We spent three nights here in June, and were in general pleased, although not overwhelmed. Unfortunately, the owners were not there, and the atmosphere was therefore not so personal as you expect from a guesthouse.

A few mistakes were also made, especially a rather brutal check-out, which turned down the overall impression. The housekeeper had other guests arriving 11 AM, so she rushed us to get out of our room already at breakfast, complaining about her workload... It might seem like a minor detail, but it is exactly those details that make you feel welcome or not. In this case the feeling was: “they want us to pay and then get rid of us” - which is not a feeling I expect from a guesthouse!

However, a lot of other things were good. The room was charming, the neighborhood absolutely great, and the breakfast buffet OK. We do not drive, so we relied completely on Chicago's public transportation, which turned out to be great! Among the good things were also the very good descriptions we got from the guesthouse, which made it easy to go by train and bus from the airport. That is something all hotels/guesthouses/hostels and other should have!

The location was also fabulous, in a charming, residential neighborhood, extremely convenient for exploring Chicago! We loved the closeness to the park and the nice little restaurant North Pond, built in Frank Lloyd Wright-style. But there were also lots of other great restaurants right around the corner, as well as several food-markets, bookstore, theatres, and other things you need to feel at home.

Being Europeans, we walked downtown every day (although they told us at the guesthouse that it was not possible, it only took an hour or so and it was a nice walk). However, for those who don't like walking as much as we do, there are both buses and the lovely metro, the Loop, more or less around the corner. The neighborhood therefore receives a 5.0, and perhaps we would give the guesthouse another try, if we knew the owners were there.

My fiance and I stayed here for 2 nights last weekend and had a wonderful time!! We stayed in the Algren and De Beauvoire room, which was perfect! It was quite large, had a large bathroom with shower and whirlpool tub. The bed was very comfortable and everything was spotless. The common areas were very comfortable and were supplied with plenty of reading material...actually, the room was too! It had tons of Chicago travel books and brochures, which we definitely found handy.

The B&B is in a wonderful neighborhood in easy walking distance to a ton of great restaurants, shops, and an EL stop.
The breakfasts were wonderful. I don't know why people stay in regular hotels for about the same price, when you can stay in a beautiful home and get a stellar home-cooked breakfast in the morning!

Mary and Andy were very nice and friendly and I would not hesitate to stay here next time I'm in Chicago.

Staying at a downtown Chicago hotel would have been the easy thing to do, but experiencing what it may be like to "live" in Chicago was half the fun. WCUI is 1.5 blocks west of the nearest major street, (Clark) so just getting there drew my wife and I into the essence of Lincoln Park. We relied on the CTA to get around, and were pretty happy with that decision after seeing the parking situation in Lincoln Park and downtown as well. Numerous locations to dine were within walking distance back to the east on Clark or to the west on Lincoln.

We stayed in the Carl Sandburg room with the private bath for two nights; it was comfortable and quiet. Having breakfast by the front window of the common room afforded views of local people starting their day, and that inherently eased us into a similar state of mind to do the same. The main dishes served on the two mornings of our stay appeared to be a home-made bread pudding and a home-made souffle(?) respectively. Sort of what one may expect at grandma's house (although neither one of my grandmas ever made bread pudding or souffles).

Hosts Mary and Andy were very accommodating, allowing us to check-in early (we arrive at 11am and had only asked to drop off our luggage). After check-out we were even able to leave our bags until 5pm before heading out to the the airport.

WCUI was a very pleasant experience, and one that I would repeat.

We stayed inan apartment. The linens were the best I've ever slept on. Great location. Great service. Great breakfast.