The Best Affordable Hotels in Chicago

"The Freehand is a find—it's good fun at a reasonable rate in the normally pricey River North neighborhood. The bunk rooms can fit up to four, but the private rooms are thrifty finds with lots of kicky touches: colorful throw rugs, textile wall hangings, and pillows. A wooden credenza doubles as a desk, and for a bargain hotel the rooms have seriously large TVs. Guests and locals flock to Café Integral, where excellent coffee is served all day, and the Broken Shaker, the hotel's stellar cocktail bar. The innovative cocktail creations here, which skew toward the vaguely tropical, include such unique ingredients as rosé-seaweed cordial and hibiscus-sage syrup, while bar snacks go clever-but-crowd-pleasing: Think plantain nachos, Southwest egg rolls, and crispy chicken sliders topped with Buffalo honey butter."