“Me saludaron "buenos días" con plena confianza en el personal de este hotel. Me entretuvieron con razón y asombrosamente cuando me quedo allí por un par de días. Todo el lugar parecía ordenado, elegante y moderno. Incluso las instalaciones, era hermoso y elegante. Además, con mi excelente estadía allí, me di cuenta de que debía volver pronto. ¡Gracias!”

“My boyfriend has been working longer hours than usual during the COVID-19 pandemic, so I decided to plan a spontaneous staycation at the Wicker Park Inn. We live nearby, and have often walked or biked past the Inn— it’s beautiful! First, the positives: same-day booking was a breeze; contactless check-in felt extremely safe; the room was beautiful and very clean; the location is excellent. With contactless check-in, you use a one-time, personalized door code to enter through the main door, then follow emailed instructions to your room, where a key to the main door and room key are waiting. I picked up my keys, then headed back outside to make sure the key to the main door worked. After some fumbling (I really thought I was locked out for a few minutes), I made it back inside and IMMEDIATELY received a phone call. Laura, a Wicker Park Inn staff member, was calling to “check in.” The timing of the call made it clear that she had been watching me through a camera at the main door. While a little embarrassed, I shrugged it off. I get it: it was past sunset, I was in jean shorts, likely a little scruffier looking than typical Wicker Park Inn clientele. She asked me a few questions about my reservation (for some reason, she thought that I had booked a room for three people instead of two) and said good night. My boyfriend arrived about half an hour later. He biked to the Inn, and, because I was worried about locking his bike on the street overnight, I told him he could probably keep his bike in our room. Almost immediately after wheeling the bike inside, I got a call from Laura. She was really, really angry, and I could hear it in her voice. She said that she “saw the other person arrive” and repeated two or three times that she “just could not have a bike in the room” before explaining that she was concerned about dirt. I apologized immediately— in fact, I think I said the words “I’m sorry” six or seven times. It’s a completely reasonable policy not to allow bikes into the Inn rooms! We eventually resolved the issue—she allowed us to store the bike in the Inn garage—but I was pretty shaken up. I felt surveilled and I felt unwelcome. I kept thinking about what would have happened if I hadn’t picked up the phone: Laura seemed upset enough to come to our room to tell us off. My boyfriend and I shook it off and ended up having a nice enough night, but I certainly won’t be staying at the Inn again, nor will I encourage friends or family to stay there.”