Parthenon Guest House (Hostel) — Hotel in West Chicago Township

I told the staff I would be writing them a favorable review a couple months ago when I was there, and still haven't done it. I am going back there in a couple of days, so I figured I better get 'er done!

Overall, I really do like this place. The location is excellent. The blue line to O'Hare is a two block walk, the Amtrak station is about 5 blocks away, and the Greyhound station is also close by. The heart of downtown is easily walkable, too. Additionally, all of the staff is friendly and helpful, and the shared dorm was basic but very clean. There is a smallish locker that you will be assigned in the dorms, but it is big enough to store what you need for a few days up to a week (bring your own lock!). They do have laundry facilities, but they are in a different building across the street (I didn't use them). They also had air conditioning, which was pretty nice because it was pretty hot the 6 days I was there. For the price, one really cannot complain.

They also include a free breakfast. It is simple, but enough to get you filled up and ready to go in the morning. Cereal and milk, fruit, cranberry and orange juice, toast, and hard-boiled eggs. There is also a community fridge, I used it and had no issues with anything going missing. So if you are really doing things on the cheap, you can go to the Mariano's grocery store a couple blocks away and get food there. Or store your leftovers from eating out. There is also a Walgreen's close by (across the street from Mariano's).

During the week, the place was relatively quiet. Monday through Wednesday night, it was only me and one other person in an eight-person dorm. Thursday night I think there were 4 of us, and Friday night we had a full house. Everyone I met in the dorms was nice and friendly; there were no "sketchy characters" staying there that would cause me concern (I met about 10 or 12 people total in the dorms).

The biggest drawback I can see is that it gets a lot more crowded as the weekend nears. This can cause issues with using the bathroom or getting a shower in the morning. This was only an issue for me on Saturday morning, although I would guess it would have been the same situation if I had been there on Sunday morning. If you get up early enough (before 6 or 6:30) on those days, you can probably “skip the line”. They could use a couple extra shared toilets on each floor (there is only one for men) to accommodate the weekend crowd, and a bigger locker would definitely be a plus. Additionally, there are some “sketchy characters” around the area at night. I didn't feel 100% safe walking alone after 10 PM, but would have felt a lot better about being out late if I had someone with me. Finally, there is no elevator, so if you have a room on the 3rd floor (which is actually the 4th floor), you will get some exercise when you are coming and going.

So yes, overall I think the Parthenon Hostel is a good place to stay for a great price. There are too many pluses and not enough minuses to say anything bad about the place. That is why I am going back. The location gets a 5, the price gets a 5, the facility gets a 4, the staff gets a 5, and add plus 1 to the facility score for providing the free breakfast. Overall...

||I DO NOT RECOMMEND TO STAY HERE |Worst hostel experience in more than 20 years from start to finish||Zero customer service skills wall facing reception they are the first people to think you serve them and not they serve customer. They proudly display best staff award from 2009 but I suspect those staff are long gone. They don’t even explain where common showers are or anything about Chicago. I asked for wifi the guy told me code I asked to write it down and he was like you can take a foto of that tiny printed rules sign and expand it so you can read it so in summary he couldn’t even write a password down and a network as was to busy. ||Never a single smile hello entering they wouldn’t even look at you and anything you ask them would be putting them out of their way. Their job is to do as little as possible and get paid for it. I thought third world service was low this goes to another level.||No cleaning in 4 days not even rubbish taken out of room. $140 a night and can’t clean and if you want a new towel bring one to reception and get a new one walk down 6 floors for a towel - would be to much for them to give two towels for a 4 day stay.||They added a 16$ charge to my card as a Manual transaction as they couldn’t charge it online like all other places. ||Place is a dump mattresses with plastic on as trying to make them last longer at expense of gusta comfort , windows sealed with plastic for insulation great in heat 🤷‍♀️ no mirrors in rooms sockets falling off walls. Once in 4 days they cleaned their common area and creaky old stairway with signs up saying excuse the dust whilst we improve- signs are probably there years as no improvements done and wouldn’t pass any safety inspection.||Arrived 11-12pm was promptly told 3pm check in came back 3.30pm-4.00pm sent to a room 5-6 flights up that was dirty had to walk back down with bags and the guy just threw his eyes up to heaven like your actually going to get me out of this seat. Left me sitting there couldn’t even say wait in common area no apologies - no offer of checking out late nothing zero customer service skill. On check out I asked to leave a bag for 2-3 hours was promptly told $30. ||Worst place in 6 visits to Chicago - DO NOT STAY HERE YOU...

||I DO NOT RECOMMEND TO STAY HERE |Worst hostel experience in more than 20 years from start to finish||Zero customer service skills wall facing reception they are the first people to think you serve them and not they serve customer. They proudly display best staff award from 2009 but I suspect those staff are long gone. They don’t even explain where common showers are or anything about Chicago. I asked for wifi the guy told me code I asked to write it down and he was like you can take a foto of that tiny printed rules sign and expand it so you can read it so in summary he couldn’t even write a password down and a network as was to busy. ||Never a single smile hello entering they wouldn’t even look at you and anything you ask them would be putting them out of their way. Their job is to do as little as possible and get paid for it. I thought third world service was low this goes to another level.||No cleaning in 4 days not even rubbish taken out of room. $140 a night and can’t clean and if you want a new towel bring one to reception and get a new one walk down 6 floors for a towel - would be to much for them to give two towels for a 4 day stay.||They added a 16$ charge to my card as a Manual transaction as they couldn’t charge it online like all other places. ||Place is a dump mattresses with plastic on as trying to make them last longer at expense of gusta comfort , windows sealed with plastic for insulation great in heat 🤷‍♀️ no mirrors in rooms sockets falling off walls. Once in 4 days they cleaned their common area and creaky old stairway with signs up saying excuse the dust whilst we improve- signs are probably there years as no improvements done and wouldn’t pass any safety inspection.||Arrived 11-12pm was promptly told 3pm check in came back 3.30pm-4.00pm sent to a room 5-6 flights up that was dirty had to walk back down with bags and the guy just threw his eyes up to heaven like your actually going to get me out of this seat. Left me sitting there couldn’t even say wait in common area no apologies - no offer of checking out late nothing zero customer service skill. On check out I asked to leave a bag for 2-3 hours was promptly told $30. ||Worst place in 6 visits to Chicago - DO NOT STAY HERE YOU...