Acme Hotel

I visit Chicago regularly for work and have stayed here a few times for business travel. The overall location is convenient and you can easily walk to restaurants and other neighborhoods etc. The immediate area is a little seedy - homeless people on the block and smells of cigarettes and urine. Staff is friendly and mostly helpful. Elevator was out during one stay, which was horrible and resulted in really long wait times plus crowded elevator rides. The rooms are a bit outdated and could use an upgrade. I've stayed in the rooms facing Ohio St and I was not able to sleep well due to the street noise (cars racing, honking, sirens etc). The old, janky AC unit also emitted a bright light that I had to block with towels to sleep. The rooms facing the interior are quieter but the AC units are old and LOUD (was constantly woken up at 3am by the AC fan). During my multiple stays, there was ALWAYS someone else's hair on the shower wall, which made me question the cleanliness of the room.

The Acme Hotel is perfectly situated in downtown with restaurants, nightlife, shopping and museums easily walkable. The Red Line train entrance is across the street, making heading to Wrigley Field super easy. Staff was friendly and helpful. The funky decor was refreshing. I really liked the lipstick nightlight in the bathroom! We loved the minimalistic use of space for hanging clothes (those big closets eat up a lot of room) and open shelving for the bedside table and bathroom. The bed was amazing! We were able to upgrade to a king suite on the 12th floor (1202) and enjoyed the seating area overlooking the city. No coffee maker but there was complimentary coffee and tea on the second floor every morning. There is some street noise, including sirens, but the curtain closing off the bedroom area cut that out. Cleanliness was the only small issue we found. The LVP flooring needed a good scrubbing.

I am conflicted about my rating for this location. The staff was great. Ready to help with a range of issues. But what has become of Hilton? Hilton once was a brand that I trusted for a level of quality. But their corporate managers seem to think that somehow, inconsistent "collection" hotels that are unpredictable and inconsistent are a way to promote their brand? Wrong! As I understand it, the "Outset Collection" is Hilton taking over run-down properties and recoving them and keeping prices low. They also seem to be aiming to be trendy to attract younger travellers. A thought for Hilton--busines travellers and more mature clients are not the heart of the market, a young backpacker who's short on spending cash will find a youth hostel with a bunk room. We arrived a few minutes before our 3 pm check-in time. For some reason they could not manage to check anyone in a few minutes early--so there was a line of about six parties ahead of me. One of their two elevators was out of service. I know there's a shortage of elevator repairpersons, so that might be understandable. But the long line for check-in turned into a trafic jam at the one remaining elevator--and the "up" button to call it was also needing repair. All told it was around 40 minutes later before we got into our room. The room was not especially well conceived. A good bed, a desk with one chair, a couple of hammocks. A few hangers above the hammocks, a tall skinny closet with nothing in it (supposed to be an ironing board maybe?). Enclosed bath with a non-enclosed shower (note to designers: a half-sheet of glass is not an enclosure, I prefer to keep the floors dry). Pipes that rattled when you flushed. A nice TV with limited channel selection--no NBC, for instance, and I think no PBS. Mini-fridge but no coffeemaker and no microwave--to get coffee I had to go to the attached bakery, which was closed on one morning due to some mechanical issue. The building incorporates a bar which seems to attract its own clientele. The elevator is adorned with cover art from famous rock albums--and the theme is carried into the mood music in the elevator--now, how mahy of us want punk-rock at 8:30 a.m.? I think if I'm looking for affordable lodgings in Chicago, next time I'll go back to Motel 6. I no longer trust the Hilton brand.