This hotel is in a great location. It is just a few yards from the Hemingway museum and his boyhood home. The El is three short blocks away, and there are several very good restaurants close by as well. There is a restaurant within the building for all meals and a good bar with excellent food and service. It is not, however, affiliated with the hotel. The hotel is in need of a rehabbing. The carpets are worn and not attractive and overall, the place is dark. There is a very small lobby, and the elevators are slow and old. One is a small antique with a sliding gate inside the door that you need to close before the elevator will move. There are non smoking rooms, but my son's smelled like smoke.

But in balance, if all you want is a place to stay in Oak Park (a grand community) and you don't mind paying a more than it should cost, this would be all right.

We stayed at the Write Inn three years ago (the submission form only allows me to click as far back as 2010), and the unfavorable reviews say almost exactly what I would: slightly dingy, poor lighting, no TV channels worth watching (I usually read at night, but the lighting wasn't good), odd smell, great location, inexpensive. I wouldn't go back.

I ranked this hotel very good based on the hotel only. That was based on the facility, location and price. Yes there are better hotels but I'm not going to nit-pick them.

Now onto the location. It is nice walking distance to shops and restaurants. I appreciate that on a business trip. Also a nice feeling neighborhood. It's next to Oberhier Dairy (spelling is probably wrong) home of great ice-cream and some of the best chocolate milk I've ever had.

Hotel: Yes the hotel has stained hall carpets as others mentioned. However, my room was $129 including tax and I felt like that was reasonable given the location. I do agree with the post about the TV channels. There were probably fewer than 10 and they were spread from channel 2 to 65 with now rhyme or reason or channel guide. My room was clean. My bed was OK, at least average if not slightly better.

Restaurant: There is a restaurant at the hotel. The night I was there they were advertising a $24 lobster dinner. Not my thing I ate elsewhere. Upon returning I walked to the newer elevator past the kitchen door. I was surprised to see a dog tied to the door knob with his head well inside the door. I like dogs. I don't let them in my house, or my kitchen. Seemed wrong.

Others have posted about the parking. It is annoying that it's 3 blocks away. The sign at the front desk says "If you paid for parking the Inn can not reimburse you." That peeved me, accurately it should say 'Will not." I don't think there are laws about that. There are apparently laws about backing into a parking space in Oak park though. The parking garage was not really designed for my F150. So I backed in making sure could get out when I needed to. I now know that is a $20 offense within the city of Oak Park.

I'll think twice about visiting again. That parking law rubbed me the wrong way. Too bad. I do like the area.

Ok I was done but now I see something about service. I called to see if a room was available. I waited 4 minutes with no answer. Figured I was only 10 minutes away so I drove there. During my checking the front desk took a call that took about 5 minutes to take care of. Maybe it was an off day for them or maybe it was a busy day.

Write Inn? Wrong Inn! What a dump.
We were stuck there for three miserable nights. Worse than tired: filthy rooms; curtain rod holders, without curtains; thread bare towels and linens; non-functional 7 channel televisions – no popular channels; employees with no authority and a manager/owner who rarely shows up; showers that get suddenly hot or cold with low water pressure; barely any light in the bathrooms; dirty hallways; phones that rarely work properly; one person on duty at night and they ask you to come and get towels if you want any extra ones and the bad news goes on and on. Do you like mold? I wish I were kidding.
The owner/manager is arrogant and couldn’t care less.
I would say that The Write Inn value is below a flop house, but that would be unfair to flop houses.