This place just barely gets a rating of 2. Based on the reviews above (Oct 16, 2002 + Oct 17, 2003) I went to view the available rooms at the Belair. Boy was I disappointed even though I consider my standards quite modest. They give you a key and you go up and check out the room(s) M-F 12-8 Sa 9-8. The room I saw was old and while it seemed somewhat clean it just had an overall look of dingy, dingy, dingy. It was one of the majority of rooms that are rented by the week/month. They have some few other rooms that rent by the night and possibly might be different. The room rate was $159/wk. At $259-299/wk the Chicago area Ext Stay America properties seem to me to have a vastly better bang per buck ratio. They do cost more and you need a car unless you stay at Ext Stay O'Hare and are willing to deal with a somewhat painful bus to CTA link to get you downtown.

My boyfriend used to live at this hotel and I was there often.It's a fairly nice place if all the other hotel's are booked. It's really clean and quiet.

We stayed here the weekend of the Chicago Marathon (as most everything else in the city was booked). The location is very nice (Lincoln Park) and the neighborhood is very safe. The hotel itself is old and actually even has residents (they are harmless although a bit strange). There are plenty of restaurants, cinemas and bars close by -you won't be confined to your room in other words.
The rooms are very basic (no alarm clock, no extra pillows, 2 hangers) and as clean as they could be, given the fact that they are fairly old rooms. The bed was okay (thin mattress but thick comforter) and the shower worked quite well. All and all, it's like crashing at a college friend's old apartment.