Priceline Hotel: Chicago - May 16-20

[Seabs]

I am travelling to Chicago from May 16-20 with my wife and daughter. I know from looking through the board that we are catching the National Restaurant convention dates so hotel prices are going to be high.

 

We would want a hotel of 4* or higher.

 

In terms of neighbourhood, we will be attending a Cubs game and wanting to check out Navy Pier, Millennium Park and Magnificent Mile, etc.  We won't have a vehicle so will want to be fairly centrally located. From looking at the map, my initial thoughts are the following possible neighbourhoods are

 

Hotwire

Magnificent Mile Area - River North

Magnificent Mile North - Water Tower

Chicago Loop - Theatre District

Downtown - Millennium Park - Grant Park

Lake View - Lincoln Park - Wrigleyville

 

Priceline

Lincoln Park

McCormick Place - Medical District

Millennium Park, Loop & Grant Park

North Michigan Ave - River North

 

We've never been to Chicago so if any of these neighbourhoods are less desirable, or there are others that you think would work, I am open to suggestion.

 

I currently see a Hotwire listing for a 4.5* Magnificent Mile North - Water Tower hotel for $312 CAD (Free Internet, Indoor Pool, Fitness Center, Pool, Restaurant, Business Center) (maybe the Hyatt Chicago Magnificent Mile?)

 

Do you think a better rate for these requirements is available through bidding, or is this likely to be as good as we can get?

 

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

I'm very familiar with the Chicago area, so please let me know if you have any city questions.

 

One note: I would not bid on the Medical District area. This zone is really not near anything and you could quite possibly be stuck with a result that is quite inconvenient.

 

Lincoln Park is an option (not downtown, but very nice North neighborhood with a lot to offer in terms of restaurants and stores, as well as a few sights like the Zoo), but I would only do that if the rates in Lincoln Park are noticeably cheaper than downtown.

 

The cheapest 3.5-4*+ option I'm seeing when searching for 2a/2c on HOTWIRE for these dates is $283.

 

The issue with bidding is that it only guarantees 1 bed/double occupancy. You can negotiate with the hotel, but there is the risk (and moreso if it's a busy period - this is one of the biggest conventions of the year) that you wind up with one bed for four people. HOTWIRE, where you can indicate the amount of people, is a better choice with four.

PRICELINE EXPRESS would be an option if you see a listing with bed choice and if you click on the listing, two beds is one of the choices.

 

What would be your desired max budget per night?

 

If you were to rent a car and stay in the North suburbs, the hotel rates in the suburbs are certainly less expensive and there are some great sights in the 'burbs. However, it becomes taking the 30-45 minute Metra train ride (although the Metra trains are nicer than the CTA trains) into the city each day.

 

You could even do a day trip up to Lake Geneva (which is a resort town in Wisconsin, just over the border) and go to the high-end outlet mall just over the border (which is immensely popular.)

 

Unfortunately, rates for the dates at this point are very high downtown, but there are some alternatives.

 

Let us know your thoughts on the above and we can then offer further suggestions.

 

 

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[thereuare]

... and please follow-up your previous Hotwire Boston thread with whatever you decided to do for that trip.

Please remember to follow-up your threads with your wins/decisions as you make them (even if you don't ultimately use PRICELINE / HOTWIRE, cancel the trip, book direct, etc) as this help keep the board better organized and more useful for everyone... as well as being a courtesy to anyone who took the time to help with your travel plans.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

Thanks.

[Seabs]

Thanks for the advice on neighbourhoods.  We will exclude the Medical Center from any searches/bids.  I think we will keep Lincoln Park as an option as between the baseball game and the zoo we will probably spend a couple of days in that area.  Although it doesn't look like there is any real price advantage over downtown based on searches so far.

 

With respect to staying farther out in the suburbs, I don't think for this trip it is as good an option.  My daughter is 2 so spending 1-1.5 hours commuting would use up a good chunk of our time available given her sleep schedule and we want to spend the bulk of our time downtown.

 

I note that there are 3 of us travelling (my wife and I, and our 2 year old) not 4, so I'm not too concerned about the risk of bidding on Priceline.  As long as we could get a cot or a crib for my daughter that would be fine, and I've never had issues in that regard.  Worst case scenario we could bring a Pack-n-Play (travel crib).  If we had to book at current rates, we would - but ideally would at least like to get the price down under $300 CAD per night (~$230 USD).