Congress Plaza Hotel

Never Again! This hotel really needs to be purchased by a major chain as it is in need a major,. major renovation plus it needs new management. We live locally in the Chicago area and this was our 3rd stay here. Our other 2 stays here a number of years ago were satisfactory and the location is great. This time we were spending one night here as we were doing a 20 mile training run the next morning along the lakefront with our training group in preparation to run the Chicago Marathon in 3 weeks. Every year our running club reserves one of the banquet rooms at the hotel for the runners to use as a staging area before and after the Chicago Marathon. This year it was going to be the Shelby Room on the 3rd floor. Once my husband and I got checked into our room prior to dinner we decided to stop down on the 3rd floor to see where the Shelby Room was located so we would not need to search for the location in 3 weeks on race morning. We made it to the 3rd floor and located the room. We did not enter room (it was locked). We then proceeded to walk to the opposite end of the floor to locate the stairs to exit. As we were walking down the stairs a security guard appeared and began shouting at us. He said he wanted to show us a sign that said the 3rd floor was closed. We did not see a sign when we entered the floor. I can think of countless times I've stayed at a hotel looking for a pool or fitness center and have freely walked through a hotel's open spaces where meeting or banquet rooms are. The security guard then berated us for not following the rules. He said we were making his job more difficult and that he could have us arrested for trespassing. We told him the reason we were there (just to locate the room our club would be using in 3 weeks) and that we were guests staying at the hotel. He continued to yell at us and insisted on showing us where the sign was that said the floor was closed. He went on to say there was a right way of doing things and we did things the wrong way. He also said we were making is job more difficult. We really felt like he was treating us like criminals and was making way more out of the situation than was necessary. After we politely apologized and tried to defuse the situation he continued to follow us down the stairs to the lobby. He was still yelling at us once we made it to the lobby. When then ended up speaking with the manager on duty named Nicole. She was apologetic for him coming on "too strong". I suggested to her that if they wanted to close off a section of the hotel why not put up stanchions and rope so it is clear an area is clearly meant to be closed off instead of hoping people happen to notice a sign. Also when you enter the elevator you do not need your room key to access the floors. So there is all this focus about people not going on a floor with meeting rooms yet anyone can just walk in off the street and access all of the guest floors at any point in time! Upon check-in we let the front desk person know that we would need to check out at 5am and check our bags since we were doing the early morning run even the next morning. She said to go to the bell desk in the morning and they could check our bags. The next morning there was no one at the bell desk. The front desk person then said to go down the hall to the security office. When we got there the security office the guy tried to unsucessfully page a bellman for several minutes. He then in frustration took our bags himself and gave us claim checks. What a waste of time when we were also in a hurry. We had a lakefront suite. The only complaints about our room were was there was no way to control the temperature of the room, only a dial to control fan speed or fan on and off. Also our room was right next to the elevator and in the bathroom you could hear the elevator running. The hotel overall is very run down with some holes in the walls and old carpeting that is worn and ripped in spots. Definitely do not stay at this hotel unless they get bought out, get new management and an entire renovation.

Great stay at a haunted hotel The hotel was a very last minute booking due to an error in dates at the original hotel I booked. The room was clean and the floor looks to be brand new. No carpeting, LVF in the rooms. The hotel is in renovation so the hallways had some sheet rock dust footprints otherwise clean. I am surprised to read reviews about noise. The hallways and our room were silent. We absolutely did not know that this hotel is known for being haunted. All three nights, we had experiences that could be described as paranormal. My sister saw the sheets to her bed being pulled off of her. She basically played a game of tugawar with the sheets 2 nights in a row! Then 2 out 3 people in the room were woken up by a sound that could not be explained. We, of course, immediately googled after the first night, and the sheet pulling seems to be a thing guests have reported. The hotel itself was a great location. Close to Millennium parking. We arrived at 3 am walked from the parking garage to the hotel and felt very safe. If you like ghost adventures this could be a fun place for you.

Great view and good location The view was great. The room was sizable but the lampshades were tatty and worn. The bath that I drew drained out because dental floss like string was wrapped around the plug (eww) and interfered with the plug's ability to seal. The bed was excellent though and the complimentary water was nice. There is a wonderful lounge in the lobby and the bar is great.

Never Stay Here Ever Worst experience ever! It was scary and creepy we experienced many issues with our room fridge didn't work very very cold in some places it was colder than other spots, I even turned the air off. Went to complain to front desk manager who assured us we would get a full refund didn't happen we received partial refund even tho we cut our trip short because I couldn't stay another night at this place. The security clothes looked as if they where never washed or ironed for that matter. For the price they charge we paid 400 my mom paid 600 with her having similar issues. I felt unsafe like I was being watched a very Erie feeling wish I would've known all of this before hand but we traveled with other family who chose this Hotel because it was right across the street where the taste of Chicago was being held.