The Buckingham Athletic Club Hotel

We stayed at the Buckingham Athletic Club because we couldn't find a good, inner-city hotel in Chicago for under $US 200 per night. We didn't know what to expect, but were very pleasantly surprised when we arrived. It's located in the top 2 floors of one of the exchange buildings in the near south side. We arrived, were greeted by friendly security guards and went up the elevator to the private elevator on the 39th floor. We had 3 steps to change elevators to the 40th floor and arrived. Check-in was efficient, and we dropped our bags in the yet-to-be-cleaned room and went to lunch. When we returned at 2pm after lunch the room was well cleaned and was fantastic. We were ASTOUNDED at the views -- our room faced north and we had a panorama of Chicago in front of us. As are interested in architecture, we were excited to see all of the buildings from our hotel window. The bed was great --- a huge king size bed (California King?), good television, great wet-bar, fantastic bathroom and plenty of space. We found it was easy to get inexpensive cabs to the major attractions and although not in the centre of what we wanted, we were no more than 10 minutes or $10 away from it. The rooms were very clean, but one could tell that they had been furnished say 5-10 years ago. If the furniture receieved a make-over, this hotel would have been 10 out of 10 for us! Overall, we recommend it highly, and are planning a week's stay in 2008. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

This hotel is not family friendly at all. The breakfast they serve is poor. There's no one to help you with directions. The pool hours are horrible, and the pool is not for children. It takes three different elevators to get to your room. There's no true restaurant to eat in the building, or bar. We took a coke and candy from refrigerator and were charged a ton of money. The hotel is not in a good location for vacationers.