Chicago Hotel

[Cheib]

Can anyone recommend a hotel in Chicago? Mate is getting married in rural Michigan and a few of us are flying in and going to spend a night in Chicago before driving 300 miles North the next day. Looking for somewhere central near to bars and restaurants. Needs parking for the ridiculous GMC Yukon XL I have rented.

Pleasingly he's getting married in term time and it's too far to drag kids for a weekend...so there are at least seven of us flying solo.

[Matt Harper]

Westin, North Michigan Ave - next door to John Hancock Center.

[GCH]

The W Lakeshore, and Hotel Sax (now renamed as Hotel Chicago - www.thehotelchicago.com )

Both have valet parking and a yukon will be no issue.

Edited by GCH on Monday 21st July 13:14

[Cheib]

Those all look great...but not really wanting to drop $400 a night given I reckon outside sleeping in the bed I'll spend less than an hour in the hotel....we'll be getting to the hotel at 5pm and leaving at 8am the next morning! Was thinking $200 a night or so would get somewhere decent given we're going in mid Sep and it's a Thursday night.

[Matt Harper]

$200 inside the Loop will be a sthole with on-street parking.

[Cheib]

Matt Harper said:

$200 inside the Loop will be a sthole with on-street parking.

Well we'll pay what's needed. If it's $400 it's $400.

[Matt Harper]

Try the Sheraton at N. Water Street - only stayed there a couple of times, but it's decent, has a parking garage and is probably under $300

[Stu R]

Hotel Chicago is pretty nice.

[Blueprint]

I use Hotwire and get any of the top hotels for discount prices. You can't chose the hotel but you can chose the area. Check it out before booking directly.
We live here now but before we moved I used it to get the Westin on River North for $120/night.

[toohuge]

I would avoid Hotwire etc. whilst it is a little cheaper, the rates are not much cheaper than booking with the hotel direct. Plus, if there is a problem with your booking or any issue, the hotel is not too bothered as hotwire holds the booking and not the hotel - something to consider having flown across the pond.

Try Hilton.com and look through any of their properties, the Palmer hotel looks good and is much cheaper than some of the other recommendations.

Chris

[toohuge]

I would avoid Hotwire etc. whilst it is a little cheaper, the rates are not much cheaper than booking with the hotel direct. Plus, if there is a problem with your booking or any issue, the hotel is not too bothered as hotwire holds the booking and not the hotel - something to consider having flown across the pond.

Try Hilton.com and look through any of their properties, the Palmer hotel looks good and is much cheaper than some of the other recommendations.

Chris

[Blueprint]

That's a good point about realising that when you buy the room through Hotwire, it is fixed, non-refundable etc. I've booked plenty of rooms this way and only lost out once when a flight was cancelled and I couldn't get to the city I'd booked a room in. For me it works great as the rooms are always cheaper through them. I also book cars this way, but not flights as I prefer to deal direct with the airlines on that one.

I suspect there are plenty of other similar services out there but I'm a creature of habit!
Saying that; I'm just getting in to using Air BnB which might be a different route for you to try too.
Made my first booking through them for a stay later in the year; if all goes well I'll use that service more regularly.

[wobert]

I got the Swissotel for £120 pn last year.....stayed there before, very nice!

[trando]

I just got back from Chicago. Stayed in the Godfrey Hotel which was excellent. The rooms were very cool and it had a really good rooftop bar. Make sure you have breakfast at yolk - there are a few in the area - best breakfast in town by far.

[unrepentant]

Stayed in this place 2 years ago, very central, nice rooms, sensible money and there's a garage next door. Croatian receptionist was also very nice.

http://www.ihg.com/hotelindigo/hotels/us/en/chicag...

[knight]

Stayed here http://www.innofchicago.com back in 2004. ( think it was a Best Western hotel then) but it was good and well located just off Michigan Ave

[Cheib]

Never knew booking a hoel could be so complicated....I am going to be old fashioned and get on the phone to a couple of them tonight. The sites that Tripadvisor feed through to like otel.com and amoma.com seem to have room in the Hotel Chicago for £145 a night....but the hotel website itself say they have no availability. Swissotel, Sheraton, Indigo etc all seem to be over £200.

Anyone used otel.com / amoma.com etc or similar ?

[wobert]

You don't mention dates, but try onhotels.com.

For mid August there's half a dozen coming out at less than £200 pn.

The James is also to be recommended.

[Cheib]

Thanks for all the recommendations I ended up booking the Hyatt as it was on a special non-cancellable rate yesterday....got it for £140 a night. Could probably have waited but there are a few of us going and just wanted to get it sorted. Been to a lot of the US but never Chicago...sadly only a night there and up to Frankfort Michigan for the wedding. I am going to be drinking a lot of beer here...looks like a great place for a wedding.

[unrepentant]

You'll enjoy Chi Town, great place. If you like seafood try Shaw's Crab House on E Hubbard, one of my favourite places in the world. Another great place is Rick Bayless's Frontera Grill on Clark, a very different take on Mexican cuisine. There are loads of great eateries in the city though and lots to do.