Hotel Blake - Chicago, USA 

This noisy hotel is on the corner of Dearborn and Congress, two major streets with lots of buses and an above ground metro one block away. The double pain windows do not cut the noise. If you are from a city a love noise, then this is your hotel. The rooms are beautiful and the beds are comfortable. That's a plus. We were upgraded to a corner room #524. Beautiful views. When I commented on the noise and said we could not sleep well, they said the only rooms above ours were suites. We kept our room.Trust me, it's noisy, throughout the night. NO morning newspapers. NO twice daily maid service. NO bottled water. This used to be a Hyatt, but while claiming to be a boutique hotel they don't even get the most basic of hotel services. There are so few people staying here that the restaurant, Custom House, quit serving breakfasts because there wasn't enough business. If you want ice, you'll be going up to the 12th floor to find the ice machine. The hallway carpets, at least on floor five were stained in several places and needed a deep cleaning. This hotel is a mile from Sears Tower and a mile from Art Institute of Chicago. The same goes for Wrigley Field if you happen to be catching a Cubs game. OTHERWISE, there is nothing close to this hotel. It's on the far south end of the loop and boy did we boo-boo picking this hotel because it's not near anything. Well, the Chicago library is a block away as is the city jail! If you are looking for a hotel in the Miracle Mile area where most of the tourist activities take place, this is NOT the hotel to choose. The hotel advertises a concierge, but it is really the front desk, which while as helpful as they try to be, are not trained concierges. Wireless service does not work in the lobby, though it does work in the rooms. The only reason to stay here is for the rock bottom hotel rates that can be found on some discount websites. There is also a Starbucks on the corner and Orange, a breakfast restaurant around the corner. All in all, we would never stay here again. The rooms are great but there is nothing else going on, unless you absolutely have appointments in this area, there are far better hotels with far better services in Chicago....and at similar prices. We thought this was a MISS and not a little miss a BIG MISS.

My dear boyfriend and I stayed at Hotel Blake June 27-June 29, 2008 after wanting a hotel that wasn't another "chain". We booked the weekend stay on Expedia.com and check in was a breeze. The room was prepaid and all they needed was a signature and a credit card to put on file for incidentals. We were assigned a King Classic room on the 6th floor...clean room, beautiful bed and bedding, large bathroom with large shower, great free tioletries from Bath and Body Works. However, not a great view. Actually, no view at all, just the side of a brick building, but this was expected seeing as how we didn't splurge for a suite and it is the city of Chicago! We didn't take advantage of the restaurant but we did walk to city quite a bit. Ate at Hackneys for burgers just down the block. There is easy access to the el, and many restaurants...Starbuck, Potbelly, Edwardos, small little Italian resurants and a 7-11 on the block. I did encounter one small problem on my return from our stay. We had checked out and were told there were no incidentals, however the next day my credit card they had on file had been charged $100.00. I called and spoke with the front desk who informed me that when they take your credit card on file they "automatically" set aside $50.00 per day and that if it is not used, it is reimbursed. It was in fact reimbursed the next day, however it would have been nice to know this up front. Overall, it was a lovely cozy, CLEAN stay at Hotel Blake with a great location and we would definetly recommend it and will stay there again!