Hotel Versey Chicago Lincoln Park — Hotel in Lake View Township

Overall room layout is poor, cleanliness is poor, service is mediocre and they overcharge you when you check in. Yet, unbelievably they apparently have “Architectural Digest's recognition as one of "The 12 Best Designed Hotels Opening This Year."

Why did I choose this hotel? Price was a big factor. Also, long ago I lived and worked in that neighborhood. I didn’t expect it to be the same but was looking forward to staying in a familiar area.

Before arriving I got an email from the site I booked through forwarding information from the Versey Inn stating that my charge would be $317.33 for the two night stay. You can imaging my confusion when they charged me $444.25 upon check in “to cover incidentals” since the booking was made “through some third party.”

In the room I noticed that the only thing to purchase were two bottles of water for $6 each. So one does wonder about over $100 pre-charge for “incidentals.”

The espresso machine card provided showed a different machine but eventually I got it working. An accurate card would have been nice. A simple coffee machine even better.

Returning to my room in the afternoon I discovered that someone else had been in the room.

I had decided that this place would not ruin my last trip to Chicago so I just let it all go.

That evening I returned and dressed for a ceremony at the Chicago History Museum, in my suit with a rainbow bow tie and trilby with a rainbow cockade and black face mask. That’s what I was wearing many hours later when I returned after the event and a long dinner with friends.

In my room I discovered that there were no more coffee pods and went downstairs to get more. That’s when I was informed that they only service the rooms every 3 days! I can understand not doing linens and towels but to not even resupply the room for 3 days? Really? Where’s that on their web site, or in the room for that matter?

I was confused by which color stripes on the pods were regular and just gave up and told them I would go out in the morning where I could be sure of what I was getting. Out of sight as I opened the door to the stairwell, the front desk staff had a good laugh.

When I checked out in the morning I assured the woman at the desk that I would do my best to see that no one like me ever stayed there again. That is the point of this review. The man at the desk called me back and we discussed the shortcomings of my stay, which resulted in him giving me a $50 credit and the facility manager card – that I lost during the trip home.

When I reviewed my credit card statement it shows the initial charge over $100 above what I was quoted then several $50 credits. At least I ended up paying less than I was quoted – I would have preferred nicer accommodations, though.

Bottom line: not quite as nice as some 2 star hotels I’ve stayed at in Europe (but the wall graphics were amazing). Stay elsewhere.

Facility design:

• There are key swipes required to access the lobby level elevator and stairwell and main door late at night • Room layout: small and compact with an open rack and shelves for clothes • NO light switch at door. Must fully enter room and search for light switch • Full length mirror on wall behind bathroom door • Can Chrome cast to TV • Room safe is on floor • Bathroom is passively vented by foam at top of window, letting in outside sounds but not good at venting odors • Toilet is raised, appreciated by us older folk • Toilet paper is situated so it is under your right armpit as you sit on the toilet, making it difficult to access and for larger Americans it would be a problem • There is only one, very slow and moderately sized elevator plus a single-person width stairwell. I was on the second floor so I just walked up as it was quicker than waiting for the elevator. I am not particularly claustrophobic but I did find the...

Honestly I get the “you get what you pay for” but also… this shouldn’t mean we are dismissed by employees at the hotel. We stayed from 5/14-5/16/25. At first, we were pleasantly surprised when we first came in, the hotel lobby was eclectic and smelled/looked clean. I had read reviews before, some good, some bad, but we took the risk. We knew it was an older hotel but I wouldn’t trust the photos on the website to show you what you’re going to get.

We were in room 242. We walked into our room and it was hot and it SMELLED.. At first we weren’t sure if it was just hot and musty, but we were in a rush to put our stuff down and leave for a Cubs game. We could get past the small room and bathroom, that’s expected with a small and old hotel in this kind of location. But I work in healthcare and when we returned to our room 6 hours later, it smelled HUMAN URINE. It was so bad. It was like it was coming from the vents but also smelled like it could be the carpets.

We called down to the front desk asking if there was another room we could move to the next day, the very rude front desk guy barked back “you’re wanting to change rooms right now?!” And we told him no, it was late, and we were tired and we would appreciate if we could get a different room for the second night. Never ended up happening and we spent the whole weekend spraying perfume around the room. It did get better as the AC continued to run at a very low temperature. The shower head was basically spraying water EVERYWHERE and I couldn’t even wash my face in the sink because there is a small glass shelf not even 2 feet above the sink, had to duck my head inside the sink and under the shelf.

Fast forward to our checkout on the morning of Friday 5/16, this morning was around 10:30 am. I should’ve known there were going to be issues as there was already a couple that was VERY upset about a charge on their card talking to a woman at the front desk. Who this woman seemed very understanding and looked like she could de-escalate a situation. Meanwhile the man we dealt with, Adrian, should not work in this business anymore. When we asked if we could pay for the $25 parking ticket he said “it will be $3 cheaper at the parking garage” even though we were there for maybe 42 hours total, didn’t exit with our car once, because of what the website Q & A stating: “If you pull a ticket, we can sell you a validation sticker at the front desk for $25. You will need a sticker every time you exit. Once you pay at the front desk of the hotel, you do not pay at the garage.” This was a lie. My partner went to get our car it was $62. We came back to Adrian at the desk and he completely dismissed us saying we would have to call his manager and handed us a card. We showed him the website of the above statement and he basically told us it was outdated, hasn’t been like this for 6 months and when we said that the (very nice) gentleman we talked to around 2:30pm at check-in on 5/14, told us that yes, the parking would be $25 as long as we don’t leave. Adrian basically said “yeah well he lied”. So first he told us it would be cheaper at the parking garage instead of the parking ticket, and now it was never a thing???? Which one was it? We could not believe how incredibly unprofessional he was. We also asked if it was possible if we got an itemized receipt (because of everyone talking about these extra charges) and got a rude snap back “you booked through a third party it’s already paid for I can’t help you”

They should really save themselves the money building this new dining area and put that money toward room upgrades and more competent staff.

SAVE YOURSELF THE HEADACHE OF THIS PLACE AND...

SERVICE & CHECKIN Unimpressed by the in-person experience & the $30 early checkin fee. The reservation system is inefficient & error-prone; my room was never assigned despite receiving a confirmation & paying for the reservation days in advance. 2 for 2 so far Chicago 💔. Lots of paperwork & an expensive self-park.

LOBBY, ELEVATOR, CORRIDORS Interesting & eclectic. The lobby is massive & I love the visuals. The aesthetic is unique, accompanied by some tasteful muzak. Transitions are a bit unpolished & narrow, with a single, slow ROOM https://youtu.be/0bkYGIotvIw Clean & sufficient. It took some effort to get the right room (management & training are a bit lacking). Accommodations were overall nice, just suboptimal: dated AC controls, a single light-switch for all light sources, broken closet door, stiff seating options. The experience was still positive due to the amount of storage, room dimensions, functional windows, & ergonomic workspace.

BED King configuration I love the Beauty Rest Hospitality line-- these mattresses are just amazing. Very impressed with the quality of sheets (Wynrest linens: 200ct 60/40), pillows (weighty fiber fill), & toppers (cloud soft), & duvet. Perfectly restful sleep every night!

BATH Small... but not cramped Unlike the dimensions, the design was impressive: high quality tile & an elevated aesthetic anchored by a gorgeous pedestal sink. High cleaning standards were on display & functionally it was a great washroom. The toilet was just horrible (height, flush, comfort). Trussardi toiletries provided.

TV & ENTERTAINMENT No corners cut on the feature-rich wall mount housing a "50 Samsung LCD FHD TV. The TV solution was very robust offering: movies for purchase, pre-installed chromecast, cable programming, & miscellaneous electronic services. The Universal Remote is just dated & performance lags.

WI-FI & CELL RECEPTION "You get what you pay for " Even for "free" this was embarrassingly slow 🤕. QoS is tight but the througput is just too low for work or multitasking. Cell reception (Verizon) is also so-so even for upper floors. --Nerd Stats-- 1-7 Mbps download 3-4 Mbps upload 0 % packet loss 30 ms latency 51 ms jitter

FOOD & DRINK DoorDash friendly. Rooms with microwave & medium mini fridge come at a premium. The cost is worth it, especially if you'll be storing leftovers from all the great restaurants nearby. Ice machines accessible on floor. $6 Fiji water in-room for your convenience 💸

NOISE Lots of the typical city noises outside & doors inside do not trap sound well. Overall It's fairly quiet & peaceful inside the building, although I wouldn't recommend any rooms by a supply closet.

LOCATION Trader Joe's!!!! 😍

VERDICT I enjoyed this property despite the WiFi situation. Would not recommend it for remote work. Otherwise it's very solid: competitively priced, good location, & kind staff; just a bit...