Not a "boutique" hotel -- but solid value, great location
I had a pleasant two-night stay at the Inn of Chicago in a standard queen room. The location is great, the room was clean and quiet, and the bed was comfortable. However, they describe themselves as a boutique hotel, but they lack the charm, attention to detail, and small creature comforts that I associate with that term. The most charming parts of the hotel are the lobby, bar, and rooftop terrace. The décor of the room was kind of blah. The queen room was very small—acceptable for one person, but would have been far too small to be comfortable for two people. There was a decent-sized desk and swivel chair. There was one small straight-back chair, but I’m not sure why they bothered with it, since it wasn’t really comfortable for relaxing or reading and didn’t have an end table next to it so it wasn’t useful for eating or having a cup of coffee. There was a coffeemaker in the room, with paper cups and generic coffee, but no tea. The bathroom was tiny, with a pedestal sink, no counter space at all, and just two small glass shelves for toiletries. It was so small, in fact, that the towel rack was actually mounted on the back wall of the bathtub/shower combo, which I found incredibly odd and inconvenient. The soap dish was mounted directly under the showerhead, which meant that it was constantly full of water, rendering it unusable. There was no fan in the bathroom. They offered orange-scented shampoo, conditioner, and soap, but no lotion. There was no in-room safe. The TV was a good size flat panel, but it lacked premium cable. It’s these small details that, in my mind, distinguish true boutique hotels. The Inn of Chicago is simply a smaller, solid, mid-range hotel. It was acceptable and pleasant, but not a place I would actively seek out for a future stay.