Sadly I cannot recommend this hotel. We had a wonderful stay in a clean small room with attentive staff in summer of 2022, but: I gave them a credit card at the time of check in for the traditional incidentals and a guarantee. At checkout, I was told that everything was fine, and as I prepaid via Hotels.com, nothing was to be charged to my CC. but Surprise! One day later, I got a Freehand Chicago hotel charge for $95 with NO explanations or justifications or even a bill or an email. I have tried to call the hotel and all other available numbers on their website, but NOBODY ever picks up and they have no voicemail options. I have now written 4 emails, and NO response. NEVER use them, this is so sad as it was a good agreeable stay in the heart of Chicago. Their customer service is non existent and deplorable.
louise92_12
I booked a bed in a female quad room to spend a weekend in Chicago after a work trip. I couldn't justify the crazy hotel prices so here I am in a hostel. I was pleasantly surprised at the room, it was clean and tidy with 2 people already in it. The room was really quiet and I slept well. The shower was decent in a private bathroom which was super clean. The room was cleaned whilst I was out for the day. Check-in/out was easy, and my $50 deposit was refunded later in the day. The location was excellent. I really had no complaints and found the value very good for the location.
J2608WRjuliaz
It has been two days, after having booked housekeeping, that we come back to our hotel room around 5-6pm and find that housekeeping did not come. It is unbelievable that this hotel is mentioned in CN traveler and design hotel webpages. The hotel smells worse than a college dorm, the carpet is dirty, there is no water bottles if you are thirsty at night. It has been a terrible experience. The worst part is that no one answers at the front desk even though there is 24 hour service.
May Ann R
DONT BOOK YOUR STAY IN THIS HOTEL!!! ??????????? (1MILLION TIMES) I travelled all the way from Europe with my 2year old Son bringing his Food in a cooler with us cos he is in a SPECIAL DIET hoping that when we arrive at this hotel they would at least allow me to store the food in their fridge/freezer even if I pay extra (which I really offered) FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY. Unfortunately, upon arrival I settled down first and attempted to call RECEPTIONIST to ask them regarding the food but after 3calls NO ONE PICKED UP so I went down to talk to the receptionist. The receptionist said that THEY DONT HAVE FRIDGE/FREEZER cos what they have is for luggage storage only, UNDERSTOOD! But when I asked if I could maybe put it in the RESTAURANT WHICH IS PART OF THE HOTEL, he then said "THEY ARE NOT PART OF US, if you want you can go and ask them" He then proposed "MAYBE YOU CAN BUY A COOLER AND A BAG OF ICE?" He has his point but I am with my 2 year old boy sick and first time travelling in this country so Im a bit hesitant. I offered to pay extra just to store the food. But that didnt work! So, I went to the restaurant and talked to guy who's sitting infront of the desk and asked him But he said "we dont have fridge/freezer here" but my face went sour thinking "WHO IN THE HELL ON THIS EARTH WHO HAS NO FRIDGE/FREEZER IN A RESTAURANT BUSINESS?" Then he suddenly said "I mean its for the restaurants food only" I then offer to pay but still he refused. I paid 397.99 euro FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY in this hotel hoping that at least they could help me. But I BOOKED THE WRONG HOTEL! People should be kind at least and helping one another!!!!! NEVER EVER BOOK IN THIS HOTEL IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO VISIY CHICAGO! I DO NOT RECOMMEND! WORST!!!!!
letaiwi
Female quad: I booked a bed in a FEMALE quad. I checked in and went to the room to find men’s clothes hanging and men’s shoes. I went back to the front desk telling them I paid extra money to be in a female quad and there is a man in the room. She said the person is a woman but she wears men’s clothes. I went back to the room, the second I open the door, a black man jumps into his bed and closes the curtains. I came closer to him and said hi, he ignored me and used a towel to cover his face. I went back to the front desk, they sent a security to check. The security man didn’t let me be in the room with him, and asked me to leave the room so he can have a word with him. 5mins later, the security man comes out and says its a girl, but I defiantly saw a man. I went back to the room and the man still tries to hide his face by a towel. Went back to the front desk and asked to put me in a bother room as I don’t feel safe sleeping in this room, they refused to transfer me. Then I asked to cancel my reservation and refund me and they refused to do so. I ended up leaving and going to another hotel. Hotel: The hotel and room doesn’t look like what they advertise on their website. The room is very very small to the point that there is no room to open your suitcase on the floor. The bathroom is very disgusting with no room service to clean. There is even no enough lighting in the room or the bathroom. The elevators looked like a coffin, very dark with no light and slow. There is no lobby to sit and socialise with other. They will charge you if you use the lobby. Front desk: The people at the from desk are very rude, especially the short black woman. She has no customer service skills, rude and yells at people. She could be a janitor, plumber, car mechanic but not receptionist. Clearly the hotel doesn’t care about providing good customer service. Deposit: they will charge you $50 despot at check-in and claim that it will be refunded after checking out. Be aware, it won’t be refunded. I didn’t stay at the hotel, despite that they refunded only $44. I called asking why did you charge me $6 if I didn’t stay at the hotel, the black woman yelled at me and ended the call after telling her I don’t understand what she is saying. I emailed them asking for a refund, no answer.
lenm717
I had an excellent stay in the heart of downtown Chicago. I often travel alone and look for the bargains. The Freehand offered great social life and I felt very safe. The location, staff, cleanliness were all perfect! I also had a walking tour with Trip Advisor. “Dash, ” our guide, was phenomenal! I’ve never had a bad experience with Trip Advisor! Thank you!
StLSF
The place has a hip almost Arts and Crafts / Southwestern veneer but the rooms are cramped and they lookout on either a grizzly parking garage or a large pit of a dank light well. All the walls are dark colors not unlike the bathrooms of college town bars. And, I suspect the reasons for this are more or less the same, if you know what I mean, and I think you do! For example, there are a limited number of mini refrigs. If you ask early, a hulking staff member drops one in your room but then you have trouble either getting into the bathroom or out of the room. I have the feeling the Freehand folks bought a tuckered out Flop House and added a touch of paint and panache and it's been a gravy train ever since. This was my mistake. Maybe we can all learn from it. Customarily I write positive reviews, as who wants read yucky stuff but this review is, if not the truth, then at least my truth. Buyer beware!
urszuladjames
I recently visited Chicago on a work trip and booked one night in the city at what I hoped would be a unique affordable stay in the Chicago downtown area. I booked a premium queen room hoping for the bigger advertised room layout and specifically asked for a room away from noise as I am sensitive sleeper. I was hoping for the spacious room advertised in their website as a premium and got a room that looked like the advertised basic queen and found it to be cramped, dated and dusty. When I inquired at the front desk if there was a mistake I was told that there wasn’t and I was in the premium. When I questioned it the manager on duty informed me that the pictures do not represent the actual rooms and are more for promotional purposes. Very confusing as a customer who is paying more for a premium room. When I said that I wanted a different room layout as pictured in the premium queen advertisement I was put in a room with similar layout on the third floor. What I was not aware of when the manager proposed this switch was that I was directly beside the air conditioning unit for the hotel building. As a sensitive sleeper wanting a peaceful nights rest on a work trip this was very disturbing and consequently I did not sleep that night. I was very disappointed in the level of customer service and lack of concern for my requests as a polite paying customer. Instead I felt like I was penalized for having spoken up. This experience was very disheartening and I will never feel comfortable to stay at this hotel again nor would I recommend it. Staff should really be more attentive and less dismissive to the polite and reasonable requests of their paying guests. I had a horrible night and it has made for a difficult start to an important work trip. On a positive note, I found the security staff to be most friendly and helpful.
Tony M
Stayed in the Freehand, and have to say that it's locally known as a Hostel and not a Hotel, and the character of the place was more like a Hostel. The bedroom was tiny and for 2 people a tight squeeze, of note the Mattress was atrocious. That said it was value for money as its price is much less than other Chicago Hotels within 'the loop'. It was clean and tidy, and all in all, served its purpose.
C8753MVrachelm
DONT BOTHER. I'm really disappointed. We've stayed here before and loved it for the cute rooms and great location. However, when we booked hostel beds this time everything went wrong. We booked two people together and they put us in separate rooms, denying we were booked together despite being under one name/card/booking time. They repeatidly said we are not one reservation despite the emails showing we are.. They refused to move around any reservations so we could stay together. We're here 3 nights, great. In addition when we asked if we could have early check in, despite the rooms being ready we were told it would be $50 a person. The booking itself was $60! Already high for a hostel single bed and they wanted to double the cost despite the room being ready and being only an hour before regular check in. Never have I ever heard a hotel charging you to get in your room that is already ready, and they want to charge almost the entire cost of the night?! So we sat and waited an hour for rooms that were already ready so we weren't out $100... One elevator always out of service so if you're on a higher floor be prepared to wait at least 10 minutes every time you need to use it. Common room closed at night so they can make it a club so if you are doing a hostel room be prepared to sit in the room with you bunkmates regardless if they are sleeping and you want to be up. This also sucks for us a couple since we got the different rooms and have no common space to hang out together for the next few nights we booked.. we're so upset. What's the point of booking together and we can't even be in the same room? Agreeing with most of the other negative reviews staff acts like you are a burden just for being there. Maybe they need more people. We are super friendly service industry people - not Karening - but they'll make you feel like you're being too much for asking simple questions. Wanted this to be our regular Chicago stay but we will definitely not be back.
It's a great location and cozy room with a working TV and bathroom, but my room was never cleaned over a 3 night stay, despite asking twice one day and again the next. There are no USB outlets, only regular outlets. No lotion or fridge, just the bare minimum, which is fine, but the staff should have responded to my repeated requests for a room cleaning at least once during the stay.
sarakate2022
When you read "hostel" you don't necessarily think of staff behind exceptionally friendly, welcoming, and helpful. However, that's exactly what we found at Freehand Chicago. The room (king) was small but very clean and nicely furnished. The building is eclectic and fun. The location is awesome. The staff are truly the best highlight though. From check in to check out, they were among the best staff I've encountered anywhere (including "nicer" hotels). I would stay there again anytime I could!
tmreed96
The only reason we booked a room here was because we couldn't find any other rooms close to downtown. Everything was booked. This 218 sq ft double bunk bed room cost 650 for one night. Go elsewhere if you can. Other than the outrageous price and super small room, it was nice. The room was clean and the staff was very nice.
clemensklinke
I stayed at the Freehand to attend a conference. I stayed in the 4 bed dorm. It was quite clean, unfortunately the bathroom door could not be locked. My roommates were very nice so that was not a problem at all, but I could imagine it being uncomfortable for some people. Other than that the rooms were clean and the staff was friendly.
sfer12
I enjoyed the stay at Freehand.Rooms are comfy, clean and the decoration is modern too.Very convenient location .Close to hotels, supermarkets and trendy stores too. My only complain is that there is not a coffee maker in the room.
Sadly I cannot recommend this hotel. We had a wonderful stay in a clean small room with attentive staff in summer of 2022, but: I gave them a credit card at the time of check in for the traditional incidentals and a guarantee. At checkout, I was told that everything was fine, and as I prepaid via Hotels.com, nothing was to be charged to my CC. but Surprise! One day later, I got a Freehand Chicago hotel charge for $95 with NO explanations or justifications or even a bill or an email. I have tried to call the hotel and all other available numbers on their website, but NOBODY ever picks up and they have no voicemail options. I have now written 4 emails, and NO response. NEVER use them, this is so sad as it was a good agreeable stay in the heart of Chicago. Their customer service is non existent and deplorable.
I booked a bed in a female quad room to spend a weekend in Chicago after a work trip. I couldn't justify the crazy hotel prices so here I am in a hostel. I was pleasantly surprised at the room, it was clean and tidy with 2 people already in it. The room was really quiet and I slept well. The shower was decent in a private bathroom which was super clean. The room was cleaned whilst I was out for the day. Check-in/out was easy, and my $50 deposit was refunded later in the day. The location was excellent. I really had no complaints and found the value very good for the location.
It has been two days, after having booked housekeeping, that we come back to our hotel room around 5-6pm and find that housekeeping did not come. It is unbelievable that this hotel is mentioned in CN traveler and design hotel webpages. The hotel smells worse than a college dorm, the carpet is dirty, there is no water bottles if you are thirsty at night. It has been a terrible experience. The worst part is that no one answers at the front desk even though there is 24 hour service.
DONT BOOK YOUR STAY IN THIS HOTEL!!! ??????????? (1MILLION TIMES) I travelled all the way from Europe with my 2year old Son bringing his Food in a cooler with us cos he is in a SPECIAL DIET hoping that when we arrive at this hotel they would at least allow me to store the food in their fridge/freezer even if I pay extra (which I really offered) FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY. Unfortunately, upon arrival I settled down first and attempted to call RECEPTIONIST to ask them regarding the food but after 3calls NO ONE PICKED UP so I went down to talk to the receptionist. The receptionist said that THEY DONT HAVE FRIDGE/FREEZER cos what they have is for luggage storage only, UNDERSTOOD! But when I asked if I could maybe put it in the RESTAURANT WHICH IS PART OF THE HOTEL, he then said "THEY ARE NOT PART OF US, if you want you can go and ask them" He then proposed "MAYBE YOU CAN BUY A COOLER AND A BAG OF ICE?" He has his point but I am with my 2 year old boy sick and first time travelling in this country so Im a bit hesitant. I offered to pay extra just to store the food. But that didnt work! So, I went to the restaurant and talked to guy who's sitting infront of the desk and asked him But he said "we dont have fridge/freezer here" but my face went sour thinking "WHO IN THE HELL ON THIS EARTH WHO HAS NO FRIDGE/FREEZER IN A RESTAURANT BUSINESS?" Then he suddenly said "I mean its for the restaurants food only" I then offer to pay but still he refused. I paid 397.99 euro FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY in this hotel hoping that at least they could help me. But I BOOKED THE WRONG HOTEL! People should be kind at least and helping one another!!!!! NEVER EVER BOOK IN THIS HOTEL IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO VISIY CHICAGO! I DO NOT RECOMMEND! WORST!!!!!
Female quad: I booked a bed in a FEMALE quad. I checked in and went to the room to find men’s clothes hanging and men’s shoes. I went back to the front desk telling them I paid extra money to be in a female quad and there is a man in the room. She said the person is a woman but she wears men’s clothes. I went back to the room, the second I open the door, a black man jumps into his bed and closes the curtains. I came closer to him and said hi, he ignored me and used a towel to cover his face. I went back to the front desk, they sent a security to check. The security man didn’t let me be in the room with him, and asked me to leave the room so he can have a word with him. 5mins later, the security man comes out and says its a girl, but I defiantly saw a man. I went back to the room and the man still tries to hide his face by a towel. Went back to the front desk and asked to put me in a bother room as I don’t feel safe sleeping in this room, they refused to transfer me. Then I asked to cancel my reservation and refund me and they refused to do so. I ended up leaving and going to another hotel. Hotel: The hotel and room doesn’t look like what they advertise on their website. The room is very very small to the point that there is no room to open your suitcase on the floor. The bathroom is very disgusting with no room service to clean. There is even no enough lighting in the room or the bathroom. The elevators looked like a coffin, very dark with no light and slow. There is no lobby to sit and socialise with other. They will charge you if you use the lobby. Front desk: The people at the from desk are very rude, especially the short black woman. She has no customer service skills, rude and yells at people. She could be a janitor, plumber, car mechanic but not receptionist. Clearly the hotel doesn’t care about providing good customer service. Deposit: they will charge you $50 despot at check-in and claim that it will be refunded after checking out. Be aware, it won’t be refunded. I didn’t stay at the hotel, despite that they refunded only $44. I called asking why did you charge me $6 if I didn’t stay at the hotel, the black woman yelled at me and ended the call after telling her I don’t understand what she is saying. I emailed them asking for a refund, no answer.
I had an excellent stay in the heart of downtown Chicago. I often travel alone and look for the bargains. The Freehand offered great social life and I felt very safe. The location, staff, cleanliness were all perfect! I also had a walking tour with Trip Advisor. “Dash, ” our guide, was phenomenal! I’ve never had a bad experience with Trip Advisor! Thank you!
The place has a hip almost Arts and Crafts / Southwestern veneer but the rooms are cramped and they lookout on either a grizzly parking garage or a large pit of a dank light well. All the walls are dark colors not unlike the bathrooms of college town bars. And, I suspect the reasons for this are more or less the same, if you know what I mean, and I think you do! For example, there are a limited number of mini refrigs. If you ask early, a hulking staff member drops one in your room but then you have trouble either getting into the bathroom or out of the room. I have the feeling the Freehand folks bought a tuckered out Flop House and added a touch of paint and panache and it's been a gravy train ever since. This was my mistake. Maybe we can all learn from it. Customarily I write positive reviews, as who wants read yucky stuff but this review is, if not the truth, then at least my truth. Buyer beware!
I recently visited Chicago on a work trip and booked one night in the city at what I hoped would be a unique affordable stay in the Chicago downtown area. I booked a premium queen room hoping for the bigger advertised room layout and specifically asked for a room away from noise as I am sensitive sleeper. I was hoping for the spacious room advertised in their website as a premium and got a room that looked like the advertised basic queen and found it to be cramped, dated and dusty. When I inquired at the front desk if there was a mistake I was told that there wasn’t and I was in the premium. When I questioned it the manager on duty informed me that the pictures do not represent the actual rooms and are more for promotional purposes. Very confusing as a customer who is paying more for a premium room. When I said that I wanted a different room layout as pictured in the premium queen advertisement I was put in a room with similar layout on the third floor. What I was not aware of when the manager proposed this switch was that I was directly beside the air conditioning unit for the hotel building. As a sensitive sleeper wanting a peaceful nights rest on a work trip this was very disturbing and consequently I did not sleep that night. I was very disappointed in the level of customer service and lack of concern for my requests as a polite paying customer. Instead I felt like I was penalized for having spoken up. This experience was very disheartening and I will never feel comfortable to stay at this hotel again nor would I recommend it. Staff should really be more attentive and less dismissive to the polite and reasonable requests of their paying guests. I had a horrible night and it has made for a difficult start to an important work trip. On a positive note, I found the security staff to be most friendly and helpful.
Stayed in the Freehand, and have to say that it's locally known as a Hostel and not a Hotel, and the character of the place was more like a Hostel. The bedroom was tiny and for 2 people a tight squeeze, of note the Mattress was atrocious. That said it was value for money as its price is much less than other Chicago Hotels within 'the loop'. It was clean and tidy, and all in all, served its purpose.
DONT BOTHER. I'm really disappointed. We've stayed here before and loved it for the cute rooms and great location. However, when we booked hostel beds this time everything went wrong. We booked two people together and they put us in separate rooms, denying we were booked together despite being under one name/card/booking time. They repeatidly said we are not one reservation despite the emails showing we are.. They refused to move around any reservations so we could stay together. We're here 3 nights, great. In addition when we asked if we could have early check in, despite the rooms being ready we were told it would be $50 a person. The booking itself was $60! Already high for a hostel single bed and they wanted to double the cost despite the room being ready and being only an hour before regular check in. Never have I ever heard a hotel charging you to get in your room that is already ready, and they want to charge almost the entire cost of the night?! So we sat and waited an hour for rooms that were already ready so we weren't out $100... One elevator always out of service so if you're on a higher floor be prepared to wait at least 10 minutes every time you need to use it. Common room closed at night so they can make it a club so if you are doing a hostel room be prepared to sit in the room with you bunkmates regardless if they are sleeping and you want to be up. This also sucks for us a couple since we got the different rooms and have no common space to hang out together for the next few nights we booked.. we're so upset. What's the point of booking together and we can't even be in the same room? Agreeing with most of the other negative reviews staff acts like you are a burden just for being there. Maybe they need more people. We are super friendly service industry people - not Karening - but they'll make you feel like you're being too much for asking simple questions. Wanted this to be our regular Chicago stay but we will definitely not be back.
Restaurantji Recommends
It's a great location and cozy room with a working TV and bathroom, but my room was never cleaned over a 3 night stay, despite asking twice one day and again the next. There are no USB outlets, only regular outlets. No lotion or fridge, just the bare minimum, which is fine, but the staff should have responded to my repeated requests for a room cleaning at least once during the stay.
When you read "hostel" you don't necessarily think of staff behind exceptionally friendly, welcoming, and helpful. However, that's exactly what we found at Freehand Chicago. The room (king) was small but very clean and nicely furnished. The building is eclectic and fun. The location is awesome. The staff are truly the best highlight though. From check in to check out, they were among the best staff I've encountered anywhere (including "nicer" hotels). I would stay there again anytime I could!
The only reason we booked a room here was because we couldn't find any other rooms close to downtown. Everything was booked. This 218 sq ft double bunk bed room cost 650 for one night. Go elsewhere if you can. Other than the outrageous price and super small room, it was nice. The room was clean and the staff was very nice.
I stayed at the Freehand to attend a conference. I stayed in the 4 bed dorm. It was quite clean, unfortunately the bathroom door could not be locked. My roommates were very nice so that was not a problem at all, but I could imagine it being uncomfortable for some people. Other than that the rooms were clean and the staff was friendly.
I enjoyed the stay at Freehand.Rooms are comfy, clean and the decoration is modern too.Very convenient location .Close to hotels, supermarkets and trendy stores too. My only complain is that there is not a coffee maker in the room.