Freehand Chicago

The location was really good, mostly because it was super close both to Eataly and Uno, which gave us the chance to find easy and good food during the pandemic. The area is also full of garages, which allow parking for a reasonable price.

The room was terrible. We stayed only for one night and we didn't pay so much; however, when I booked there were great hotels (like Hilton or Hyatt) that had a comparable price. Hotels that we already tried. We decided on the Freehand because of the Handshake in New York where we spent the New Year Eve, which was amazing. We thought we would have found the same vibes. The room was so small that both of us couldn't walk around at the same time; one of us needed to lie or be sitting on the bed, while the other was standing. We were lucky that Uno was open and allowed to eat in one of their tables outside because we could not have eaten any food in our room since it was so small and dark (always considering the Coronavirus lockdown). The room had a window, but it was close to a blindfold curtain because behind there was a wall with big pipes, so the room was in the dark. I thought with my usual positivity: "ok, I will sleep really well tonight since there is no light". However, at 7:30 in the morning, a continuous sound woke me up; I was unable to identify what it was, but it was like a mechanical sound (like the one produced by furnaces or elevators). The room was also not soundproofed (which I'm not complaining about), for this reason I know we had someone staying in a room around us. Considering that the hotel was maybe 10 or more levels tall, and it had at a maximum of 15/20 rooms booked (they made me sign a Coronavirus spreadsheet, so I know how many guests there were in that moment), it is still not clear to me the reason to give such a bad room and not have spread their guests a bit more, particularly because of the pandemic situation. I rarely write reviews, but this hotel experience was really bad, and it completely destroyed our expectations towards FreeHand.

Location is key here. Down the street from Eataly and a ton of other restaurants.

This is NOT a hotel. This is a grown up hostel with little to any amenities. Free WiFi was probably the best thing about it. Had not stayed in a bunk bed since I was a kid and this was not a pleasant experience for an over 40 dad bod.

After prepaying for the hotel, at checkout I then had to pay another "Urban Fee". I was not told about this in advance. I've never had to pay a 2nd hotel bill at checkout, either at this hotel or any other. This seems criminal.

Nothing at all.

This place was horrible from the staff to the room. The room was cold and the heater wasn't working properly. The hotel gave me a desktop portable heater. They didn't change the sheets because they said they do it every three days. The rooms are small