5/5 Stars for The Drake!
I and my cousin stayed 3 nights in the Drake in mid October. We arrived in the dark, but were able to access the apartment easily from the front.
Pros:
- Comfortable innerspring beds, soft linens. Handy little alarm clocks.
- Well equipped kitchen with cookware (though we did not cook) tea and coffee makings available
- Very clean throughout
- Extra linens available if needed
- Full bathroom, great water pressure +handheld shower head
- Great tasting water! I don't know if thats a Chicago thing or special to this home/area, but was so thankful to be able to drink straight from the tap with no complaints!
-Wonderful blackout curtains that kept the light and cold out
- Large flatscreen TV with an Amazon Firestick, and adequate seating to chill and watch a movie after a long day in the city
- Lovely suburb neighborhood; I felt very safe and the streets were very quiet at night
- 10-15min walk to the L station, very doable.
Cons:
- Upon entering the first time, we both noticed an "old house" smell that reminded us of our Grandma. This soon dissipated, or we quickly got used to it, and didnt notice it the rest of our stay.
- Being an older house, many of the doors do not fully close into their frames, the bathroom being one of these. The lock was therefore useless and I was thankful we were used to knocking.
- It is a ground/garden floor apartment, so you do hear some noise from upstairs. Thankfully it seemed to quiet after 11pm.
- Upon entering, we noted that the Carbon Monoxide detector was beeping and stating Error. I did not mention this to the host, but I'm sure they would have had a better solution than ours which was to remove the battery for night.
- There was no bathroom fan, and the walls seemed pretty thin throughout, so we heard ALL the sounds, including each other's snores.
Overall, we were very pleased with the apartment, and would definitely stay again next time we are in Chicago!