I stayed for one night on business, and loved the location, the room design, and the European breakfast served near the elevators. For the price, the hotel is regal and a good value. However, as someone who is fortunate enough to regularly stay at boutique hotels on business trips, I found the aloof, detached relational-style of the front-desk staff to be a missed opportunity to make this hotel someplace really special. In Chicago, the James (for bigger budgets) or the Burnham (for more modest budgets) are better choices.

We stayed here in the summer of 06 as we had read great reviews and got a great price on orbitz. The hotel is centrally located and its staff were very pleasant. Our room looked out over the street, we were right across from the harey carey restaurant. The room was HUGE, very clean, big bed, free wireless. The bathroom was also really big and had two shower heads, very very handy. Included in the price was a continental breakfast, which we could collect in the area right by the elevators. Most of the guests were still in their bathrobes when they collected it! choice consisted of muffins, pastries, fruit etc, nice nice choice. Will definitely be staying here again.

Just as another reviewer stated, our room was on the second floor overlooking an alley and dumpsters. While we were disappointed in the view, it was not a major problem. What was a major problem was that during 4 nights of our 7-night stay, we could clearly hear the bass from the nearby nightclubs. I am pretty sensitive to sounds and it was practically impossible to fall asleep with the *thump-thump-thump* of dance music reverberating through our room. This was sometimes interrupted by trucks emptying the dumpsters during the middle of the night, which at least broke up the monotony of the music. Our last night there was the worst, as several patrons of the nightclub ventured into the alleyway for smokes (I could see them clearly from my window), so we could hear human voices in addition to the music. This is very unfortunate, as the hotel was pretty wonderful in every other aspect. The staff there was friendly, the continental breakfast was the best I'd ever seen (coffee, orange and apple juices, fruits, and many great pastries), the rooms were comfortable (I even looked into buying a pillow), the bathrooms clean and spacious with a double shower head (although no blowdryer), free happy hour cocktails and snacks every day (yes, free alcohol!!), the turn down service provided free Ghirdelli chocolates, and the location was great, just blocks away from the Magnificent Mile and subway stops. The hotel, in and of itself, was really well put together, and impressive in its own right. All that being said, I would not stay at the Amalfi again. In my opinion, it doesn't matter how great the hotel is - if you can't have a restful sleep at night and you get out of bed cranky in the morning, then nothing else matters. I've stayed at a 2-star hotel that literally had prostitutes hanging out in the lobby in the middle of the night, and had a better night's sleep. If you go and you luck into a room that is not facing the alley, perhaps you will not have problems with the noise, and your stay will be enjoyable and restful. I would also recommend the hotel for those that are going to be out partying all night regardless, and who would thus not have concerns about late night noise. But for those that need some measure of quiet at a reasonable hour in order to fall asleep, I would most definitely recommend looking elsewhere, or at least ensure that the room you book is not facing the alley and is on one of the upper floors, before you confirm your reservation. Otherwise, come packed with earplugs and hope for the best.

Let's get one thing straight - this hotel does not compare to a place like the ritz carleton or even sofitel. Five star here means it was excellent for the price. In booking a hotel for a long weekend at the height of chicago tourist season which had to be right downtown - i looked at the James, Hotel Sax, and some other boutique hotels but the amalfi had the best price so I booked it (despite some spotty reviews on this site). I was happily surprised. The staff was excellent - friendly and knowledgeable. the location ideal (but construction site across the street might be noisy during the week, but was quiet on the weekend). Hotel was extemely clean - no complaints there. Happy hour was great idea, but the room where the drinks were served didn't have windows and felt a bit like an uncomfortable cocktail party, but for the price (free!) there was good food and even some top shelf cocktails. Room was maybe a bit smaller than most, but was comfortable. All in all, a great place where i will definitely stay again.

The Amafli was a pretty hassle-free stay. The location was great, lots of nice restaurants nearby. The rooms were comfortable, soft bed, lots of pillows. Aveda products (shampoo, contitioner, bar and liquid bosdy soap). The towels were pretty rough, though. Magazines were laid out on the desk and changed weekly. The day before checkout we found that the alarm clock had been upgraded to an IPod-compatible model ( I had remarked to my husband the day before that I needed to remember to bring my IPod adapter for future trips and, voila!) The view was pretty nice, but my dh went crazy - you look right across to Marina City, two apartment towers that look like corn cobs. These buildings were featured on the cover of Wilco's album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Nice stay, no fuss, good location