This was our nth visit to Chicago, and my wife and I try to stay at different hotels and apartments each time. My wife flew in on Friday, Oct 8th, to spend a couple of nights with 6 of her girlfriends (they stayed at 2 apartments in the Lincoln Park area). I followed 2 days later on Marathon Sunday, and took a cab from O'Hare to downtown. No traffic at all even if the marathon had just ended. Presidential Towers is a 4-tower complex on West Madison, and spans the Jefferson and Clinton blocks. We stayed at Tower 3 which is run by Habitat Corporate Suites. Tower4 is called the Dog Tower, obviously for guests with pets. All rooms in Tower 3 are furnished. Towers 1 and 2 are managed by the owner of the entire complex, and units are mostly unfurnished, and are for longer leases. The towers are tall and not unattractive. The reception desk at Tower3 is not usually staffed, but a phone will summon a staffer. We were processed immediately by a young, professional male staffer in a few minutes. Our paperwork including a city map were all pre-prepared in an envelope with 2 keys and swipe cards. The apartment lobby was undergoing renovation, but aisles and hallways were reasonably clean. There were at least 3-4 security men controlling the long hallways leading to tower3. Access to elevators is by swipe card. There were 4 fast and quiet elevators. Our 35th floor hallway was clean but plain. We had a one-bdrm apt with ample living/dining area, and a decent-sized kitchenette. Both our bdrm and living/dining areas had ceiling-to-floor glass walls on one side (facing the NW part of the city). Aside from usual ceiling lights, we also had 5 floor/table lamps --- 2 did not have bulbs, and the 3rd had a busted bulb. We called about this the following morning, and all lamps were in working condition when we returned in the afternoon. Kitchen had a fridge/freezer, range/stove, DW, and full complement of utensils, pots/pans, china, glassware. Large walk-in storage closet beside main entry. Three-piece bath was decently-sized and clean, with usual set of towels and soap/shampoo. Water pressure was needlessly strong --- can we think of low-flow heads to conserve water? Furniture was so-so, and same as 3-star hotel.
Queen bed was comfortable. Street noise, esp. sirens, was evident even up on the 35th. Walls could have been better insulated. On our 2nd night, we could hear the guy next door watching a sports event. There is a very large, fully-equipped fitness center run as an independent enterprise. Guests of Habitat are entitled to free use of the center. I did not see an in-house restaurant or coffee shop, but there is a Potbelly soup/sandwich place at the corner of one of the towers. There were also a handful of shops incl McDonalds at the back of one tower. The end of the one Metra line is located at a building about 200 meters away from the Towers. We took this train to get our usual seafood fix at Bob Chinn's in Wheeling. The trains were packed because of marathon participants leaving the city. Mag Mile and shops/restaurants are not far away, and the walk is pleasant if one is in reasonably good health.
In summary, it is a decent place but not memorable. We paid $165/night, way below the usual hotel rates in the downtown area.

I had been to Chicago on a business visit and the company had booked me into Presidential towers. The hotel looks very imposing and is in bang in the centre of the downtown.
I was allotted a room on the 27th floor which had an awesome view of the I90/I94 expressway. It was a studio apartment and I should say it was very comfortable and had all amenities in place for my stay. Had a living room with a TV. The kitchen with a microwave,dishwasher and a cooking range was sufficient for me to cook myself for the entire tour.

Apart from this they also have a supermarket as well as lot of shops in the basement. They have a wonderful Thai restaurant which I always used to hit in the weekends.

The service was really good and the entire studio is cleaned on a daily basis. They also had a pay per use washing facility in the basement. The only cause of concern for me was the security as I could not bring in guests without them going through a lot of security checks and me coming down and accompanying them. But otherwise the facility is top class, the view of the downtown is awesome and it also has good access to all the parts of the city.

We stayed here for one night. We arrived around noon, and while our reservation said check-in was at 5pm, our room was available already.

We were on the 35th floor, facing west. It was a great view! Everything was clean and the television and cable worked just fine. We couldn't have been happier and hope we can stay here the next time we're in town!

I decided to try this facility for an overnight with my daugther via Amtrak. The location was wonderful for Union Station access and I had called the day before to make sure we could leave our luggage before check in. Problems I had read about had to do with it being mainly for long term business travel rather than short term/overnight, and there was a
different area for short term check in that was hard to find. That wasn't the case here. The doorman was gracious and led us to the desk at 12:30 pm, where we found a clock style sign saying Back at 12:30 pm. Not a problem until 12:30 turned into 12:45 and 1:00. The doorman even came back to see if we were taken care of and called on his walkie talkie to get help. I called the number on our reservation and heard the phone behind the counter ring. I got a message she was busy with another call or customer, leave a message. I called again, tried for corporate, and Yvette was on another line with a customer or away from her desk. Leave a message. I did. I got on the elevator next to the check in area to see if I could find someone on another floor and found a security area that you go through to access the Towers. After a few minutes here, they couldn't help me, they were security for tenants only. I tried Yvette in corporate again and got an answer. She apologized and said she would look into getting someone to help us. Finally, a young man showed up and was able to see that our room wasn't ready, but yes we could leave our luggage...
We came back to check in around 6 and the desk was staffed by a young lady who found my Orbitz reservation quickly and promptly asked me how I wanted to pay for the room, $15.00 dollars less than what I had already paid. Now everyone else in the world knows you don't get a reservation through Orbitz or Travelocity or any other site without payment in full, but not our girl. Even with my print out (thank goodness I brought it with) that listed the reservation number, hotel name, date, YOUR CREDIT CARD HAS BEEN CHARGED, nope, I had to fix this. We were given a pass to the business center, up on that next floor, through security, were I was going to, hopefully, get to corporate and Yvette. Didn't come close. All the computers were taken and by the facebook pages showing, weren't going to be available any time soon. We went back to the desk and I told our young lady "I have all the proof I needed that I paid - get me a supervisor". Believe it or not, it was after 5 and everyone else had gone home, she'd have to call someone at their home! I raised an eyebrow and said nothing. Said supervisor, when given all the info, said fine, get a credit card for incidentals and I'll check on things in the morining. I also mentioned that she could speak to Yvette whom I had left another message for, and I still haven't heard from 5 days later...
The suite and view of the city, once we got there, after a mile walk, was beautiful. Nice sized living and dining space, the kitchen was well stocked for a stay with dishes and glassware, etc. The bed was comfortable, the bathroom clean. There was a vcr and dvd player as well as a computer hookup.
Now if they could get everything leading up to the room in order ...