SaturnMom

Hi Aaron, Thank you for your quick response. I know you are very familar with Chicago area, please help. Their budget is $100, don't need to be a 4* hotel, but want a clean place to stay. I meant if they book a hotel outside Chicago downtown area, then they need to take public transportation to the hotel. Also, I need to find an area which has lot of public transportion to downtown or other places. I will ask them about the hotel splitting, they are still in class ;) . Thank you.

Is Spring Break (3/16-3/23) a busy time in Chicago? My daughter and her college roommates is going to Chicago for Spring Break and asked me to bid a room for her. I looked up to Hyatt Regency, where I normally stayed and they are fully booked. And when I used Hotwire to check rate, most of the room in downtown area are more than $150/night, which is over their budget. I am trying to bid a room either at Midway or O'Hara, which one will you recommend? Will the hotel at O'Hara area have easy access to "L"? If not, which area will have easy access to "L" and safe. The girls are very excited about the trip, and I don't want to disappointed them. I have a few questions: 1) They are under 21, and most hotel required over 21 to check-in. 2) They have no car, but don't mind using public transportation, even up to one hour. 3) Is the hostel in Chicago area safe? 4) They will take the Amtrak to Chicago, and need transportation to the hotel. Any suggestion? Thanks in advance.

Started bidding at $40 for 4* downtown hotel, counter offered for $61, declined. Raised to $45, countered offered for $55, declined. Finally accepted at $48, not bad. Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $48.00 Subtotal: $96.00 Taxes & Fees: $23.48 Total Charges*: $119.48 Used the PRICELINE link provided on this great forum. Thank you.

First bidding for 3.5* Oakbrook, started from $40 and went up to $52. Added Lisle and started from $40. Priceline counter offer for $50. Re-start bidding with Oakbrook, Lisle and Arlington Heights, and accepted for $45. Not bad for summer time. Hyatt Lisle 1400 Corporetum Drive Lisle, IL 60532 630-852-1234 Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $45.00 (USD) Number of Rooms: 2 Number of Nights: 7 Room Subtotal: $630.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $92.40 (USD) Total Room Cost: $722.40 (USD) Used PRICELINE link. Thank you.

I used to park my car at the Millenium Park garage when I stay at the Grant Park/Loop area, but this time I have to find one up north and closer to this Ambassador East. Any suggestion? I probably not going to move the car until we leave Saturday morning. $20-$25/day range.

Finally won the Ambassador East Hotel for $65 (plus $10 bonus cash) per night. It is for our stay from 8/9-8/14. I started from $50 (plus $10 bonus cash from the Entertainment Book), add $3 each time until it hit $65. There are mixed reviews for this hotel; but we only use it for a place to sleep, hopefully it is not too bad. After bidding unsuccessfully for 4* for 7 nights, I had to splite them in 2 difference stays and down graded to 3 1/2*. Sorry I didn't use your link for this stay becasue I had to use the link from the Entertainment Book to get the $100 bonus cash. But I will use the link for our 8/7-8/9 bidding. Ambassador East Hotel 1301 North State Parkway Chicago, IL 60610 312-787-7200 Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $65.00 (USD) Number of Rooms: 2 Number of Nights: 5 Room Subtotal: $650.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $130.60 (USD) Total Room Cost: $780.60 (USD)

We are coming from southwest, either using I-88 or I-55. The metra is about $4 each way (right?), so it will add $48 to our budget everyday. Yes, we need 2 rooms. Where are SE burbs?

Hi AaronJB, I have a few questions for you. We are planning to visit Chicago from Aug 7-14, and would like to stay at Hyatt Regency Chicago or any 4* hotel around that area. We ARE NOT attending the Lollapalooza, but it is from Aug 6-8. The Hyatt is sold out during the concert and the rate is really high for the Grant Park, Loop and MMA area hotel. Our budget is $80 (incl. taxes and fees) per night for downtown hotel. We are driving so we can stay at hotel further away, what will you recommend? We stayed at the Hilton Suite at Oak Brook before and loved it, but the drive is little bit too much. Although mapquest said it would take 25 minutes, the actual time was more than 45 minutes depending on the traffic. I

Trying to bid a 4* downtown hotel for couple of days. Yesterday bid up to $68 and failed. (I paid no more than $58 for Hyatt Regency Chicago last year!) 7 am this morning, I checked Hotwire and got a offer $79 for a Magnificent Mile Area - Streeterville area hotel, and check again 30 minutes ago and get offer for $69 for the same hotel. Very good deal! I knew they may have more rooms available now compare to last week. So I used your link and went to Priceline.com to give it one more try before going to Hotwire. I started with $56 and got a counter offer to raise $17, I declined and sign-out. Rebid at $60 and got accepted. Hyatt Regency Chicago 4 Star Millennium Park, Loop & Grant Park Area 151 East Wacker Drive Chicago, Illinois 60601 Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $60.00 Subtotal: $120.00 Taxes & Fees: $26.60 Total Charges*: $146.60

I had tried to bid 3 rooms for 6/10-6/15. I started bidding about 3-4 weeks ago, using all free rebid zones for NMA and Loop areas (32 combinations) and bid up to $110, all failed. After I realized it is Bluesfes, I decided to stay downtown for 3 nights then move to Chicago Suburb. Priceline accepts my first bid of $58 for 6/10-6/13 at Hyatt Regency, and $45 for 6/13-6/15 at Hilton Oakbrooks. If you are not coming for the Blue Festival and with no car, you better change your plan to other weekend.

Start bidding at $40 and used free re-bid zones; ended up with Hilton Chicago OakBrook. It is a all suites hotel, non-smoking with swimming pool. Oakbrook Shopping Mall and lot of restaurants are nearby, I think this is a very nice location. eyefly - thanks for your suggestion, I think this location is way better than Midway Airport. I used the PRICELINE link on the upper right hand corner. Hilton Chicago Oak Brook 10 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrce, IL 60181 3 Rooms: Per room per night: $45.00 Subtotal: $270 Taxes and fee: $43.77 Total charges: $313.77

Thanks. So you have stayed there before? Is it a safe neighborhood? With restaurants nearby? How far to drive from Hinsdale to downtown?

We are planning to visit Chicago from 6/10-6/15. I tried to bid 3 rooms for 5 nights at the LOOP in the past several weeks but failed every time. I had try all combinations, even added NMA and bid up to $110, and finally realized it is Bluesfest at the same weekend. Yesterday, I placed a bid for $58 for 3 night, BINGO, it was accepted at Hyatt Regency. I was kind of suprise when I got the confirmation after my first bid, but now I have to find another place to stay for the 2 other nights. I tried 4* and 3.5* at LOOP, and used up all free re-bid zones, failed. My husband don't want to stay at O'Hare becuase it is too far north, may try Midway Airport today becuase it is little bit closer to downtown. Here it is: Hyatt Regency Chicago 151 East Wacker Drive Per Room, Per Night: $58.00 Subtotal: $522.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $93.42 Total Charges*: $615.42