Priceline Hotel: Is 74,000 a large convention for Chicago?

[kennancat]

I'm looking to book a trip to Chicago and trying to decide if I want to use Priceline or not. The weekend that I'm looking at has the National Restaurant Association in town for their annual convention. I've seen estimates that there will be 74,000 attendees. This seems like a large convention to me, but I'm not familiar enough with the area to judge.

[thereuare]

Yes, that is large for Chicago.

Is this for mid-May... see AaronJB's reply in this thread Chicago Restaurant Convention.

[AaronJB]

The NRA (restaurant association, not the other NRA) convention will take up the majority of the rooms. While there may be some openings at the VERY last minute, I wouldn't guarantee it, and this is one of the worst weekends of the year for hotels in the city.

[kennancat]

Is this for mid-May... see AaronJB's reply in this thread Chicago Restaurant Convention.

Yes, it is. Thanks for the link - I had searched on "convention" on this board and had not come across that particular thread. We've got family commitments in the area at that time, so we unfortunately can't choose a different weekend. We will due our best to work around the convention (and sounds like we'd better make some restaurant reservations too!).

[thereuare]

What are the date(s) of your stay?

What is your minimum star rating and expected budget per nite?

[AaronJB]

If you have family in the 'burbs, I'd be very happy to try and suggest some nice suburban hotel options. It would be a bit of a trip if you wanted to come into the city, but hotel prices would certainly be cheaper.

I'd be very happy to research and see what I can find in the city and otherwise.

[kennancat]

I've bumped our flight dates up so that we'll overlap less with the convention. Our plan now is to get in the evening of Tuesday, May 13, and stay at a downtown hotel until Friday, May 16. On Friday, we'll move out into the 'burbs for the wedding. We've already got our hotel for that part of the stay, but thanks for the offer, AaronJB; I appreciate it.

For the downtown hotel, I'm now definitely planning to use Priceline. Saving money on that part of the trip will make me feel better about having paid change fees to the airline :) I've looked over the guidebooks and I think the Millennium Park zone will be closer to what we want to do. I'd like to keep our total hotel stay including taxes and fees under $500 plus parking. It looks like that works out to about a max of $140 per night before Priceline adds anything else. I'd be happy with a 3 or 4 star, but I'm thinking to start with a 4 star bid so that I can use the Midway zone for a free rebid. I'll probably start at $70 and bump up by $10 until I find something. Please feel free to pass along any suggestions or concerns with this plan.

[AaronJB]

I'd recommend starting at $85; I just don't think $70 is going to be enough for Chicago in May - it's too busy in the city.

[thereuare]

I'd also add that since trying to save money, why not bid both the Millennium Park zone and the NMA zone... doing so will enable you to get even more bidding oportunities as well as give more hotels the opportunity to accept your bid.