The Langham Chicago review: Luxury in the heart of America's best city for food

While its design is classic for the most part, it's not without its dazzle.

THE REVIEW

The Langham Chicago

THE PLACE

All rooms feature floor to ceiling windows looking out over Chicago.

Chicago has weathered the COVID storm better than many American cities. It introduced a mandatory mask and vaccination mandate meaning travellers felt confident to return sooner than to other major urban centres across the US. You'll still need to show you're double vaccinated to get into any city attractions.

THE LOCATION

Nowhere accentuates a Chicago city stay more than The Langham and the hotel takes up the first 13 floors of a famous 52-story skyscraper on the National Register of Historic Places. It's also right on the Chicago River. You're a short walk from the CBD and Chicago's iconic retail hub, the Magnificent Mile, as well as tourist attractions like Millennium Park and Navy Pier.

Signature restaurant Travelle features the best farm-to-plate American cuisine.

THE FEEL

While there's plenty of classic, restrained elements in its design, some of The Langham offers something more. Its elegant, glassy lobby with soaring ceilings and a massive marble head sculpture dazzles as you enter, as does its mirrored art deco-styled elevators. And you won't want to leave the 2000-square-metre spa retreat, Chuan Spa. But The Langham is - at its heart - a business hotel, so there's no in-house DJ programming the tunes you'll hear throughout. Fork out for a pass (COST?) to its 13th floor private club lounge for the best views in Chicago.

THE ROOM

You'll find plenty of dark wood and warm tones in its 316 guest rooms – that's a given in any Chicago hotel, bar or restaurant. But everything's airy and light and modern too - you won't miss an inch of the view through floor-to-ceiling windows that showcase the most astounding feature of the establishment: its city views. But the features you only discover on arrival are the ones that impress the most: the button you can press to turn the wall dividing the soaking tub from opaque to transparent to soak up the city lights and the enormous rainforest shower in a room the size of a sauna.

THE FOOD

Chicago is now the best-rated US city for food, with food bible Bon Appetit calling it "America's food city". You'll experience the best of it at the hotel's signature restaurant, Travelle. But perhaps you'll just as soon dine at its informal window-framed bar and listen to live music by the entrance to the restaurant. And don't miss the afternoon tea, served daily in the hotel's elegant Pavilion in homage to the hotel brand's British roots.

STEPPING OUT

You'll barely need an Uber to access some of the city's best bars and restaurants. You'll find the city's most scenic outdoor eating and drinking options like Pizzeria Portofino and City Winery with its climate-controlled igloos nearby along the Chicago Riverwalk, while its famed blues clubs like Blues Chicago are also within walking distance. Other favourite parts of Chicago are close by too, like the historic Gold Coast District, where you'll find some of the city's top steakhouses like celeb-favourite, Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse, and Italian restaurants.

THE VERDICT

There's something for every kind of hotel guest at The Langham; business travellers won't feel alienated here, while tourists will love its extravagance. And yet, the hotel's real appeal doesn't have anything to do with its appearance; it's what it feels like to be here. Home. Yep, it feels like home, and that's mostly because of the staff. Somehow, they remember your name.

ESSENTIALS

Rooms from $630 a night. 330 Nth Wabash Ave, Chicago. See langhamhotels.com/en/the-langham/chicago

Craig Tansley travelled courtesy of The Langham Chicago and Choose Chicago

OUR RATING

★★★★½

HIGHLIGHT

The hotel's private space – the Langham Club – on its top floor where food is served all day and you'll see across the gothic architecture of the city to Lake Michigan and beyond.

LOWLIGHT

While the guest rooms are stylish and airy, if you're a fan of avant garde bedroom layouts you may be disappointed by The Langham's room design restraint.