Raffaello Hotel Review

I booked this boutique hotel off of a 3rd party app . I drove 6 hours to stay downtown Chicago . When I arrived at 6pm .they could not find my reservation. After waiting about 10 minutes it came through she handed me a key and that s it ? I asked which elevators because it said north or south . She acted like I was stupid . She didn t tell me when check out was. Or WiFi password .. It was clear that I inconvenienced her . OH AND The bar is closed through the week. !!!

Great location..cool rooftop bar.
Comfortable rooms.
Quiet and easy.

Found a deal on deluxe king suite roomy has all the amenities of home. Front desk is very attentive and prompt to guest needs. A hidden gem nestled in streeterville will definitely be recommending to all as a great staycation spot.

Fabulous! Always stay at the Raffaello Hotel. Very boutique and small. Love that personal experience. Lobby is delightful and lovely! Rooms are very Chicago... no view, but who cares! You get to see how has a fabulous balcony garden and are moments away from Water Tower and Plaza Hotel. Gorgeous hotel! Stay there every time!

Things are very nice but last time I was there the beds were a little bigger

Surprisingly good deals for its prime location near the Chicago 360 attraction. Rooms are well maintained too.

Good Service very friendly people and all very nice

Rooftop bar is fantastic. Elevators need updating. Rooms are on point!

The service was polite & helpful. Everything was clean & stocked. The price of the hotel & mini bar items were a little more than ideal, but I expected that with a hotel in a shopping area in Chicago. I would stay again.

Wish the bar was open a little later, but the room was great.

Love this hotel. Pretty Christmas decor with lovely evergreen smell.
Great architectural character. Fun suites with comfortable living rooms.
Well worth the $$. Perfect spot to spend time with family. Close to everything on Michigan Ave.

I hate to give this review but this once go-to boutique hotel will no longer get my business. The suites, although spacious, are dirty.

The staff is so nice and sweet, but the physical plant is run down. If you like boutique hotels, I hear the Talbott is wonderful, and that s three blocks West if you like staying in authentic Chicago, rather than tourist traps.

Boutique hotel. One of my preferred spots in Mag Mile area. In the shadow of the John Hancock and across from Water Tower Place. Great find as alternative to the big chains. Large rooms, well appointed. Some say dated, my room more "Vintage" in style but not worn or shabby in any way. Mini bar / sink in room. Suite s p a c i o u s, much larger than junior and standard suite at the Ritz. Glass walled shower with excellent water pressure and plenty of hot water. Some reviews criticize cleanliness, our room was very clean, linens excellent, bed what you'd expect for a 4-5 star hotel. Had minor problem with heat which was handled promptly by hotel. Intimate spa, massage by schedule. Italian restaurant on property is considered nice by many, pricey, and not my first choice in the area. Service is fine for me, but not as polished (or hovering) as the RC or Peninsula. Reasonably priced self park 1 blk away, charged to the room.

Friendly service, clean and well equipped (coffee maker, fridge, microwave) room. Great location, a few minutes walk to Lake Michigan and Mag Mile, bus stop (Express to Museum of Science) at your doorstep ... Ideal for a quick trip to Chicago.

I grew up in this neighborhood and moved away. I come back regularly, but don t always want to stay with family. I m SO glad I found the Rafaello! Their staff is amazing. I called the lobby to notify them that someone on my floor was smoking and someone came up and knocked on their door, within five minutes. When I returned later that evening the whole floor smelled fresh like they had scrubbed it top to bottom. Can t beat their prices and service downtown. Can t wait to return.

Clean... friendly.... close to restaurants and places of interest...

Very good location and very nice! Very friendly staff

A great hotel in central chicago. Right next door to the Hancock tower. The bar has a great selection but is expensive.

I went to their rooftop bar. The seats were pretty comfortable but there wasn't a lot of seats available. Their cider was ok. Nothing special but not bad. It's a good place to go if you're meeting someone and want to chat for a bit and looking for a place to do it at. The water service was great. They give you a bottle of water first before even taking your order. I appreciate them wanting to keep you hydrated.

Overall, I have very mixed feelings about th hotel. Caveat: I stayed in a hotel just for a one night.

On one hand side, room was very spacious, location amazing, with relatively late checkout (12:00), and ability to leave your belongings with bellman and collect them at later hour.

On other side, it is not the least expensive place and I would expect slightly higher standard. Example: air-conditioning was really loud, and it seems it was just my room who has this problem. Faux leather finish on the bed was in a really bad condition and should be replaced (see photos).

It was very unpleasant stay the room for one needs to be remodeled it s very out dated!! The toilet backed up and sink overflowed doesn t go down, the plumbing is bad! When I called the desk after midnight nobody answer the phone, it was directed to the Hilton nobody to help me with over flow in toilet it took hour and manager came up to plunge toilet, I had get dressed run down to get help and my clothes got wet! Dirty rugs, the bed super uncomfortable and like brick, the decorative pillows need to go there dirty!! I never got wash clothes in room when it was cleaned the room. I called twice to ask for some and took over 2 hours to get brought up! I will not return I m very disappointed in staff there was only 1 nice person that helped us with are bags!

Great Hotel for a decent price. Just one block from the Magnificent Mile. Friendly staff.

Easy access WiFi, very small room, pleasant staff, expensive services

Nice hotel and very close to Mag Mile. It is worth staying there.

Terrible. Room was ready 1.5 hours late from promised time. They have a 100 per night deposit they charge you up front and will give it back in 7 to 10 days if there are no expenses they can find to charge you. Slow and tiny elevators. 3 hours after we got our room another guest just walked in our room, the front desk double booked our room. The a/c in the room barely kept room below 75 at night. During the day it was 80 with the a/c set as low as it goes. Very small cramped lobby. No amenity's. They have a bar on the roof top for "reservations" only or wait in a long line out front of the hotel forget about just stopping in for a drink. They treat it more like an exclusive night club. All in all i would highly recommend to avoid this disappointment of a hotel, there are many in the area that do so much better.

They are really trying hard to make it look like an upscale hotel. At its kinda of working! Not bad for an old building in downtown. Has some charm to it. We parked across the street though - much cheaper ($36/night)

The rooms were clean, staff was courteous, nice environment

Love the service, rooms, atmosphere, staff, and everything about my experience here!

Great location and very decent hotel. Can't beat the prices for the location.

If the toilet flushed properly, the lights at the sides of the bed and the coffee machine worked it would've been an overall great stay...

Although during our overnight stay the keycard machine was broken, the staff was friendly and opened the door for us whenever we were there. The beds were extremely comfortable and the rooms were spacious

Being next to the Hancock made this a very memorable visit. Our suite was beautiful and spacious. The staff was extremely accommodating and kind.

The raffaello literally feels like a home away from home. We stayed in the 1 bedroom king suite & it was a pretty good sized room. There were chips & dings on some of the furniture but nothing 2 distracting. The place overall was nice & clean. No traffic in & out of the building. I liked the fact that you had 2 scan your room key card on the elevator 2 get access 2 the floors. What was a plus & minus was that we didn't have housekeeping during our stay. I don't know if it's because of covid or because they want you 2 have privacy but we ended up running out of towels. But other than that, I would stay here again. Plus it's steps away from basically everything.

Most beautiful rooms, amazing decor and just clean and inviting

Tell tell if it's really close to Magnificent Mile and there's lots to do in the area. I think I was surprised at how quiet the hotel felt because it seemed as if it looks empty although I know I had seen some of gases when I was in the lobby.

Beautiful hotel, vintage feel, modern look, great customer service, and wonderful rooms. Would stay again.

DJed at the bar, can't really talk about the rooms. Bar was good

Historic hotel on the edge of downtown. Deluxe king suite was spacious but dated. Need to replace the carpets. Clean. Staff were excellent. Free WiFi. Good tv.

I visited Glazed & Infused. They have wonderful donuts!

This hotel needs to be remodeled. The furniture in the room is old and worn. The bathrooms are very small. The elevator takes an excessive amount of time. 5 minute wait. For it to open and to come down from the 12th floor. 2 employees at the front desk yet only one was checking in guests resulting in being in line for 15 minutes. It is in a good location though.

This was an overnight stay with my wife; we stayed here once last year as well. The staff was incredibly helpful. The rooms are very nice; the showers are awesome. Location and price couldn't be any better. And having Glazed & Infused (incredible donut shop) in the hotel lobby makes it even better! Only negative was the temp in the room - thermostat was set for 60 at night but there is no way it got below 75. If we were staying a second night, I would have said something to management sooner. Overall, a very good hotel!

All technologies were up to date and it was awesome they had a nice microwave fridge and tv room was clean and nice and shower was cool and staff was very polite and accommodating

Ate at the pegalo restaurant the food was amazing and the service was superb We enjoy drinks at the drum bar...great bartenders great selection of drinks good crowd

We just went to eat lunch at the outdoor restaurant with our nine-year old daughter. The host asked if we had reservations. We did not but the restaurant was pretty empty because it was past the lunch rush; then she said they did not allow children. Under the description of hotel amenities, it says kid friendly. I am still confused about the whole encounter. Can a hotel and their affiliated restaurant have such a policy? It's possible, but it still doesn't seem right.

Does not recycle... just throws everything into one big trash bin in the back.

I've updated this comment to thank you for responding to my comment. Will you start recycling then????

Room was really really big and staff were accommodating.

We got a great price on our stay and expected gorgeous Rafaello room but the room looks like it hadn't been painted or updated in a while
Still the service was ok and we got a clean affordable room.

Only 4 stars because it was difficult to maintain temp control in the room. Great location. Nice staff.

Amazing hotel. Would definitely recommend. Location is perfect.

Nice larger room and pleasant staff. Very well located in doentown Chicago. I recommend this hotel.

All I can say is, in a city with more than 10,000 hotels, I don't see why anyone would want to stay at a place where the manager is as rude as can be. Stayed at the hotel over 1.2.15-1.4.15 and was truly enjoying ourselves until it came time to check out. The manager, JENELINE GOROSPE, went out of her way to create bogus charges to be applied to my credit card and would not agree to take them off the account. Have traveled all over the world and never encountered anything like this. All I am trying to do now is let people know to same themselves and not deal with a manager like JENELINE. I sure hope upper management realizes they need to make a change. On a lighter note, they do have an employee named Diego who was fabulous, kind and overall a great attitude!

I've had better service at Motel 6!
I booked a deluxe suite through expedia for Saturday, Feb.22 and arrived at about 6pm, assuming we had time to shower & relax for a few minutes before going to a show at 8pm. I could not have been more wrong -Stepping into the Raffaello was where our troubles began!
After a considerable (30 minute) wait, the front desk finally got us checked into our Deluxe Suite with a view. While my friend stayed with the car, the concierge helped take our luggage cart into the hotel and up to the room. When he opened the door I was VERY surprised to see a small "king" room -with one king bed! I immediately said there had to be some mistake because I had paid for a two-room suite.
So we went back down to the lobby and waited for the front desk clerk. She asked ME to provide a copy of my reservation and payment info. Fortunately my wife had printed everything I might possibly need and then some and tucked it into a pocket of my computer bag.
They asked me to wait while they "looked into it" and then the manager came out of her office and explained that they had no idea we needed a suite and the only one had just been renovated and they would need to get it ready for us.
We got into our room after 8pm (remember we had arrived right at 6pm) and were made to feel like they had done us a great service but giving us a freshly renovated room!
It was nice but there were no sheets on the hide-a-bed... Strangely enough, there was a knock on the door and pillows and blankets were delivered -Then, another knock to retrieve them because they were for some other poor sucker who was a guest of the raffaello!
The master room was nice and so was the bathroom -with its new, glass shower and fixtures. Only problem was that the water temp was hard to control and the glass door was installed in a way that caused it to get stuck closed! I had to pull the door into the shower to get out.
We did make it to the show but missed the opening act and the first 20 minutes of the headliner. Fortunately we were guests and had all-access passes so we were treated a LOT better at the venue than at the hotel!
We assumed that a late checkout would not be a problem -and the front desk said it would be OK but then started calling & harassing us about 20 minutes after checkout time!
While the Raffaello was a very nice hotel, the overall experience, with the exception of the concierge/door-man (probably the lowest paid employee there), was less than poor! Not at all what I had expected when I booked the stay...
Definitely a One-Star Experience at best.
Almost forgot -Our full size SUV was too large for the parking garage they sent us to after our two-hour wait, so we had to have valet service at a cost of $60 plus I felt obligated to give the guy a $20 tip (it wasn't his fault). Had I been in charge I would have comp'ed the parking, at the very least -We should have received a voucher for a free stay!

Found this hotel on app, but called to reserve and got a better rate direct! Great location, blocks from the lake and Michigan Ave. Room was very nice, contemporary and well appointed. A few small details that took away from a full four start experience such as poor toilet plumbing, door that scraped the floor, and some smaller cosmetic blemishes around the room. But the staff and service was very friendly and attentive. One highlight is the amazing bar on the top floor, an attraction whether you are a guest or not. Beautiful space, incredible whiskey selection. All in all, a very worthwhile accommodation. We would return.

I love my stay there it was a warm welcome as soon as I walked in the rooms are incredible the rooftop is wonderful

Spacious clean rooms, friendly staff, fun rooftop bar!

Location is quite good, we could reach anywhere using subway which is a 5/10 min walking distance. Also there are quite a few good places nearby for shopping as macys, uniqlo, bestbuy, apple.
As for the room was very big one, even for 3 people and very clean.

Family members stayed here recently. Lovely experience.

Awesome drinks and great food. Plus, I have a great view of the downtown area in their Garden / patio area.

Quaint, cute and centrally located. Also modest pricing

Lovely hotel in a great location. Spotlessly clean and spacious rooms. Staff very helpful

Excellent centrally placed hotel near the golden mile and the John Hancock tower

The front desk staff at check-in was not very polite. When I entered my room, I noticed that the carpet was filthy. The glass on the bed side table was dirty. I was placed on the fifth floor and could clearly hear people laughing and talking . I assume from outside. The floors were uneven and creaky. The bathroom was small and had mold in the shower and dirty grout. The toilet paper holder was broken and bathroom door dirty. Certainly not worth almost $400.00 night.

The raffaello was a delightful stay. The rooms are large, clean and well stocked. The drum bar is a nice place to hang it and relax with a drink. Definitely recommended.

Good value, downtown. Elevator buttons don't work, you have to push and shake. The hotel is in a nice area.

It was quite expensive despite the conditions, now before I maker a reservation. I make sure to ask that they have. Parking, they say yes but you have to pay 50 per day!! Which is half of the cost of the room, second I make sure if it has coffee, I ask before I male the reservation, but when I get there, there was not coffee machine nothing!! Really bad!!

Very clean, staff is very helpful great location to be right around Michigan Ave, water tower.

Spent two nights for New Years Celebrations at a suite and a double with friends. The rooms are comfy, stylish, clean, with cable TV's and free WiFi. Also, the views next to the John Hancock Building are pretty sweet!

The hotel rooms were pretty good besides the fact that they had a dreadfully bad paint, but the rooms were fine and pretty good. The reason I dropped 2 stars was because we had a lot of elevator problems and had to wait 30 minutes for our rooms

Building was old and only superficially refurbished. The AC was deafening, the TV was broken, the bathroom door would not close, and the fridge leaked water. The elevators are tiny and slow so getting in and out of your room takes longer than you expect. The room was just ok. There are better places to stay at this price point.

Much more could be done. Old hotel. The plasterboard walls in relief are sad and ruined. The bathroom is small and not very comfortable. There is no space to lay objects. Carpet like other parts of the room is worn. Nice location near Michigan Avenue and 360 Chicago tower

I took a star away because of the tiny elevators and the roof top section is kinda tight! It's a nice atmosphere though. The rooms are huge and worth the price.

The room was huge and the amenities excellent for the price. You cannot beat this location and the doughnut shop in the lobby is so kitsch. Loved having breakfast there. Reviews about the elevators are accurate - be ready to wait a few minutes, especially in the evenings. Staff was friendly and helpful and parking mostly convenient and reasonable for the city. We had a great 2 day stay and will be back.

Stayed for 2nights and did not have a functioning bathroom!!!! Our shower continuously flooded! Told the front desk TWICE and they had someone just DRY IT UP!! Never got offered to moved, $600 wasted. Not to mention 3 days after checking out a mysterious EXTRA $100 being taken out of our bank account!! What the heck!?

This hotel is in the heart of the Mag Mile across from the famed John Hancock building .