Heart O' Chicago — Hotel in Lake View Township

Checking in, staff asked for card but then also asked for personal info before being corrected by another staff member. Only provided 1 card for the room despite knowing this was booked for multiple people.

Thin walls, you can hear everyone around you. Our room was designated non smoking but smelled strongly of smoke. I cannot tell if it's been smoked in or if it's the fact that the door doesn't have a seal around it.

The room has AC that rattles constantly. It was not cleaned well, there were hairs left in the shower, on the walls, the towels and dust and crumbs on surfaces. The towels smelled funky as well. There were weird stains and holes in the shower curtain.

The window in the bathroom wouldn't fully close. There was a random roll of scotch tape under the bed for some reason? One of the chairs looked heavily stained and possibly wet. We avoided using it.

The shower was nearly impossible to get running and then the shower head was basically one weak stream anyways. The bathroom probably hasn't been updated in decades.

For some reason the toilet fill line was clipped into the overflow pipe so the yank wouldn't refill, I had to move it and it was just running water down the drain the entire time. Water bill must be crazy here.

The beds are spring mattresses, loud, bounces around whoever you're sharing a bed with. At least they had mattress protectors on them and the boxsprings.

There are no microwaves, no fridge, the ice machine has a sign saying you need to be buzzed in by the staff.

Overall, you get what you pay for. It's unacceptable for the subpar cleaning regardless of price though. Main draw to booking here besides price is the location. We didn't bother with the breakfast as the front office smelled strongly of mold and this was concerning regarding the kitchen cleanliness in the same area.

If you book here, check out the misericordia heart of mercy Cafe, it's less than 10 min walk away and delicious. Save money here to...

This place is better than the typical big city motel/motor hotel, it is older but not worn. It was clean, no smells and no bugs. Hot water pressure was good, and individually-controlled central air conditioning worked well. The room had a table with 2 chairs, a separate small desk with chair, and the room and bathroom were plenty big not cramped. Despite being on a main street, it was quiet other than the occasional siren, and there was no noise from rooms next door or other guests outside. It was under $100/night with free parking, a bargain for Chicago. The CTA Red Line train is a 15-minute walk away, and we always felt safe in this neighborhood. There is a Starbucks and White Castle Hamburgers down the block. A downside is that there is no online reservation system, you must call. You get no email confirmation, just a credit card receipt upon payment, which is required at check-in, along with a $5 room key deposit. It is a basic room: no coffeemaker, frig or microwave oven, but there is cable TV. There is no Continental Breakfast, although it is listed on their website and on a sign on their building. The room has a standard double bed (not King or Queen), so may be too narrow or short for some couples, and it is a bit uncomfortable but tolerable. There is no elevator, but 50% of the rooms are on the ground level. If you want to charge your cellphone on the nightstand bring an extension cord, as the only outlets are on the side walls. This motel is just fine for a short stay in Chicago, as long as your expectations aren’t too high and all you want is a clean and...

Rating this for what it actually is - obviously not a "four star hotel" in the general sense, but if you're evaluating it as a no frills inexpensive place to stay, which is exactly how it presents itself, it does very well.

I needed a cheap but not scary room for an overnight visit to prepare for relocating to the area, and having been, I'd recommend it to visitors looking for this type of place, with the details below.

The room was clean (and they honored my request with the online reservation for a second story room), had enough space, and felt secure with multiple locks. The desk staff were very friendly. And free parking, that alone is a huge plus in area hotels. The free breakfast is adequate, nothing exceptional, but not disappointing. And for the caffeine fiends, there's a Starbucks literally next door.

The location is walkable to many things for that matter.

There were two downsides: first, it's just expected with a motel, I guess, but the choice of either being fully exposed to anyone walking by or using blackout curtains is always a downer for me.

The second was specific to this location: tons of fire trucks going by the somewhat odd intersection out front. I'm a city person for life and usually don't even notice sirens, but it seems like because of the intersection, as soon as they were right by the hotel, they'd turn them on loudly, so it wasn't the usual "siren going by" sound so much as sudden unexpected blasts which did keep surprising me including waking me -which never happens - a few times. Light...