My husband and I have traveled all over the world, and were really impressed with the James. Here is what we loved:

*Check out time at 2PM!
*Cleanliness was second to none.
*Concierge gave superb recommendations
*Location, location, location
*The hotel has a car that will drop you off at your destination

We picked this hotel largely because of the many good reviews on this site. Our experience was quite mixed, certainly not up to par with what most others have said.
We arrived on Friday nite and received very friendly greeting at curb, kind help with bags, etc. Another warm welcome once inside, guiding us to check in desk. So, high points for a warm welcome- this was great! Now, the disappointments: No coffee maker in room, just packets of instant and hot water pot- bummer. No coffee shop in hotel, either. Bummer. To make matters worse, our packets of instant were all 'decaf' - didn't discover any of this til Sat. morn.
Called room service Sat am, they sent up some packets; arrived back late Sat. nite. As we entered hotel Sat nite, I asked desk if we'd have coffee paks in our room for Sun am., she said 'yes', but we arrived at our room and, no coffee, and no housekeeping of any kind, either!
We were out all day on Sat., they had plenty of time to straighten the room and drop off coffee- Certainly not type of service you'd expect from a 4-5 star hotel.

Also, ask for an interior room- ours was on 8th floor, above the street and, even with windows closed, we heard honks, street talk, etc. interspersed all nite long.

So, our review is quite mixed. Maybe we were an anomaly- but the hotel was nothing great for us; overall experience here was a bit disappointing.

We recently spent three nights at The James Chicago for a mid-week winter holiday. The concierge and staff were enormously helpful in providing information about restaurants and sights. We loved the twice daily housekeeping service. Location is perfect for exploring Chicago without a car as it's only a block from Michigan Ave and a nice 15 minute walk to Millennium Park and The Art Institute, among other things. Check out is 2:00 pm, an unheard of convenience if you're catching a flight home later in the day. We will stay here again in a heartbeat!

Me and my other half stayed here for a night before heading back to London. We wanted somewhere downtown which was nice, but which we mainly wanted to use as a base to shop and eat. We found a great rate on travelrepublic which seemed a little too good to be true.

We arrived to find the hotel of our dreams (for this type of hotel at least). Staff were incredibly good - professional and friendly. The property itself is obviously very design focused and we did feel rather trendy staying there.

The rooms themselves were large and really well designed, with things like floor lamps and designer chairs and other furniture which we would have stolen if we didn't have to fly home! The bed was comfortable. The place was spotlessly clean. The only disappointment was that the bathroom didn't have Kiehls toiletries (as other reviews suggested it did). It did, however, have very eco-friendly, green products which worked just fine.

The gym was fantastic. It was one of those gyms you'd pay money to use at home. It had everything you could possibly need.

One of the best features of this hotel was the check in-check out times... We automatically had a 2pm checkout time - apparently it's one of the only hotels to offer 24 hour stays... And this is the way it should be! Wifi was free too - which is also how it should be!

Location was great too.

I go to Chicago a lot - for work and pleasure - and I know I'll stay here again. It was such a great experience.