Holiday Inn Express Chicago

Back in July 2011, a friend and I went to Chicago for a week and needed a nice wheelchair accessible hotel.  At that time, I was new to travelling and had a travel agent book my hotel and my flight for me.  Everything seemed quite expensive but I wasn’t confident about booking anything myself until a short time after that.  Suzanne booked for us for a week at Holiday Inn Express and we we ready to go.

The Hotel

The address to Holiday Inn Express is 640 North Wabash Avenue and it features 174 rooms at this hotel.  It is a nice older hotel that has since been renovated to give it a fresh updated look.  When we went, we had no issues with anything and really liked the hotel.

front entrance to the hotel

Room

We got a decent size room with 2 beds with a couch and the bathroom just to the side.  Each bed was quite comfortable and there was a safe, a coffee maker with complimentary coffee and tea packets.

we had 2 beds and a sofa bed on the side

The bathroom was great as it had a roll in shower.  I guess when a travel agent books for you, they make sure you get what you ask for.  I can’t remember if it had a removable hand held shower head but I think it did.  My commode also fit over the toilet comfortably and the roll in shower was quite big.

decent size roll in shower

Amenities

The hotel doesn’t offer an airport shuttle but they do offer some of the basic amenities like any other hotel does.  There is the usual free wifi that works well throughout the property.  There is also a small gym and a business center that is free to use but we did not end up visiting .

front desk / lobby area

There is no on-site restaurant at this hotel due to space limitations but they do offer a free breakfast buffet daily from 6:30 to 9:30 on weekdays and 7 to 10 on weekends.  The options are quite good as there are sausages, eggs, toast, baked goods, cereal, juices, milk and a few more items.  It was definitely tough for us to get up that early for the free breakfast as we slept in the majority of the time.

free daily breakfast buffet is included

Location

Holiday Inn Express is located in the Magnificent Mile district, which is Chicago’s premier commercial district.  This busy, trendy area has a lot of high end shops, fancy restaurants, hotels, banks and more.  Some nearby attractions include the Navy Pier, Willis Tower, Millennium Park and the John Hancock Center.

Millennium Park

The location was so central, we didn’t rely on taxis on this trip.  Everything was so close and within walking/strolling distance that we even went as far as Shedd Aquarium which was about an hour away.  Our Chicago trip happened to be during a heat wave but that didn’t stop us from being outside all day.

glass floor on the Willis Tower

Holiday Inn Express was a great choice for a hotel.  It was wheelchair accessible and they do offer rooms with a roll in shower.  Prices were quite affordable and there is a free daily breakfast buffet included.  The location was also perfect being in the Magnificent Mile area that I would definitely stay again the next time I am in Chicago.