Great location, friendly staff, and room service is excellent! The best part of it is their "late night" menu... Their grilled cheese is the perfect meal after a fun night out with your friends. Hotel Monaco definitely exceeded all my expectation! If you're planning on visiting Chicago, Hotel Monaco is the place to stay at!!!

Stayed in queen/queen room 1402 for a business trip. Found the room to be very spacious for a downtown room and was pleased that it had a desk with two desk chairs to facilitate two people working together at the desk. While the view was of the building next door the large windows provided plenty of natural light.
The service in the hotel was all around great during our stay. We were regularly assisted by Foster who was always kind and helpful. The housekeeping service was top notch in always tending to the details. From leaving a note to ask if they could do anything additional to stocking the room with a few bottled waters from the gym after seeing I had been working out.
The only place I would suggest improvement would be the service in the restaurant. While it was often very good there were a few experiences we had where the servers seemed rushed or inattentive. This was especially true during breakfast one morning.

We come here every November for the Festival of Lights. While the festival is fun for all ages, it's becoming more and more crowded every year too. But I digress. We always stay at the Monaco, because it's so good that it builds up that kind of loyalty. Last year we veered and stayed at the somewhat new Radisson Blu. All I'm going to say about that is that we came back to the Monaco. It's got an excellent location, has super friendly staff, has the signature Kimpton wine hour, but it's the small things that impress. Staff who remember you from the day before, the goldfish you can order for your room (yes, in a fishbowl!), the free coffee in the morning. In the summer you can even have a bike loaned out to you. No, it's not the Waldorf, but you don't pay Waldorf prices, and the staff is so friendly. Come experience home in a strange city!

We have stayed at the Palomar Hotel during our last two stays in Chicago (my home town!). The Palomar was out of our budget this time around, so we tried the Hotel Monaco after reading all the great reviews.

Like the Monaco, the hotel is "boutique" in nature. You don't need a car, as you can literally walk everywhere. It's about a 20 minute walk or so to the Hancock Center; 5-8 minute walk ot the Art Institute. You are also not far from Lake Shore Drive. The chilly temperatures kept us away from the Lake Front this visit, but this is also within walking distance of the hotel.

We had a partial River View Room; higher floor. But we did not get a room with a cushion at the window (although we COULD sit in the window area. . .and did!). We both agreed next time we would opt for the Cushioned window seats and pay the extra money because it is a special touch and experience. We had a high floor and we were away from L Tracks so the noise level was minimal. Although someone on our floor at 4am was shouting in the hallway. Geez, what ARE people thinking?!!? Other than this, it was a quiet stay.

The room was very roomy/spacious. We actually ordered in one night and set up a towel on the floor, lit candles and just enjoyed the quiet and solitude of our room after being out in the crowded city streets all day. The had appetizers and Champagne at "Pops for Champagne" one evening; also dined at Vermillion. We would VERY much recommend that restaurant.

Some of the cons (and why I did not give it a 4 out of 5:
**There is literally no drawer space in the room. I found that very odd, and it made organizing our things very frustrating at times. I found myself going in circles forgetting where I put things that would normally be in a drawer.
**The work out area, while nice, was not looked after properly. There were no towels in the area one day. The next there was no water in the cooler for guests.
**The front desk staff I found inconsistent and not as warm and accessible (overall) as the Palomar Hotel. We checked our bags our last day, so we could walk around and enjoy the city before taking the Blue Line to the airport. When I went to get our bags, we ended up walking away without our hanging clothes. It wasn't until I got to the train station that I realized we did not have them! I went back and the bell-hop had overlooked them, but really didn't offer much of an apology.

None of these areas were deal-breakers. And we definitely would return.