Back in June I needed a hotel in Chicago for a single Saturday night before flying back from Chicago O'Hare Airport to London Heathrow late Sunday evening. I didn't fancy dragging heavy luggage and shopping all the way into the Windy City just for one night (which can take about 40-60 minutes from Chicago O'Hare Airport, read on for more info on this...) and then back out again to the airport the next day, so I decided to consider hotels near Chicago O'Hare Airport. A quick search on Google suggested that the Chicago Hilton O'Hare Airport Hotel might be my best bet: http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/CHIOHHH-Hilton-Chicago-O-Hare-Airport -Illinois/index.do - it is the only hotel physically linked to the airport building.

The reception area is impossible to miss - it is big, light and airy in this modern hotel, with a concierge desk near-by, seating area, free newspapers to pick up and other info on Chicago/Hilton hotels readily available and consists of a row of at least 8 check-in points, there is also an automatic check-in machine but I haven't used one of these so far! At the time of my arrival, there was no queue so I did not have to wait to be served. Later in my visit I was in the reception area when 40 or so people were arriving at once and noticed that ALL the check-in points were manned by personnel, which suggests good organisation at busy times.

I had a king-sized bed as requested in my reservation and it was SO comfortable. The Hilton offers different kinds of pillow - firm, soft and my favourite which is the sausage shaped one giving extra neck support. Lovely "fresh linen" smell of the sheets and all soft and pleasant on the skin - a real feel of luxury and quality. More blankets were available in the wardrobe if required. Additionally it was great that the bed directly faced the television and also had light switches right by for all the lights in the room! There was the usual telephone and clock radio with easy to work alarm.

Some Chicagoan friends were horrified that I was planning on taking the subway back to the hotel after my evening concert in the City, but quite frankly I felt far safer than I would normally do on the London Underground as there are more personnel manning the stations, frequent security guards or police ON the trains and I never once encountered any of these horrid groups of drunken louts that you so often find on British trains. So I would feel happy recommending it as a way to get into the city from the hotel. Obviously taxis are available from the hotel and you can catch buses from the airport into town, but there are frequent traffic jams at peak hours and you might not be much quicker at the end of the day, quite apart from the fact that the train is MUCH cheaper - only $2 a ride or 1-day pass: $5, 2-day: $9, 3-day: $12 and 5-day: $18.

I did not use the pool/Jacuzzi/sauna facilities so can't comment about these, but did pass by the fitness centre which looked state of the art with something like 30 different machines for all kinds of workouts. There is a business centre with computers/photocopiers, but I didn't use it so don't know costs involved.
I didn't use the two restaurants apart from breakfast the next morning, but arriving back after my concert well after 11pm I noticed that the atmospheric looking Sports Bar was still open and the barman was happy to fix me a pizza from the bar food menu. He gave me a complimentary orange juice while I waited and warned off a hopelessly drunk American who was starting to pester me rather than concentrate on the baseball game being shown on the huge screens behind the bar! Pizza was yummy and at only £6 for a huge freshly made pie, it was good value too.

What can I say? I half expected to start going "Oink" and grow a little pink curly tail from making such a pig of myself! There is plenty of seating room in the breakfast/restaurant area, so no waiting, even though it looked busy, dirty tables were cleared quickly. As for the selection - VERY IMPRESSIVE! My choice - I had 2 glasses of orange juice, cereal, full hot breakfast including sausages, egg, bacon and hash browns, then to finish - pancakes with maple syrup and chocolate sauce... plus several cups of excellent coffee! My excuse is that I was going into Chicago to do some serious shopping before my flight home and needed energy! Unbeatable choice for all tastes and diets at breakfast and no-one seemed to mind you "stocking up" for the day ahead, so I grabbed 2 bananas and made up 2 bagels with ham/ pastrami/cheese fillings for my lunch later!