This hotel is living off its former glory. It desperately needs a makeover. What was considered luxurious and well designed 30 years mow seems run of the mill and verging on tacky.

The tv set was a 30 year old clunker from Zenith. I don't care much for television when I travel (I don't think I turned it on once). I just mention it because it's an apt metaphor for my entire experience.

For starters, I arrived at 4pm only to find out that my room was not ready. They took my cell phone number so they could call me when they were ready for me, but they never called. I popped by at 6 to discover that my room was ready and was left to wonder if they ever would have called me. (no apologies either).

When I got to my room (which was no easy task as room 410 isn't even listed as a possibility on the signs facing the elevator) I was shocked to see how small it was (considering the amount of time it took to clean, check out is at 11 am by the way). It's one of those deals where opening the door to the bathroom almost collides with your bed. As for the view, I suspect some people in prison enjoy a better vista.

They offer a complementary continental breakfast but I wonder what continent they are referring to. No customary cereal, cheese, or yogurt options. Just a sad fruit salad and a muffin or white or whole wheat toast. Again, I thought of prison as the service was less than smiley.

The best thing about this place is the wonderful location and the building itself, one of the Chicago's oldest skyscrapers.

Everything else was a disappointment.

The Burnham is a lovely smaller hotel in an historic buliding right smack-bang in the middle of Chicago, great for shopping (right across the road from Marshall Fields) and access to the theatres. You can't beat the location, and the staff were friendly and attentive.

My room was tiny (as you would expect from the location) but very well appointed and all the furnishings were extremely comfortable.

Unfortunately at the time I was staying there they were ripping up State Street, so Taxi access was difficult and the subway station at State and Washington is closed for much of this year. It also took ten minutes to diagonally cross the road to get to Marshall Fields due to the roadworks - not the hotel's fault.

On the whole a very pleasant stay all round.

This hotel was an unexpected find! I searched several websites and had reserved a room somewhere else, when I received a notice from Hotwire about other hotels in the area. I took a gamble and hit the jackpot! The price was exceptional for the area, but especially the hotel iteslf! The hotel staff was very accommodating, personable and ready to assist. I even received a handwritten note from the cleaning personnel. The wine tasting was an excellent opening to a great stay in the historical and beautiful hotel. We didn't spend much time in the room or hotel itself, but the time we did spend was luxurious. The room was comfortably romantic, very clean and plush. This hotel was very close to many of the wonderful sites Chicago has to offer. It is in a nice area, walking distance to many attractions as well as train stations. I felt safe in the area walking as a single woman. The construction in the area was not bothersome to me, however my husband did have a little trouble sleeping in one morning as they start work at 8am or earlier. The first evening we stayed, we enjoyed a walk to see some of the shops, theaters and architecture in the area. We took an excellent Ghost Tour, which I would recommend as they provided an interesting history of the city. The architectural boat tour is also a great tour of the Chicago River and gives insight to the buildings in the area. We had breakfast one morning at The Atwood Restaurant, excellent food, poor service, but then there was only one waiter for about 8 tables. If you are looking for Chicago style pizza and have about 2 hours to wait for your table and to get food, try Gino's east, however, I liked the little pizza place by Frank Lloyd Wright's home, Giordano's, much better and the wait was not as long. I would highly recommend the Burnham Hotel and will look for other Kimpton hotels when traveling; you won't go wrong choosing this one!

Our room was a disappointment. Our room was so small that I couldn't roll in my suitcase on wheels because the space between the bed and wall was too tight. It might have been suitable for a single business traveller for a single night, not for a couple on holiday.

As well, jackhammers and road work outside all night long. Very annoying. And Red Line train is shutdown on weekends... would have been nice to have a warning.

The breakfast at Cafe Atwood was very good, as well as the wine hour. Overall, I wish we had stayed somewhere else, a few miles north of the hotel, closer to the nightlife and restaurants.