Concierge.com's insider take:

Other high-end Michigan Avenue hotels take a staid approach to luxury, but the Park Hyatt adds a running note of playful artistry and unabashed flamboyance. The hotel's art collection, selected by local curators, turns your room into a private gallery; the specially commissioned photos of Chicago complement a masculine mix of cherrywood and black leather Eames chairs. Book a room on the east side, where sliding doors between the bath and bedroom allow you to survey Lake Michigan from the comfort of your oversize marble soaking tub. If you want to commune more fully with the cityscape, head for the hotel's seventh floor, which was dramatically redesigned and reopened in June 2011 with an organic flow between its NoMI Kitchen, Lounge, Garden, and Spa. Under new executive chef Ryan LaRoche, NoMI Kitchen's original Asian-infused French menu has given way to a heartland focus on local sourcing and simpler preparations. The softened dining room follows suit, with rich wooden tables. NoMI Gardens, a terrace dressed up with a 30-foot natural teakwood bar, has become a focal point, and the garden itself drives the spa treatments, which favor rousing lavender, peppermint, and citrus accents.—Updated by Raphael Kadushin