Mary Joan is a great host! She was very inviting and was open to suggesting places to go to eat/pick up amenities/spend time. I greatly appreciated that there was breakfast available every morning (including espresso - bye bye expensive drinks!). I also cannot stress how central this space is - you're right by Chinatown and Little Italy, and about 10 minutes away from McCormick Place. I used Lyft during my whole trip, and never had a trip that cost me more than $7.
A few things to note before reserving the room:
1. It is a 100% shared space. This space is a corner of the basement level, and shared with the host's bedroom area. The space is enclosed behind bamboo, so there's no worry of privacy, but the proximity to their sleeping area took a little time to get used to.
2. As the apartment is a converted loft, there are some unique bits to the space. The one that I had not anticipated was areas with direct access to the level above (i.e. no ceiling separating the basement and main levels). If you're an early sleeper like me, be sure to bring earplugs in case since there is direct access to the rest of the apartment.