When you’re in a city with lots going on — like, say, New York, Los Angeles, or London — it’s easy to focus on everything you want to do and settle on staying in any old hotel. That’s a shame, because in most cities you can find precious “insider’s secret” hotels that offer old world service, a central location and the type of sincere warmth that puts typically impersonal chain hotels to shame. Case in point: Chicago’s Talbott Hotel.
The Talbott is a family-owned hotel that has been open since the mid-1920s. Just off Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, it’s surrounded by a Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton (and plenty of other big chains too), but was recently voted the city’s No. 1 business hotel by biz travelers that use Orbitz. How did it pull off that achievement? By offering everything you used to be able to take for granted at hotels, like large rooms and hotel staff that actually smile and welcome you back. Oh, and by not charging a fortune for each night’s stay.
And there’s even more to like about the Talbott: The EPA has awarded the hotel a Green Power Leadership Club membership, honoring its efforts to make the property entirely carbon neutral. The Talbott’s also Green Seal certified, recycling and conserving as much as possible.
Sure, there are other insidery hotels like this in cities around the world, like New York’s Inn at Irving Place and Hazlitt’s in London. But to stay at a family-run place, fail at getting Oprah tickets, wait on line for hours at American Girl Place, and get indigestion from a Chicago style hot dog … for that, you’ll have to stay at The Talbott.