on the curtains, walls, cabinets, carpet. I think some of these wear and tear items are expected on a budget...

We were pleasantly surprised by this hotel! We had hesitations due to the name and exterior looks but it was a truly wonderful experience. Below are a list of pros and cons of staying at Ohio House Motel based on my experience. Despite the cons, I am giving them 5 stars because one of them is out of control of the hotel but I wanted to give an honest review!

Pros: • The hotel is close to everything! You can walk everywhere including Navy Pier - approximately a 30-35 minute walk. You can save a lot of money and see a lot of the city by walking. • The hotel is very spacious inside. From exterior glance it looks like there’s not a lot of rooms but there are multiple rooms within different sections. • The room is SO CLEAN! Sheets and towels were super fresh, no stains at all. There was not even a speck of dust on the desk or nightstands. Also, the room is very spacious and the bed is incredibly comfortable. (Pictured is the king size suite we stayed in) • Parking is included with your stay and your vehicle is secure at the hotel, so you don’t have to worry about driving around in Chicago traffic. (Like they say on their site, it is first come first serve so try to be there at your check in time exactly because it can get full fast!) • The staff is super friendly. Check in and check out was a breeze!

Cons: • It is in the heart of the city so there’s a lot of noise. You may hear cars driving by, people walking around, etc. at various hours. You can also hear people walking in and out of the building if they are being very loud. If you’re a light sleeper, it might be tough for you to rest. • The shower in our room had very little water pressure and the tub was not draining properly so it was uncomfortable to take a shower.

When we go back to Chicago, we are 100% staying at Ohio House Motel! Also, one of the team members is a big jokester. So...

My friend and I came into Chicago last night to see a Bonnie Raitt concert. I had a room booked through another site for weeks, and they canceled it two days before our arrival. When I went to look for a new room, everything was $700-$1200 a night. I definitely couldn’t afford that. I went to Expedia and I saw the Ohio Motel come up for $209. I grabbed it, but I have to say I was a little nervous that it wouldn’t be very nice. There was a big convention in town and all the rooms were taken. I’m so glad I went because I absolutely love this motel. The woman at the desk was very helpful and kind. She offered us a room upstairs or downstairs since we were two women we took the upstairs. The room was so clean and every little touch you could think of was addressed cute little bow on the toilet paper. The Kleenex had a flower arranged on it. The bedding was beautiful and clean. There was a microwave, A safe, a coffee maker, an ironing board, a little fridge, shampoo, conditioner, and gel in the shower. Plus, it was immaculate nice king size bed very comfortable. We took the train in so we didn’t need parking but they had it to offer. We could walk to the Chicago theater and felt very safe. The shower had nice water pressure and hot water we got up in the morning and went to Schneider‘s deli. I stopped in into the office and asked if it’s better to book a trip on the Expedia or Travelocity or directly to them and they suggested directly to them because you get a free breakfast then the breakfast was awesome so I didn’t mind paying for it, but it would be nice to have it included. We came from Michigan, And parked our car at Michigan city and took the commuter train since we’re seniors. It only cost us five dollars. Everything was so Easy I think I’m going to bring my grandson down to look...