One of the most common questions I get asked about my travels is “Where do you stay when you visit [insert city here]?” As a result, I figured that I’d start documenting some of the more interesting hotels that I stay at. This is installment Number 1.
The James Hotel
55 East Ontario Street
Chicago, IL 60611
Web: http://www.jameshotels.com/Chicago.aspx
The James is one of those hotels which, on the surface, might seem too trendy for its own good. It is a design hotel with a sleek interior, clean, well-designed rooms and a young, good-looking staff. But the service it provides goes well beyond its good looks – it is a comfortable hotel which excels at accommodating the most serious business traveler.
The rooms are spacious and comfortable with great bedding, a beautiful bathroom, shower or tub and interesting furniture in the seating areas. There are little things, however, which really make the stay comfortable and enjoyable: Massive 47-inch plasma TVs (multiple of them if you get a larger room), comfortable couches, an abundance electrical sockets for you to plug in your laptop, Tivoli Audio radios with iPod inputs, a (kind of) full bar in each room with full bottle of vodka, gin, champagne, etc., Keils products in the bathroom and a great variety of interesting snacks stocked within your in-room bar. Room Service is great, as it’s supplied by David Burke’s Primehouse restaurant downstairs, which makes great breakfast and dinner. The gym is quite well-equipped for a hotel of this size.
It’s location makes is a good choice for the business traveler or tourist alike and the rates tend t0 vary greatly by the season. Last year, someone put me up there in the spring in a standard King room for almost $400 a night, but on a recent trip in January, I paid only $209 a night for a studio apartment suite.
