The area that the apartment is in is really nice if you're wanting to go to the lake and hang near the beach. Things close early in the area, and it's a bit of a walk to get to places, but it's a beautiful area to walk and ride bikes around, and all of the restaurants we tried in the area were great. It's definitely a trek to get to the majority of the Chicago tourist attractions (it takes about an hour using public transportation), but it's easy to use the public transport (the CTA passes work for both the busses and the trains, so getting daily passes and using google maps made it easy to get around). The apartment is definitely more of a place to sleep at night than a place you want to hang around in. The couch was very uncomfortable, one of the windows were broken, and the TV didn't work super well (it would randomly freeze but it was fine if you just wanted some noise in the background to fall asleep to). The apartment wasn't very clean when we got there--it didn't seem like the floor had been cleaned and many of the dishes were dirty (I'd probably not call the place "newly renovated"). Alex was communicative up until we got to Chicago, then didn't answer messages frequently once we were there, though we were able to find everything we needed. Although this certainly isn't the host's fault, the elevator was not up to code and was quite creepy (would definitely recommend taking the stairs if you're able-bodied) and the hallway smelled like cigarettes, but the apartment itself smelled fine. Overall, it's good for the price if you just want somewhere to sleep at night!