After spending one night at the Chicago Athletic Association, we hopped on the 147 bus for a quick 20-minute ride to spend our second Chicago night at the Thompson Hotel. At our stop, we got off the bus & started the 0.3-mile walk to the hotel. Note: Each time (of the three times) we navigated to this hotel, we got lost. Our GPS had issues with the area & we ended up walking further than necessary to get back to the hotel. Silver lining: I hit my 10k step goal on both days.

This hotel is in a "posh" part of town: close to the Waldorf Astoria & Ritz Carlton hotels, surrounded by high-end shopping with the likes of Prada, Dior & Gucci.

Upon arrival (around 2 pm) we were greeted by several bellmen, who were the highlight of the stay. We entered the hotel & checked in & were notified that we had been upgraded from a King Room to a King Corner (on the 18th floor).

We hopped in the elevator, stepped off on the 18th floor, took a left & making a beeline for the corner room.

Upon entering the room, we noted it was almost twice the size of the Chicago Athletic, with floor-to-ceiling windows encompassing two walls. If only we had requested a water view room, the views would have been even better, not diminishing the expansiveness of our view.

The view was so amazing, we neglected to check out the bathroom, which was gigantic with a large soaker tub and a separate shower.

While the Chicago Athletic had double sinks I would definitely trade that for the full soaker tub, any day. (Side note: ran to Target & grabbed some Epsom salt & had two baths during our one-night stay here.)

On the downside, the in-room fridge was locked so basically unusable and not sure what was up with the TV, however the picture was sporadically grainy or frozen. While not a huge deal as we were not in the room to watch TV, still something that should be fixed.

TV Issue

We dropped off our stuff in the room & headed back downstairs to grab a late lunch at the nearby Velvet Taco.

After eating we came back to the room to change before heading back to Grant Park for the 1830 Music Festival (which was amazing).

The hotel did not offer breakfast, as the attached restaurant Nico was only open for dinner. After waking up at 7 am, I ordered pickup from the nearby Wildberry Pancakes & Cafe.

Ventured out in the cool & quiet early morning for the quick 0.5-mile walk to the restaurant (located next to the Ritz Carlton) & was astonished that before 8 am the restaurant was packed, with people standing outside, waiting. On the way back to the room, stopped at the stand located outside the hotel & grabbed coffee, a muffin, and a fruit smoothie to accompany the brisket hash & chicken and biscuits.

With a 4 pm check-out, lounged in the room for the remainder of the day before heading to the airport.