The James is a "trendy" hotel with good-size rooms, and decent service. The rooms are noisy with music blasting until 12.30am because of various events on the 3rd floor. Overall, I was not impressed with the quality of the service and would not stay at this hotel again.

My husband and I spent 4 nights at the James at the end of July. We stayed in a studio suite which was 450 square feet and quite spacious. The bathroom was large and they offered Kiehls bath products which were nice. The bed was extremely comfortable and we had a quite room on the 12th floor.

Although the room was nice, staff courteous and very helpful we did not like the restaurant at all. The food was below average as was the slow service. Our waiter asked us what we ordered 30 seconds after we just told him and there was no one else in the restaurant so it's not as if he had alot of orders to remember. The first morning I ordered Belgain waffles with cream and berries -- there were 3 berries and the cream was cool whip! The restaurant prides itself on their reknowned chef -- I guess he must of been on holidays when we were there!

The lobby of the hotel is very nice but small. The bar though offeres complimentary coffee in the mornings although no one did mention this to us at check-in and I didn't discover this until the morning we were leaving. There are desk top computers in the lobby for email and internet use which was great. The concierge's were pleasant and very helpful.

Make sure when you call to make a reservation that you ask about all their packages. Apparently there was a parking package where your parking is included for each night during the summer months. I had asked about the packages when I booked and the reservations agent did not tell us about this package and it wasn't until we were at the hotel did my husband notice it on the internet. When we asked to have our parking inculded it was abit of an ordeal however the manager did go ahead and take the $46 a day parking off our bill which was great.

All and all we thought the James was nice but needed some fine tuning. The turn down service was nice as was the different cookie they put on your bed at night. The robes in the room were a nice touch and housekeeping did a good job. I may stay again but probley not as I enjoy trying new places unless we had a great experience.

Thoroughly enjoyed my stay here.

Excellent location - mins from shopping!

The service was absolutely superb - from the doormen, to the waiters to the lovely staff in the spa (which was great value).

the restraunt is excellent value for very tasty and generous steaks. We had a deal for room service breakfast which was lovely.

The room was comfortable, quiet and complete with every entertainment need. I loved the Kiehls toileteries!

Our toilet blocked the first night we stayed there - which is a not a pleasant experience at all, but the reaction of the night porter and the staff was so good, we practically forgot about it there and then.

Just wanted to say we loved the James. I agree with all the other reviews... the location was fabulous, the staff wonderful and the bed was out of the world. The concierge were all so helpful and all their suggestions were great. I have to say one of best mini vacations we have had in a long time. I had read the elevator was noisy so i asked my room to be away from the it and they put me in a room that i couldn't hear anything. The little extras were great... robes, slippers, treats with turn down and Kiels shampoo made the stay so enjoyable. I would highly recommend to anyone staying in Chicago. If you go try to go the Cubs game and take the boat ride at night around 9:00 and enjoy looking at the city with all the lights. Wonderful.