Visiting Family Had Good Experience
I live in Chicago and had family come in from out of state, small town and wanted a city experience. Found Congress Plaza had great rates during their stay and was in a great location. Due to another Tripadvisor review that encouaged to ask for a room with a view on a higher floor, we did so, and they were on a high floor with a great view. It was a corner room, clean, quiet, and had a large bathroom. Location was central to everything they wanted to experience. Room was a bit small but this is to be expected in an historic hotel. A friendly doorman was quite helpful to them. Only negatives they experienced was some rundown looking, cracked baseboards in the room, one of the hotel restaurants in the hotel was unexpectedly closed on the second day (they ate breakfast there the first day), and that there weren't too many food options for them in the immediate surrounding area. One other potentially big negative is that there are picketers there - they have been picketing since 2003 (search the internet for more of the story). Our family didn't have any trouble with this and took it in stride. I found out about this after someone else's Tripadvisor review and a friend so searched the internet for more details after I had made the reservation. So if you aren't laid back about this and the strike continues on, you may want do look elsewhere and pay a little more.