I was surprisingly pleased with this hotel. No traffic noise. Nice, clean and felt historic. I already want to stay there again. The front desk staff was awesome and called cabs if necessary. The neighborhood is cute and it was worth the money! read more

Carpet smelled like urine. Air conditioner unit woke me up every time it turned on. Homeless guy begging at the entrance and warning to bolt my door. Not an ideal experience for $150 in the middle of winter. Front desk guy not interested in taking the feedback so I guess it goes on yelp. Nice job. read more

I have a VIP guest coming for a short visit and I stopped by to ask a few questions before making a reservation. Ronnie was awesome! She was very helpful & let me tour 3 different types of rooms. The motel rooms are charming & very clean with a garden like setting outside & the main hotel has a historic charm that reminded me of the Lincoln hotel in Springfield (but better). The queen room is more like a queen suite (I actually liked it better than the king room). Each room has a kitchenette with microwave & minifridge. I'm confident my guest will feel welcomed when she arrives and have a comfortable stay. read more

This is one of the best hotels I've ever visited. Unfortunately the best I can rate this place is ONLY 5 stars, as it deserves 7. From the customer service level (Patrick is awesome), house keeping, location, and overall elegance, this is the place everyone should stay when visiting the Chicago area. read more

I had my wedding ceremony and reception at this hotel. The day was perfect. The banquet manager Annie is amazing! I felt very comfortable with her from the start. She is very organized and professional. She is extremely nice and very caring. She made sure my day was perfect. I'm so glad I had my wedding at this hotel! read more

Not loyal to returning guests. When told we would get a room with a king bed, they gave us two double beds. This happened multiple times. Customer service is sub par. read more

I love this hotel. My fiance and I had our engagement party here and everyone loved the food and the atmosphere. The food is excellent and the service is great. The outdoor seating at Poor Phil's is lovely in the summer. We often ride our bikes here and sit outside for lunch when the weather is nice. We have stayed in their suites a couple of times and love their oversized jacuzzi tub. read more

Not only was this hotel beautiful, CLEAN, and quiet they were amazingly accommodating. My husband and I trailered our motorcycle up from down state and the Carleton reserved parking for us for 24 hours when we only spent one night. We will come back to the Carleton! read more

Very dated in the rooms . The lobby and ball rooms are beautiful . The older lady who checked me in at the front desk was super rude . It was to the point that I didn't want to ask anymore questions . Oak park in general is really nice . read more

It's been four years and I think it's about time I gave The Carleton a great rating for the superb job they did with my daughter's wedding. Every detail was top notch and every moment went without a hitch. Oh, and the food! It was awesome and then some. Many complements from the guests saying it was the best wedding meal ever. And the portions were huge. I'm so very glad we booked her wedding and reception at The Carleton. Their staff is held in the highest esteem by my me and my daughter and the rest of my family. Thank you, Carleton staff, for the superior job you did! read more

Booked my parents into the "motel" portion of the Carleton of Oak Park Hotel for a small family reunion last weekend and my parents are still raving about their stay. Firstly, my father's physical health has slid over the last few years and he needed a handicap accessible room, which means he could not stay in my home with multiple floors. The front desk staff assisted me with all my concerns and requests regarding his comfort and accessibility. Also, they helped with coordinating a scooter delivery and pick-up I rented for my father's use throughout the weekend. In short, the Carleton staff and crew made my parents stay easy and effortless. I just spoke to my mother who is still raving about the weekend and their stay in this establishment. Thanks again Carleton! read more

We had a very nice stay here. It was easily accessible to the trains and walking distance of several nice shops and restaurants. The room was clean, the bed was extremely comfortable and the bathroom had plenty of well lit space. After an exhausting round of summer road construction travel, the staff made us feel welcome and well cared for. Highly recommend. read more

This is my first booked reservation at Carleton in Oak Park. I attempted to book online but there seems to be a glitch on the website. I called the hotel to make my reservation and requested to have an emailed confirmation, but it was not received. It required that I call again to receive the e-confirmation. For a hospitality service industry this speaks to their customer service. Yikes! read more

We stayed here back in October for a wedding. It was OK. The staff that I came in contact with were very friendly and helpful. The room itself was a little odd. We were in a room that was located at the end of a hallway and had a door that you would typically see on a linen closet. Very weird. The room was hot! Nothing we did would cool it down. The bathroom looked as though it had been remodeled and was quite spacious. The decor of the room was in need of some improvement. There were very bold colors everywhere and the bed was hard. I will say that the room was quite big. There was a queen bed, desk with chair, a table with two chairs and a chair with a foot stool in the corner. There was also a small kitchenette. Not sure if I would stay here again but it worked for what we needed that weekend. read more

A good neighborhood hotel. El stop not far. My small room was in the fun, kitschy motor inn. The bathroom is super-cramped. The walls are thin, which means I could hear the conversations of my next-door neighbor (which means they could hear mine). Yet somehow I didn't mind these negatives. Good access to other points of Chicagoland. Don't come here looking for luxury. But it's clean, safe, and quirky. There is a decent amount of free parking, too. read more

I worked at a wedding at the Carleton last week. It is a gorgeous petite boutique hotel in downtown Oak Park. The ballroom is perfect for a wedding between 100-150 guests. For the cocktail hour, the hotel used a small banquet room as well as a bar with two small rooms right off of it. The only thing that I disliked is that some guests were walking through the cocktail hour to get to their rooms on that side of the hotel. read more

Classic location for smaller wedding/event with multiple rooms for different activities if you like to sit and talk away from main action. The neighborhood is quiet and a nice choice if you want to be a little out of the city, but still close enough. The staff is always courteous and helpful. A classic gem in Oak Park. read more

Very impressed. Lobby is exquisite & two bar/restaurants connect to hotel, both fantastic. I stayed in the cheapest room they had & it was very clean & comfortable. I'd send clients here. read more

Nice cool older hotel. When I say old I don't mean outdated, I mean great class and architecture that you don't find in new modern cookie cutter hotels. Room was clean and had plenty of space, small kitchenette, nice sized closet and clean bath. Staff was friendly and helpful. Lots to see, eat, and shop around. read more

Get a suite. Reasonably priced, with a Comfy bed, Sofa, Table, Kitchen, Beautiful tub and bathroom. Huge space. Close proximity to Green Line. It doesn't get better! read more

Amazing atmosphere and staff. Checking is a great place to visit and relax.Excellent service, great breakfasts. The rooms were very clean and they even provide cuetips and cotton balls in your room, no issues, will stay again. read more

Staff were generally rude. Front desk was snappy for no good reason, and Neither of the two bars would allow me to watch even a single Television with the baseball playoffs because "You're in Bears Country," and the Bears were on. No. You're running as hotel and people from out of town stay here by definition. read more

The hotel is beautiful, but the beauty sometimes only runs skin deep. My traveling companions checked into their room with the imprint of a woman's makeup on their pillows along with other nefarious stains on the bedding. WiFi? No WiFi if you have a tablet and want to watch the shows you've been storing for the past week or, you know, use your tablet. Restaurant/Bar? Great food and service. However beware the Gluten Free menu- anything fried is not Celiac safe and the staff is not educated. The cherry on this sundae of wackiness was the elevator that took us to the 7th floor of this 3-story building. Maybe we are in the Twilight Zone? I'll let you when (if!) we check out in a couple of days. read more

Stayed here in early March. With all the choices for hotels in Chicago, especially downtown, we decided to stay out of the loop area and chose the Carleton. What a great find. Nestled in quaint downtown Oak Park, this is a very nice place. Awesome lobby area that looked newly decorated. Concierge, Brad, was very helpful. Appeared to be a wedding going on but amongst the distractions he was very attentive, friendly, and got us checked in to our room quickly. Later we came down looking for a restaurant and he pointed us to an outstanding Latin cuisine place about 5 blocks away. Room was perfect and our extra rollaway was in the room for our daughter. Comfortable bed, hot shower. All in a historic building. Easy parking too. Recommend this hotel and ask for Brad to get helpful hints on your stay. read more

I had my wedding (ceremony and reception) at The Carleton in Sept, 2009. The whole day was perfect - mainly thanks to Anne Mammoser Parker's hard work! Our wedding was the second of the day, and Anne got her team to turn the place around (and make it sparkle) in no time flat. The ceremony set-up was perfect, and the turn-around for a 165-person dinner happened like clockwork. Working with Anne during the preparations was a piece of cake, too. She was always available for a meeting or a phone call, and responded to emails immediately. Taking us through the tastings, to making suggestions about layout, Anne definitely listened to what we wanted and produced just that for the wedding. The hotel ballroom-area is beautiful. I received compliments all night about how amazing the hotel is, and what a fantastic venue it is for a wedding. The decor is perfect, and the size is just right. It's as formal or informal as you want it to be. The bar and two adjoining rooms are romantic and cozy, and perfect for quiet conversations and cushy seating. The hotel rooms are fabulous, too. We stayed in a room that was absolutely perfect. It was right up the stairs from the bar, and it had everything we wanted. The bathrooms are very ornate and updated, and the decor in the rooms is really unique. Truly a fantastic place for a wedding and other events! Anne is perfect to work with! read more

I had my wedding reception here in July 2010. It turned out to be an absolutely fabulous venue. The bar and seating area are a great cocktail hour location and the ballroom was perfect for a seated dinner for our 120 people. Annie Parker works hard to make sure your day goes off without a hitch. Extremely affordable and the food and drink were great! Would recommend to anyone looking to get married in Oak Park (where there are just not that many event spaces). read more

Stayed in the "Motor Inn" section of the hotel. While the appointments were nice and everything was clean there were a few issues with the room, which should be addressed by the management. First... the walls are like cardboard. I could hear everything my neighbors were saying, even though they were speaking at normal level. Fixing this would require sound insulation in the walls, during your next remodel. Second... there was a constant roaring sound coming from the bathroom vent, presumably from a fan. While the noise might not be that noticeable during the day, at night when everything is quiet, it becomes very noticeable and very annoying. Just get a new, quieter fan. I've read other reviews that complained about this as well. Third... get firmer mattresses. The mattress was a very cheap, weak mattress. The kind that squishes down to about 30% of its initial height. This makes for a very uncomfortable night sleep and a sore back the next day. With the above changes, this hotel could go from being second rate, to a real first class establishment. read more

I used the Carleton as my host hotel for my wedding for October 12th. The hotel itself is gorgeous. Vintage and classic.. it is the perfect spot for your guests to stay. I love the decor and the rooms were clean and roomy. We had a suite that was stunning in it's size for me and 3 of my family members. There is an issue with parking in that if the lot right next to the hotel is full they send you to one of their other 5 lots. The one we got sent to was around the corner from the hotel so I'm not sure how far the other lots are so just a heads up. The only sore spot in my 2-day stay was a woman at the front desk named Ann who was extremely rude to me and one of my guests. I had heard a complaint from a guest before that she told him inaccurate information regarding room availability. Then, I witnessed her rudeness myself while we were waiting to check out. We were apparently standing in the wrong spot to check out and she proceeded to say "what are you doing....well come around and stand where everyone else is then" in a very not nice tone. I was not prepared for it since I had nothing but a positive experience at the Carleton up until then. Everything else was wonderful though and I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again...but I would avoid Ann. read more

The room I had was very dark, old and sad. The location wasn't too bad but yu need to have a car. The carpark at the hotel was full so I parked my car near the hotel. read more

In choosing the venue for our July 2017 wedding reception, my husband wanted something different from the standard chain hotel. I wanted a location close to Chicago with plenty of room for guest accommodation since all of my guests were traveling from out-of-state. The Carleton was a great match for our needs. We worked with Candice and were pleased with her professional attitude and enthusiasm. She even placed the flower decorations on the cake for us since we were at the ceremony location when it was delivered. We also had a Sunday brunch and received several compliments on the food from both the reception dinner and day-after brunch. read more

It's one of the only places to stay in oak park. It has a charming, historic look that matches oak park well. Friendly front desk service is really hit or miss. Sometimes enthusiastic to help and ensure you were satisfied with the stay. Other times, you'll stand there waiting while they finish playing on their phone or talking with coworkers and happen to look at the counter to see who is distributing them. During the last stay there was excessive hair on the sink, counter, and floor of the bathroom upon check in. I mentioned to front desk as I went out for the day, and assumed it would be cleaned that day, but it was not even tho the maid service did make the bed and empty the garbage. They could not answer questions about why it wasn't cleaned. I didn't bring it up the second time, just cleaned it myself. The rooms are old but beds are comfortable and the showers are hot. That's usually most important. The eggs Benedict breakfast is pretty bland. Not recommended if you can get to another place in oak park to eat. Poor phills bar is good for a drink and some popcorn, and one of the few late establishments in oak park. I cannot comment on Barclay's other than friends and family all really enjoy it. I've not eaten there. But I include the comment only because they do have a nicer restaurant/grille for food and drinks, in addition to poor phills more casual bar. read more

We arrived early and were told there were no rooms available. It was an hour before check in so we knew that was not true. We walked back to the car and noted that no carts were sitting anywhere so rooms were not being cleaned. We went back and checked in and we were told we received a complimentary upgrade into their hotel. We declined as we specifically stated we wanted to be in the motel part of the place. The gentleman that was checking us in stopped and looked at us like he was appalled. He said but it is free and kept checking us in. I asked if the upgrade was something we had to take and he eventually said no it was not. We asked to receive the motel room that we asked for which he eventually obliged to. Under his breath he said 'I guess someone else will get the free upgrade.' It was an awkward and weird exchange which we did not appreciate. He was rude and although we have never had this experience before it was a sad day for us. Everything else was perfect. We will continue to stay here but hopefully either this gentleman has better manners the next time we check in or maybe he will have moved on to another business. read more

The restaurants and service in the hotel is good, but room quality in the motor lodge is not quite up to standards. The air conditioner runs on and off for five minutes and only took 4 hours to cool the room down to a satisfactory temperature. This caused a poor nights sleep. If you're staying in the summer, check in early so you can turn the ac on. Also, set it 10 degrees cooler than it says or else it won't ever reach your target temp for the room. Furnishings were satisfactory. read more

I had my wedding here, have had my family stay here on several occasions. Best value. Best Location. Trains to the city are a block a way. (but why would you leave Oak Park?) everything in walking distance... even the motel rooms are MOD, and fab, (recently updated) Restaurants are wonderful too. You will enjoy the locals at Poor Phils, Ask for the beer of the day. I would totally recommend this hotel for weddings. Easy access, walk around abilty, and top notch everything. John Mahoney from Frasier even came to my reception- well, he was in the bar for the after party! read more

We had our wedding there (10/7/16) and it was terrific! The staff (especially Candice and Katie) were phenomenal in ensuring everything went smoothly from behind the scenes. Everyone had a blast! Having everything in one location was great and with easy access to downtown Chicago, the guests enjoyed doing their own things around Chicago and Oak Park during the rest of their stay. The hotel rooms were clean and the hotel is absolutely charming - updated vintage charm! We couldn't recommend this place enough for a wedding or place to stay! read more

We got everything we asked for: Quiet room, higher floor, not facing a busy street, and not near elevators, ice machines, vending machines, or anything else that makes noise. Very civilized, but not snobby. Our room had a large work table, refrigerator, bar sink, a few dishes and utensils, and the bathroom had an extra deep tub and two sinks. Air conditioner was adequate to cool room below 68 degrees. Restaurant in the building was, large, comfortable and had high ceilings. Food was quite good and was reasonably priced. There is a full bar in the restaurant..... read more

I flew in from New York and stayed at the Carleton for two nights to attend the annual Frank Lloyd Wright Housewalk. What a comfortable bed I slept in! Such a pleasure. My room had a kitchenette and was spacious, clean and very cozy. I had two blissful, refreshing nights of sleep, but the real highlight of my trip was the delightful Carlton McBeth at the front desk. A very charming host, Carlton is refreshingly genuine and goes the extra mile to ensure guests have everything they need in order to experience a pleasant stay. It started unexpectedly pouring in the middle of the day during the Housewalk so I returned to the hotel, but thanks to Carlton lending me an umbrella I was able to go back out and tour all the rest of the houses, for which I was very grateful. In a business where there are so many spoiled and picky guests, as a manager myself I always recognize great customer service when I see it. Carlton is a tremendous asset to the staff and is definitely management material. Carlton, thanks for elevating my trip to the next level! I'll definitely be returning with friends. read more

I had my wedding reception at the Carleton in October 2014 and the rooms, food, venue, and service were all absolutely perfect. The wedding coordinators (Annie and Megan) were absolutely amazing and made the day completely stress-free. All our guests had a fabulous time and we couldn't be happier to have the wedding here. We also stayed overnight and were pleased with the facilities. read more

We stayed in the motor lodge for work and those rooms are just so so, kind of an old look but clean. The resturant Barklays is pretty nice, the food is good, but the female server wasn't all that friendly. read more

Comfortable and clean , charming place. Only downside is that the two front desk clerks I dealt with did not seem to want to do their jobs and were very unaccommodating . read more