Stepping into the Virgin Hotels Chicago feels like a masterclass in architectural time travel. Opened in 2015 as the flagship property for Richard Branson’s hotel brand, it breathes new life into the historic 1928 Old Dearborn Bank Building. This 27-story Art Deco skyscraper was originally designed by legendary movie palace architects C.W. and George L. Rapp, who dressed the exterior in whimsical terra-cotta figures of medieval and mythological creatures.
Inside, the design team at Rockwell Group Europe pulled off a brilliant preservation act. They spent a year tearing out a modern dropped ceiling to reveal and meticulously restore the bank’s original, intricately carved plaster coffer ceiling. They also kept the building’s original 1920s oak cigar bar—which now cleverly serves as the hotel’s front desk—alongside the original polished brass elevator doors and marble staircases.
The hotel’s design layout breaks regular hospitality rules. Instead of standard rooms, you stay in multi-room “Chambers” divided by sliding doors to optimize privacy and space. Downstairs, the former double-height banking hall is now the Commons Club, featuring a massive zinc-and-red-leather freestanding bar, and a quirky “Funny Library” stocked with comedy books and playful memorabilia.
Location-wise, you are right in the heart of the Loop. The iconic Millennium Park and the metallic Cloud Gate (“The Bean”) are just a short walk away, as is the world-renowned Art Institute of Chicago. Plus, the famous Chicago Riverwalk and the theater district are right around the corner, keeping you close to the action.
Expert reviews
“Billionaire Richard Branson transformed the 27-story, art-deco Dearborn Bank Building into the first outpost of his cheeky new hotel chain.”
“Chicago is home to the first Virgin hotel, located in an historic Art Deco building in the heart of the Loop. It’s as stylish and cheeky as you’d expect from Richard Branson’s brand, complete with excellent food and cocktails, high-tech amenities and a co-working space.”
What guests liked
- Friendly staff
- Rooftop bar
- Boutique style
- Great rooms
- Excellent Wifi
- Comfortable beds
Location
Recent guest reviews
23 October 2025
Because of the disappointment with the room, it made me not enjoy my stay as much.
The rooftop was the highlight of the trip
The room was just okay. When I booked with Booking.com, the pictures shown for the room I chose was NOT the room I got. The hotel said this was the room I paid for so Booking.com needs to update their pictures to reflect what you get which is just a basic boring room with no couch. Not at all what I thought I paid for to celebrate a 50th birthday.
19 October 2025
Good location, bit less good cleaning
The location is perfect
The room cleaning was not good. Most of the times it was very late in the day during our chill time in the room. Also there was trash for 3 days in the hallway.
15 October 2025
Well located, but some maintenance needed.
I liked the location of the hotel. Staff were friendly and the hotel was clean.
Some things were a bit worn or needed maintenance. The sliding door in our room was rubbing on the ground and was difficult to operate. The bathroom door would not fully close--seemed the hinges were mis-adjusted. Expected more for the price of the hotel.
15 October 2025
Lovely hotel with friendly, helpful and professional staff. I would definitely stay here again.
All the staff were exceptionally pleasant and professional. The room was very comfortable, especially the bed and pillows.
There was a low base noise (music) coming from somewhere during late evenings on Friday and Saturday (my room was on the 21st floor). I was immediately suspicious when first entering the room to see the hotel had provided ear buds on the bedside table. I used my noise cancelling AirPods, which did the trick and were comfortable to wear as the pillows were so lovely and soft.
12 October 2025
We would recommend the Virgin Hotel to anyone looking for a decent city centre hotel.
We booked a deluxe king room and was not disappointed. Our room was on the 22nd floor and it was spacious, clean and good value considering the cost of city centre hotels these days. The hotel is conveniently located for all the major attractions, such as the river, the elevated railway, shopping, Millennium Park, the Art Institute, John Hancock Tower, etc, etc. It also has a rooftop bar cocktail which gives some great views of the city, especially after dark.
Although we enjoyed our visit to the roof top bar we were far and away the oldest people there, and found the type and volume of music being played not to our taste, but that's to be expected when you're no longer young and hip; we still had a great time sipping cocktails and admiring the sights and sounds of the city.
1 October 2025
Perfect for my business travel.
The location is great. The bed is very comfortable. Wonderful staff - Jordan and Darryl were terrific! The housekeeping was great. The hotel is well managed - all staff are welcoming and very helpful.
I have stayed at this location several times and there are many common space touches that could use a refresh. Also, the rooftop music is really loud, even 2 floors down.
6 September 2025
This is "My kind of town, Chicago is"
Staff, so friendly, polite & respectful.
Oh, the pillows and mattress are amazing. It was the best sleep I've had in a very long time.
Couldn't find the switch to turn off the wall light above the mini bar. It didn't really bother us, I meant to mention it to reception, sorry.
31 August 2025
Great hotel in the perfect location.
Staff was quite friendly, the location is perfect, and the rooms are very nice. So many excellent sights and activities were within walking distance. We wish we could have stayed longer.
27 August 2025
Great position and top quality
Quick check-in
Cleanliness
Bathroom separated in 3 spaces and partly directly located after the entrance of the room
10 August 2025
Great place overall but not entirely ideal for pets.
The man that met us out front, I believe his name was Deandre was incredibly helpful. Everyone else we met was great too.
We had pets with us and the availability for them to use the bathroom is lacking. We had to walk them down the street which is very inconvenient. Secondly the bed my mother in law slept in had some sort of red stain on the sheets. We are hoping it was paint and not something else.
9 August 2025
Excellent choice for a visit to Chicago
Great location and wonderful service. There is a fun vibe at the hotel.
Bed was too soft. Very hard to get in or out of it. The price of the room and the price of meals was very high.
28 July 2025
Great hotel, super convenient and nice rooms
Great location, safe area, easy access to trains, beautiful and well equipped rooms, staff is efficient and helpful.
Pricey, and this time mattress was quite lumpy (though never had this problem there in the past).
17 July 2025
Great room, great location not great owners.
Location and layout of the rooms
CEO doesn’t pay the housekeeping staff enough money so they picketed three out of the five days we were there
14 July 2025
Convenient for work meeting with client in the city.
Snack options, coffee cafe, and 2nd floor lounge.
Dirty carpets in common areas
30 June 2025
comfortable, clean and convenient hotel and staff was kind enough
room : clean and reasonablly spacious, location : convenient to reach shops and restaurants, bed: was very comfortable shower: well worked
nothing particular
25 June 2025
Enjoyed our stay. Great location
Location and the room was great
Only 1 coffee pack in the room for two people
24 June 2025
Excellent Location. Comfortable bed. Noisy at night.
The hotel is in the perfect location. Walking distance to so many great restaurants, the River Walk, the Magnificent Mile, Millennium Park, and the L Train to take us everywhere else we wanted to go!
The food at Ms. Ricky's was amazing and we also liked the coffee shop, Two Zero Three.
The bed was super comfortable and the room was a great size.
The bar on the top floor brought in a huge crowd every night which clogged up the lobby and the elevators. There were times we had to wait for 4-5 elevators to get back up to our room because there were so many people in the lobby waiting to get up to the rooftop bar. I think at least 2 of the elevators should be dedicated to hotel guests only.
I am also a light sleeper and the hotel is close to the train line. The noise kept me up the first night. I used a white noise app the rest of the trip and that helped.
30 May 2025
Great hotel, but rooftop bar guests come first...
Great location, nice rooms, very clean and friendly staff.
It was Memorial Day weekend. Saturday and Sunday there were huge parties going on the rooftop. I'm all for it but I got rudely dealt with by the rooftop bar staff and felt unwelcome. Annoying when you're a hotel guest there. Also the music was so loud, it would have been good for a heads up and my pregnant wife really struggled to sleep. There was also people smoking weed in the lifts and outside the front of the hotel every day.
26 May 2025
Great location, wonderful staff and room was comforable; restaurant bar and coffee shop were great.
Staff was wonderful and friendly. The location was great, room had plenty of amenities and the size of the room was perfect for our weekend stay.
Our room and possibly floor had obviously been smoked in before and had a lingering cigarette smoke odor. That was really the only unpleasant part of the stay.
13 May 2025
Fabulous location, great place to stay
Great location and really nice room - unusual design of bathroom but it works really well, clever use of space so feels much bigger than it is.
The room seemed designed for only one guest so we had to ask for extra coffee (provided super-speedily) and there was only one robe, which we found a bit irritating.
5 May 2025
Definitely would return!
Clean, modern, well appointed rooms. Bed and pillows very comfortable!
Main lounge/bar poorly staffed. Apparently when the roof top is busy, they close other bar areas
29 April 2025
Fab location but noisy.
Comfortable bed. Clean room.
Was given an adjoining room and had to request a move as could hear everything in other room. Got moved. Noisy with trains outside.
25 April 2025
Overall good experience.
The location!
Too many extra charges, not previously specified.
14 April 2025
Fun and friendly, in a great location
Friendly and accommodating staff, well appoined facility, unique and efficiently designed rooms, beautiful rooftop bar and a central great location.
12 April 2025
Nice friendly place in a good location
Nice spacious room
Nothing
2 April 2025
Modern, stylish hotel in great location
Very modern, clean, comfortable. Great size room for a four day stay. Within walking distance of the train and many popular Chicago attractions like Millennium Park and the riverwalk. There is a coffee shop within the hotel on the ground floor.
Like some other reviewers mentioned, we did get woken up by protesters and they didn’t stop for a good half an hour. This was at 8am on a Sunday but no other day while we were there. We were offered a lower floor upon arrival and we would’ve declined if we’d known.
30 March 2025
Good location, clean, roomy, but bed/pillows were uncomfortable.
Our view and room were great. Good soundproofing as well. Roomy.. staff was courteous.
Bed was too soft. Pillows were sooooo lofty we couldn't use them. No pillow for 3 nights. Please consider a variety to choose from, or at.least one that is able to be fluffed or flattened.
22 March 2025
Would go back. Just, hopefully a room not near train.
Location, friendly, clean.
Was on 8th floor, train below could be noisy.
23 February 2025
Beautiful hotel with really, funky, fun updates.
Great location, funky, fun, eclectic building. Gorgeous, updated rooms. The shower with the rainfall shower head was fun and felt luxurious Loved the lighting throughout-motion sensors were nice.
-Did not have parking but after contacting property, they do have a garage with a discount.
-Having the room directly across from the elevator was less than ideal as there were a couple of loud people that came in late. However, the privacy doors that divide the bedroom closed were helpful to drown out some noise.
-Although the listing for the room stated that the room came with a $25 voucher for each adult (which there were two of us) for breakfast when I asked the front desk for these the customer service representative stated that this was not the case, but she would permit me to have one but not one for one both of us.
22 February 2025
I really enjoyed my stay and the location couldn't be better
I liked that my room had a good view of the L train--it was fun to sit at the window and watch the trains go around the Loop. The bed was super comfortable and the whole room was very thoughtfully laid out.
16 February 2025
Beautiful Stay in Chicago
Central location to Chicago and beautiful aesthetic.
Hotel facilities
Food & Drink
- - Restaurant
- - Coffee house on site
Services
- - 24-hour front desk
- - Luggage storage
- - ATM/cash machine on site
- - Concierge service
Activities
- - Fitness centre
- - Billiards
- - Fitness
General
- - Non-smoking rooms
- - Facilities for disabled guests
- - Lift
- - Safety deposit box
- - Heating
- - Non-smoking throughout
- - Air conditioning
Miscellaneous
- - 24-hour security
- - Key card access
- - Security alarm
- - Smoke alarms
- - CCTV in common areas
- - CCTV outside property
- - Fire extinguishers
Reception services
- - Invoice provided

More photos

23 October 2025
Would stay again if in city