pick a hotel nearby that...

Liked: the location and ease of entry and exit to main roads in the Chicago area is great. The place is comfortable and quiet, even though it was pretty full.
Disliked: The $20 parking fee is outrageous and totally unreasonable for where the hotel sits and what is offered in return for that fee. Honestly, this fee was so unexpected and so ridiculous that it really made the overall experience worse.

Passable

Liked: Breakfast was excellent!!
Disliked: The pool water was dirty with lots of hair floating and sand at the bottom. Lots of clumps of hair on the floor under the chairs in the pool area too.

Irregular airport shuttle.

Liked: I had a flight cancellation at 9pm so had to find somewhere quickly. The website neglected to say they don't have a shuttle (!) They DO, but it's only once an hour. And you need to call (my ph was flat so had to charge find their number, yada yada). The next morning for the 6am shuttle the driver was 15 minutes late (some were panicking, others got Ubers). The receptionist was super nice, I feel he was the stand out but was in a losing battle as no one person can elevate the overall cheapness of the place.
Disliked: The entire experience felt mega budget.

Pleasant

Liked: N/a

Good

Exceptional

Overall my stay was very...

Liked: I really enjoyed how friendly and welcoming the entire staff was!
Disliked: I wish the room was a little bit cleaner.

breakfast only until 9

Liked: The pool and the gym are good and pretty new. Room was ok. Lobby was clean.
Disliked: We missed breakfast because it ends so early, at 9am! We stayed in many hotels all over the world and breakfast never ended this early. Another thing was the airport shuttle - when we booked we got an email saying there is not suttle so we paid 20 bucks for an Uber only to arrive and realise that there is actually a shuttle, it's just "we don't advertise it". That was a bit weird.

Superb