To celebrate our 14th anniversary, Shae and I decided to book a three night stay at the Kimpton Gray Hotel in Chicago.
We had three free night certificates from renewing our IHG credit cards and the Kimpton Gray seemed to offer the best value based on the room rate during our stay. We’d also never stayed at a Kimpton so were keen on getting to experience it.
Another benefit was that they’re pet-friendly and don’t charge a pet fee which was perfect for us seeing as we’re traveling with our dog Truffles.
Here’s a review of our three night stay at the Kimpton Gray Hotel.
Check-In
The check-in process happened much more quickly than expected. There’s no parking lot at the Kimpton Gray Hotel, so we stopped outside the hotel quickly, threw our luggage on to a cart and Shae went inside with a hotel employee who took care of our luggage.
While she did that, I drove a couple of blocks to leave our car in a parking garage we’d pre-booked to save money (more about that later).
By the time I’d walked back to the hotel, we were already pretty much checked in. Seeing as we were using three separate free night certificates, they’d merged those to ensure we’d get to stay in the same room, rather than having to check out and back in again each day.
A fun feature of the Kimpton brand is that they have a secret password you can use when checking in. Up until September 3, 2018 it’s ‘Out Of Office’. Thankfully Truffles knew this and so she surreptitiously opened her suitcase to reveal the password.
That meant we she got to pick our prize out of a bowl.
She did a great job with the one she chose as it was a $30 food & beverage credit which we could use at any of their on-site bars and restaurants.
We’d been assigned room 1004, so we headed up to the 10th floor. Be sure to always have your room key with you, as you need it to go up in the elevator.
The Kimpton Gray is very stylish with nice decor throughout the hotel, including the hallways. Entering our room was a little confusing initially. There’s no key card slot, nor an obvious place to tap the card. In the end we worked out that the small circle above the door handle that looked more like a peephole was where we should tap the key card.
Bedroom
Our luggage had already been left in our room by the time we got there. We’re not fancy people, so this was the first time we’d gotten to experience that which was fun. To give a better view of the room for the photos, we moved all the luggage into the entryway so that our bags wouldn’t be in any shots.
When entering our room, there was a spacious entryway with a free-standing closet to the right. Further ahead and to the right was the bathroom, while the main bedroom area was straight ahead and to the right.
In the hallway between the different areas of the room was a full-length mirror and bench we used for luggage.
As mentioned above, the entrance had a closet to the right.
The closet was unexpectedly vibrant inside and contained a safe, an iron and ironing board, a spare pillow, two bathrobes, a small dresser, yoga mat and an umbrella. There was also a luggage rack to the left of the closet.
In the main bedroom area was our king bed which, according to the description when booking the room, was an extra long bed. The bed itself was extremely comfortable and we slept well on it.
One side of the bed had a table lamp, while the other side had a lamp hanging from the ceiling. There were a couple of pieces of artwork which might have been centered on the wall. However, because the bed wasn’t centered on the wall, they looked a little strange seeing as they were both above one side of the bed. I have no eye for style though, so maybe they did that deliberately.
Both bedside tables had both power outlets and USB outlets which we appreciated for charging our phones overnight.
The view from our room was a fairly standard city hotel room view.
Opposite the bed was a desk and office chair, with the TV mounted above the desk. This is a slightly strange design as it means that if someone’s working at the desk, their head will be blocking the TV if the other person is watching it in bed.
An unusual feature of the room was that there was no coffee maker. You could request one from the front desk, but I’ve not encountered that before. I’m not sure if that’s a Kimpton thing, a fancy hotel thing or just a Kimpton Gray Hotel-specific thing.
Beneath the desk was a mini fridge containing part of the mini bar, with the rest of the mini bar on a tray atop the desk.
Mini Bar
The mini fridge contained various soft drinks and alcoholic beverages. Thankfully there was enough space in there to fit some of our own food that needed to be refrigerated.
To the left of the mini fridge were a few additional alcoholic beverages.
On the desk was the tray of additional snacks and beverages, along with a few other random items like a bottle opener and a box containing a tie from The Tie Bar, a store next door to the hotel.
In case you’re curious, here are the prices of all the items in the Kimpton Gray Hotel’s mini bar. If you have elite status with Kimpton / IHG, you get a $10 Raid The Bar credit during your stay. That can either be put towards items from the mini bar or drinks at one of the hotel’s bars.
Bathroom
The bathroom had a sliding door for privacy, but the door had a tendency to slide back open if you didn’t fully slide it closed.
To the right of the bathroom was the toilet with one of the more random pieces of ‘Keep Calm…’ artwork I’ve seen.
The sink, vanity and mirror were in the center of the bathroom.
There was a small bottle of lotion on top of a washcloth, with a bar of mandarin & citrus soap from Atelier Bloem.
Also on the vanity was a list of items you could get from the hotel to either keep or borrow during the stay. They seemed to have all your bases covered, including any anti-static spray emergencies that you might have while staying at the Kimpton Gray Hotel.
On a shelf below the vanity was a hairdryer.
The shower area was beautifully designed with lovely tile on the wall. There were a couple of aspects I didn’t care for though when it came to the shower.
The first is that the water pressure from the shower was awful. Imagine someone pouring warm water over you from a watering can that has a small spout – that’s what it was like using the shower.
The other thing I didn’t care for was the fact that the glass barrier only went halfway. Despite the terrible water pressure, it still meant water would splash outside of the shower area.
On the positive side, the toiletries were nice and came in large bottles rather than mini bottles like at most hotels.
Amenities
Due to its location in downtown Chicago, the Kimpton Gray Hotel doesn’t have a pool. As it’s a more upscale hotel, it doesn’t have guest laundry seeing as their usual clients are probably happy to pay for their laundry to be done for them.
The hotel does have several amenities though. The first – and one we most appreciated – was their nightly Wine Hour from 5-6pm. This is served in a long room on the second floor to the right of the front desk.
Complimentary wine is served during Kimpton’s Wine Hour, so it was a great opportunity to relax and have a couple of free drinks.
The Kimpton Gray Hotel in Chicago also has a fairly spacious fitness room. This includes a Peloton bike which streams live classes.
The hotel has an on-site spa, but we didn’t even think to look in there as it would’ve been out of our price range. They also have complimentary bike rentals for guests, but we sadly didn’t get to take advantage of that during our stay. Then again, it was hot and humid while we were there, so that might not have been a bad thing.
Bars
The Kimpton Gray Hotel has two bars and a restaurant. The restaurant is called Steadfast and is on the first floor, but we didn’t eat there during our stay.
On our final night at the hotel, we decided to take advantage of our $30 food & beverage credit we’d won when checking in, as well as our $10 Raid The Bar credit.
We started off at Boleo, a sort-of rooftop bar. I say ‘sort-of’ as it’s on the rooftop of the hotel, but i wasn’t how either of us picture a typical rooftop bar.
Boleo has a retractable roof and, because it was an August night, was fairly hot and humid up there. The bar did have some good views of surrounding buildings though.
We sat at the bar to have a drink. There’s a nice selection of cocktails to choose from and you can order Peruvian food to go with your beverage.
Shae decided to go for their Disco Punch, while I ordered some whiskey on the rocks.
After that, we headed down to Vol. 39 on the second floor for one final drink.
Pet-Friendliness
The Kimpton Gray Hotel is not only a pet-friendly hotel, but it’s the most pet-friendly hotel we’ve ever stayed at. For starters, there’s no pet fee which is something we always appreciate.
Secondly, the front desk has a Pup Stop for your dog when arriving or heading out for the day.
They also provided a complimentary dog bed and food and water bowls which were waiting in our room for Truffles after we’d checked in.
Next, the pièce de résistance. On the bedside table was a bag of dog treats with a handwritten note for Truffles.
I’m not sure what they put in the dog treats, but I’m pretty sure it’s some kind of puppy crack. Truffles couldn’t get enough of them and kept wanting another hit.
There is a fairly big downside to this Kimpton’s location though if you’re staying there with a dog. There’s no grass within five blocks. Anywhere.
There are quite a lot of trees along the sidewalks, but Truffles didn’t deem them pee-worthy. I think a large part of that is because their bases are covered and surrounded by grates. Truffles doesn’t like putting her small paws on grates, even if the holes are nowhere near enough for them to slip through.
There’s a small grassy area south of the Jackson subway station, but we walked over there only to see signs saying dogs weren’t allowed on the grass.
We therefore had to walk Truffles over to Millennium Park each day whenever she’d need grass to do her stuff. Dogs aren’t allowed in Millennium Park either, but there are grassy areas around the perimeter that seemed fine for her to use.
Parking
Parking at the Kimpton Gray Hotel isn’t cheap. If you want to use their valet parking, it costs $65 for 6-24 hours. They also offer discounted parking at a nearby parking garage on W. Madison St which costs $46 per day with in and out privileges.
We didn’t do either of those though. We did park at that same W. Madison St garage, but booked it through Park Whiz. That cost us $24 per day rather than $46, so saved us $66 over the course of our three night stay. Using Park Whiz meant we didn’t have in and out privileges, but that didn’t matter as we didn’t plan on driving during our stay.
I’ve written more extensively about our Park Whiz experiences in Chicago over at Frequent Miler, so check that out for more details.
If you’ve never used Park Whiz, you can get $5 off your first booking when using this referral code. For full disclosure, I get a $10 Park Whiz credit for every two people that sign up using my referral code.
Service
The service at the Kimpton Gray Hotel was, quite simply, outstanding. From Alexandra at check-in to the concierge to Lucas (I think that was his name) at the front desk to the ladies serving at wine hour to the bar staff at Boleo and Vol. 39 to all the other staff we came into contact with, we had great interactions with each and every one of them. Everyone was unfailingly friendly and made an effort to help ensure we enjoyed our stay.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi access was free. I don’t have anything else to add here which must mean the connection and internet speed were good as I don’t remember ever having any issues.
Location
The Kimpton Gray Hotel is in The Loop. As mentioned earlier, it’s only five blocks to Millennium Park where you’ll find Cloud Gate (AKA The Bean). It’s within easy walking distance of several subway stations and also isn’t too far from the Magnificent Mile.
Other than the lack of grassy areas for Truffles, we loved the location of the hotel.
Cost
We used three anniversary free night certificates from our old IHG credit cards. Those certificates could be used at any IHG property worldwide in exchange for paying a $49 annual fee. The certificates expired after a year, but you could make a reservation before your certificate expired for a date after the expiration date. That’s how we were able to get three nights there even though we only have two of the old IHG credit cards.
That means our three nights at the Kimpton Gray Hotel effectively cost us $147 (plus the cost for parking). That’s an absolute bargain because if we’d paid the cash rate, it would’ve cost $348.67 per night including tax, so more than $1,000 overall. IHG and Chase are sadly making changes to that card, so in the future there’ll be limits as to which properties you can use the free night at.
To be honest, I feel like ~$350 is way too expensive for this hotel. We had a lovely stay, but that’s a huge chunk of change. Rates aren’t always that high though – it looks like you can often book a room for under $200 which is much more reasonable.
Final Thoughts
There’s a lot to like about the Kimpton Gray Hotel. Service is phenomenal, rooms are stylish, spacious and comfortable, they have features like the free wine hour to enhance your stay and the hotel is in a great location.
On the downside, parking is fairly expensive and the shower was very disappointing. Even the Quality Inn in Eau Claire, Wisconsin has a better shower.
Overall though, we had a lovely stay and wouldn’t hesitate to stay there again if it was a cost-effective option.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives this hotel four paws out of four – pawfect! To be honest, she’d give it a couple of loving puppy licks if she could. She was treated so well, from them not charging a pet fee to the dog bed and bowls to the incredible dog treats.
The only possible thing that could’ve made her stay better was if they had a small grassy area for dogs. Some airports have an indoor pet area with fake grass, so something like that would truly make a stay at this Kimpton special.
Our Rating
Room = 4.6 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.2 / 5
Food = N/A
Location = 4.8 / 5
Service = 5 / 5
Overall Value = 4.3 / 5
Total = 4.58 / 5
Address
Kimpton Gray Hotel, 122 W Monroe St, Chicago, IL 60603
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