The Red Collection: The St. Clair Hotel Chicago

Last week I took an amazing trip with my husband and two daughters to Chicago. We spent an entire week in The Windy City, and while we were there, it even snowed! During our vacation, we were invited to spend a night at The St. Clair Hotel in Downtown Chicago.

The St. Clair Hotel, a boutique hotel, is part of The Red Collection. The Red Collection is a hyper-local soft brand of Red Roof, located in the hearts of cities that travelers love. In addition to Chicago, The Red Collection also has hotels in New York City and Springfield, IL, The Lord & Moris Times Square and The State House Inn respectively.

Before we left for our trip, The Red Collection mailed me some goodies to take with me to make my stay at The St. Clair a little sweeter.

In my care package, they sent the following:

• Verve Bath Soak Salts
• “Breathe” Water Bottle
• The Red Collection Portable Charger
• Amy Tangerine Traveler’s Notebook
• Lulu Calm Candle

The St. Clair is a budget hotel in a great location. It is on the corner of St. Clair and Ontario, just one block off of Michigan Ave aka The Magnificient Mile. There is a Starbucks right across the street and shopping galore! The walkability of this hotel is fantastic, so if you have kids there are tons of things to do just steps from the hotel, which means no having to load them up in the car!

After we checked in, we headed up to our room to check it out and drop off our things. Our family stayed in a Deluxe room which had two full beds. Our room, Room #403, overlooked E. Ontario St so we could see people standing in the VERY long line at Garrett Popcorn Shop across the street. The hotel is also pet-friendly in case you want to bring a four-legged friend. 

Our room had the following amenities:

• Microwave
• Mini Refrigerator
• Hairdryer
• In-Room Safe
• Large Flat-Screen TV
• Seattle’s Best® In-Room Coffee
• Work Desk

After we finished checking out our room, we changed into our LSU gear. Since LSU had a big game that day, we planned to go watch it somewhere in the city. We ended up walking to a sports bar and restaurant called, Jake Melnick’s Corner Tap. It was packed full of sports fans watching their favorite teams. Luckily, we got a table fairly quickly and ate lunch while we watched LSU win a huge victory over Alabama. After we were done watching the game we decided to go walk around the city and see some of the sights. Everything we had planned to do that day was within walking distance of The St. Clair Hotel.

The weather during our stay was quite cold, so we tried to stay indoors as much as possible. That being said, Water Tower Place, the mall down the street seemed like a good place to venture to. Inside the mall, there was a massive American Girl store as well as a LEGO store next to it. Needless to say, McKenna really liked that mall. After doing some shopping we went back to our room to get ready for dinner. We had dinner at The Dearborn, which was a short Uber ride away. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and called it a night because we were exhausted from all of our exploring.

The next morning we woke feeling well-rested and ready to conquer another day in Chicago. The New Orleans Saints were playing that day and we are huge Saints fans. So, we went to a local Saints bar called Frontier to watch the game. The atmosphere was electric and a lot of fun. After the game, we went back to the hotel to pick up our belongings so we could check out.  Our stay at The St. Clair Hotel was short, but it sure was sweet. If you are looking for an affordable and modern hotel in the middle of Downtown Chicago, The St. Clair is the perfect hotel for you! Thank you for having us and we look forward to our next stay at one of The Red Collection Hotels.