Public Chicago

I've always had mixed feelings about Ian Schrager's hotels, where for me, style trumped service , and certainly comfort, more often than not.

So it was with slight trepidation that I checked into Schrager’s latest venture, Public Chicago, which opened last fall. A re-do of the fabled Ambassador East, a landmark 1926 building in the city’s Gold Coast neighborhood, Public Chicago, the first of a planned string of hotels, is Schrager’s spin on the recessionary trope of doing more with less. He aims to offer guests just what they need, and nothing they don’t, thereby making rooms more affordable. (They start at $135 a night.) The result, both in the 285-room hotel’s design (by an in-house team led by the architect Anda Andrei, a longtime Schrager associate) and amenities, is surprisingly elegant and refreshingly down-to-earth.

View  More: nytimes.com