needs an upgrade
I booked this hotel on a website in which I would not find out the name until after the purchase and was a bit horrified with the reviews when going in. I found my experience was slightly better than reported in some of the bad reviews. 
The location is nice if you are looking to stay in the main part of the city. There is a lot of access to shops and restaurants, all of the main tourist attractions, and a short ride to both the Wrigleyville and Wicker Park neighborhoods where all of the best nightlife is (but where few hotels are available). 
However, I am happy that I was out doing other things, and not spending time in the hotel, which was dirty and outdated. When we arrived, our room wasn't ready so we had to sit in the lobby. The chairs and rug were filthy, and many of the seats on the chairs were worn down and uncomfortable. 
When we arrived in our room, it was better than expected. No sign of bed bugs, and it was dirty from use over time, but no overt signs of previous inhabitants were seen. It was a bit small and there was little space to walk or get ready but given that it is an historic hotel in downtown Chicago this is something that could be overlooked. It would have been nice to have a floorlength mirror in the bedroom area (or any mirror at all), but again not a big deal, just something to know. The room was not unbearably hot and we did not need to use the a/c. The traffic noise below was also not an issue, especially given the proximity to Michigan Avenue.
A couple of big problems- one was that the toilet kept running, and on a few occasions we had to take the top off to make sure it was actually filling up. Second, the shower pressure was really really low to the point where it was difficult to rinse the shampoo out of our hair. 
We did not have a lot of interaction with the front desk staff, other than when we checked in. However, they did not seem overly friendly. There were two slow elevators for the entire building, but we did not have to wait a long time.
All in all, not a horrible place to stay if you are looking for an inexpensive hotel downtown Chicago but don't go in with high expectations or you made be disappointed.