Affinia Chicago

Freehand Chicago was organized and a great place to stay. Huge shout-out to Dana at the front desk for being so awesome! The room could have been a bit less dusty, but the overall experience and the great group in my unit made it a wonderful stay.

It is very clear the owner never once stayed in these rooms

Used to be good but they no longer offer single beds in a shared room which is bad. Stay somewhere else.

This is a dirty hotel. It costs over $200 a night and they will not change the sheets. I found dirt and dirty sheets. The shower had hair in it. DO NOT STAY HERE.

I stayed here while in Chicago for a large conference. I liked the unconventional vibe and the location! There are good parts of the hotel. The vibe is cool & different, the green tiled bathrooms are very neat. But I found myself more and more disappointed throughout my stay. Upon arrival, furniture in my room was noticeably dusty (headboard, closet door, desk, etc). Shortly after, I found clothing items of the previous guest laying under the edge of the bed. Upon check in, I was directed that housekeeping was upon request only. I requested housekeeping on two different days throughout my stay and my room was never serviced. On the third day of my stay, in the morning I requested housekeeping at the front desk and saw them write my room number on a list. Later in the day, upon return, I noticed it had not been cleaned/refreshed and asked the front desk if it my room had been on the list for the day, and they said no. That was very frustrating. The A/C unit (small above door unit) barely worked and I was very hot in my room throughout my stay.

do not book here. 1. checked in at 2:45, asked to wait as room wasnt clean. i understood this as check-in is technically 3, but they did not have our room ready until 3:30. 2. toilet did not work. had to consistently fill with water in order to use and flush. there was a trash bin but no bag in the bins. (kind of weird and unclean to me, but I could be high maintenance in this situation) 3. the worst part and major part for a 1 star review - we slept with ants in our bed and our room. we woke up to a few crawling on us and notified the front desk immediately as well as sharing a video. they requested that i send the video to shawanna harris, who has yet to respond to me. do not stay here if you have any need of cleanliness or customer service. truly a 0/10. i will be disputing part of the charge (was guaranteed by staff at check out i would receive a $100 refund for my issues, but no one has gotten in contact with me after fulfilling all of their requests. all i needed was a response of acknowledgment and a phone call to the 3rd party booking website i used for the room to confirm the refund amount). no response = negative review. save yourself the time, money, and potential disgust and stay literally anywhere else in the city. . thanks for coming to my ted talk!

I had a wonderful stay at the Freehand. As a solo femme presenting person traveling, I felt very safe and had fun. The staff made my stay all the more enjoyable. Gia at the bar was amazing! She is so personable and knows how to make a great espresso martini. It was so fun getting to talk to her and other travelers at the bar each morning. The customer service skills of all the staff are 1000/10 as the front desk ladies also made me feel very well taken care of. I had a great birthday trip at the freehand. It’s a block away from the redline so it is very convenient for traversing the rest of Chicago. Would recommend for solo femme travelers.

Dismissive and rude service, sheets had holes in, comforter had stains, carpet smelled moldy, AC stop working during the night and there is no option to control the temperature. Shower soap bottle didn’t work, over priced but luckily the location was good. I wouldn’t recommend this place unless you had no other options available.

Really not a nice hotel, feels like a college dorm even in the hotel rooms, air conditioning barely works

LONG POST ALERT. DISCLAIMER : THIS ISNT MY FIRST TIME STAYING IN A HOSTEL. I recently travelled to Chicago and stayed at Freehand Chicago for 2 nights. Unfortunately, my overall experience was extremely disappointing. To begin with, the hostel felt very dingy and had a strong smell of rusty metal throughout the premises. The sofa and carpets appeared extremely dusty and poorly maintained in the room. I suffer from allergies, and the moment I sat on the sofa, I developed an allergic reaction on my hands (photos attached). Another major inconvenience was the lack of basic guest facilities. There were no water bottles provided in the room, which by itself may not be a huge issue, but there wasn’t even an accessible water refill station for guests near the reception area. I was instead directed to use a water refill machine located in the fitness centre in the basement, which was highly inconvenient. Additionally, there was no kitchen setup available for guests — no microwave, no utensils, and no cutlery. I understand there is a bar within the hostel, but if I were planning to spend on restaurant or bar food for every meal during my stay, I would not have chosen a hostel accommodation in the first place. What made the experience worse was that, despite the lack of facilities and overall poor upkeep, the hostel was still quite expensive compared to other hostel stays, even though I had booked well in advance. AND YES - THEY DIDNT HAVE FIRST AID ON SITE. Can you believe it? My friend was having a headache and we went to the reception, the person tell us there is a box for ibuprofen but there isn’t one in that boa, LIKE ARE YOU KIDDING ME? SO WHAT DOES THE HOSTEL MANAGEMENT REALLY DO OF ALL THE FEES WE PAY FOR THE STAY? Lastly, I was extremely disappointed with the attitude of the lady at the reception (PHOTO ATTACHED) Her behaviour came across as rude and arrogant, making guests feel unwelcome rather than valued customers. At no point should guests feel as though they are being treated poorly for simply staying at the property. I WOULD HAVE COMPLAINED AT THE RECEPTION AND PROVIDED MY FEEDBACK, BUT I WOULD RATHER CHOOSE SELF RESPECT OVER RAISING CONCERN TO THE RECEPTIONIST I MENTIONED EARLIER. Overall, this has been the worst hostel experience I have had so far, and unfortunately, I would not recommend this property to others.

I would not recommend staying here and will not be returning. The room had a very strong, unpleasant odour with little to no ventilation. The windows were dirty, and the air conditioning unit appeared extremely dusty and poorly maintained, to the point where I did not feel comfortable turning it on. I requested a room change and explained that the smell was causing me to cough and feel nauseous, but my request was not accommodated. The front desk told me housekeeping would come spray disinfectant in the room in 30 mins, which clearly would not have resolved the underlying issue anyway. To make matters worse, housekeeping never even came despite me waiting for nearly 2 hours. I even tried airing out the room by leaving the door open for a while, but the smell persisted and never improved. Since it was already late in the evening, I had no choice but to stay and sleep in the room despite the extreme discomfort. For a small additional cost, I would strongly recommend staying elsewhere for a cleaner, healthier, and more comfortable experience.

I wouldn’t stay here: is ok to be on budget and stay at a cheaper place with the prerogative of amenities or extra services, not quality, quality and attitude are non-negociables, I didn’t found those upon my stay, they assigned me the wrong room with the excuse I booked through a 3rd party, no support or empathy from employees, Dana was perhaps the only more incline to provide a bit of more information and help me, room overall is not bad but the courting were dirty, I wont coming back to this hotel.