Priceline Hotel: Urgent Help Needed with 3.5* and 4* in Chicago, 06/17/10-6/20/10

[mangione]

Hi

Have seen my bids rejected for 5 days in a row (have used your PRICELINE link). There is definitely something going on that weekend and there are hardly any rooms available in NMA or in the Loop on most websites (be it Price. line / HOTWIRE / Expedia etc...) except in the 600$ price range! A girlfriend and I decided to book tickets last minute for Chicago for a last-minute girls get away two weeks ago, but never in a million years thought it would be so hard to get a hotel room!

I started low, going from 65 up to 80 in only NMA. Now I'm doing both NMA and the Loop for 3.5 and 4*. Tonight I got antsy and went as high as 225$ and still nothing.

I saw the Holiday Inn Chicago mart plaza has rooms in the 225$ price range on those dates. I think I should book, in case we're left empty-handed.

Do you have any suggestions? perhaps I should look in the 3* category too? This will significantly decrease my free rebids...

I've always been so fortunate with PRICELINE!

Thanks so much!

Worried in Seattle!!

[AaronJB]

Good morning and Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

A number of thoughts:

First, the issue with these dates is:

American Society of Clinical Oncology - 46th ASCO Annual Meeting

6/4/2010 - 6/8/2010

view website

35000 Attendees

McCormick Place

Plus, Gospel Music Fest downtown.

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Unfortunately, with regular rates for the few (I'm only seeing two on Orbitz available) 4*'s that are showing as available for these dates at as much as over $500 regular rate (the 3* Doubletree Mag Mile, which is $75-125 on a normal day, is a sky-high $559), I'd say that bidding on a 4* seems unlikely, and I would guess that PRICELINE probably does not have any inventory (and I'm guessing inventory at lower levels is likely limited - at best.) The cheapest option on HOTWIRE is a 3* for $279, which appears to be the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza. I'm seeing the Holiday Inn regular rate when I search for $325 (both on Expedia and the hotel website.)

When I look for only 6/3-4 on HOTWIRE (before the convention), the prices are a little more reasonable. However, the problem is that when searching for 6/4-6, there is zero availability in any of the downtown zones.

_______________________________________________

A few suggestions:

1. The Hilton Orrington in Evanston is $169 refundable for these dates. Coupon code 10SPRING takes another $10 off. Evanston is a college town (Northwestern University) on the North border of Chicago. The Orrington is a historic boutique that was renovated a few years ago and was taken over by Hilton a month or so ago.

There is a Metra and CTA station a couple of blocks from the hotel, and Evanston has quite a bit in the way of shopping/restaurants. One could also take public transit North to the Ravinia Music Festival (ravinia.org) or Chicago Botanic Garden (which is in a burb; chicagobotanic.org.) The North Shore area to the North has tons of great hotels and is a great area, but there are VERY few hotels right by public transit - it's best to have a car - and the Orrington is the one easily accessible to both the CTA and Metra. NOTE: If you were to take the refundable rate via Expedia (please confirm that it's refundable in the fine print), you could hold onto this reservation and then cancel if something better appeared closer to your dates.

2. You could rent a car and stay in the suburbs and get downtown by car or by driving to the nearest Metra station. There are 3*-4*'s in the North burbs (which are quite nice) for between $54-79 on HOTWIRE. You could almost certainly get a hotel for even cheaper (and possibly significantly cheaper) than HOTWIRE rates in this area via PRICELINE.

3. You could bid on PRICELINE for a 3* downtown, but given the sky-high rates (and that the few 3*'s left are $300+ regular rate), there's a chance there's no inventory or that if there is a win, the winning PRICELINE rate would not be a large discount off regular rate.

A few links for the North Shore area (although it's definitely best to have a car when exploring the North Shore): Ravinia Music Festival (ravinia.org), Chicago Botanic Garden (Chicagobotanic.org, which is in a burb and is quite beautiful this time of year), Northbrook Court Shopping (http://www.northbrookcourt.com/), Old Orchard Mall (http://westfield.com/oldorchard/). There's also a wide variety of restaurants and other sights (such as the charming Long Grove, http://www.longgroveonline.com/)

There's also some large, higher-end outlet malls, but those are further away.

Please let me know if you have any questions about any of the above details.

Please use the site's PRICELINE or HOTWIRE or Expedia links to start your purchases and searches.

[mangione]

Thanks so much for your help! Looks like we really chose the wrong weekend. Note to self for the future: check PRICELINE before booking flights :) .

I saw the HOTWIRE entry this morning, too. Wondered whether it was the Holiday Inn. Are you pretty sure that is what it is?

I ended up reserving a room there at full rate (350 enormous bucks) with cancellation possible. At least I have that to fall back on.

As for Evanston, I love the look of the hotel and the price but we're going to stick with downtown. We're only in Chicago two full days and don't want to spend most of it commuting. More importantly, i am pregnant :) and will probably need to come back to the hotel to rest in the afternoons!!

In your experience, do rooms free up closer to the date or is a 50,000+ convention likely to keep everything booked up?

Thanks again!

Emilia

[thereuare]

...the Holiday Inn... I ended up reserving a room there at full rate (350 enormous bucks) with cancellation possible.

Please note as per our support page that we're an affiliate of the Holiday Inn, please check for and use our links there fore your future hotel direct purchases.

In your experience, do rooms free up closer to the date or is a 50,000+ convention likely to keep everything booked up?

Although we both wish we could, neither we, nor the hotel, can predict how many cancellations there will be in the next weeks before this conference, but my guess is that if hotels are at or near capacity, they will likely hold on to any rooms that come up in hopes of selling them on their own at full price vs. offering a deep discount to the opaque suppliers. Still worth a shot though, so you did the right thing by booking a cancellable back up, and continue to bid on PRICELINE and search HOTWIRE knowing your "price to beat".

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

Good luck and keep us updated as to your progress and let us know if we can be of further help along the way.

[mangione]

Hi. We are thinking of changing our weekend to June 17th through 20th. Looks like there are more options available for us and we can both change our tix without penalties. For eg., on HOTWIRE I think I've identified the James for 184$. Not cheap, but I figure I can get a much better deal on PRICELINE for a 4*.

Do you think this is a good idea?

I'll start a new thread if we decide to change our dates.

Thanks!

[AaronJB]

Please keep posts in this thread, and we can change the thread title.

If you are able to change your flights to 6/17-20, that would be terrific. Those dates are still not cheap, but certainly an improvement. Additionally, I just think that if the final result was that you did wind up paying $300+ for the Holiday Inn, it might put a bit of a downer on the trip - while a nice Holiday Inn, paying $350 for a HI that is not optimally located would be more than a bummer.

If you can change your dates, please confirm and I would be more than happy to suggest options for 6/17-20. When searching for 6/17-20, I see what appears to be a possible match for the James for $195, but I also see what appears to be a possible match for the Swiss for $119. While not quite as well located as the James, a nice difference in price.

Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[mangione]

hi!

I changed my dates for no extra fee.

And, yes, you are right. We were extremely bummed with having to pay so much for the Holiday Inn. It would have changed the entire logistics of our trip and

we could not have treated ourselves as much as we would have liked.

I'm tempted to search only for a 4* on PRICELINE. What would you suggest as a starting bid?

Or, if you think I won't get much better, then perhaps I should just stick to the HOTWIRE offer for 119$?

I'm sure the Swiss is better located than the Holiday Inn!!!

How do I change the thread name?

Thanks!

Mia

[mangione]

I just noticed that the dates were changed in the thread name. They are the wrong dates. My new travel dates will be 06/17/10 - 06/20/10 !

Thanks

[AaronJB]

Fixed. :)

In terms of HOTWIRE versus PRICELINE, you could certainly bid on PRICELINE. PRICELINE would most likely offer a cheaper rate than HOTWIRE, but the issue would be that you would have to accept any of the possible 4* properties in the zone (if you bid on 4* for a particular zone.) On HOTWIRE, prices are generally somewhat/moderately higher, but one can make an educated guess as to which hotel may be showing.

Additionally, I will add that while there is a listing that appears to be the James on HOTWIRE for about $195, I'm also seeing an extremely good sale on the Sofitel, which is a beautiful property in a great location a block from Michigan Ave. That is $185.64 per night (33% off - Expedia notes is this as "Low flo-Pay for 2, Enjoy 3!"), plus coupon code 10SPRING takes another $10 off. That is the #4 hotel on Tripadvisor.com in Chicago, but it was #1 for a very long time - still gets excellent reviews and the location is marvelous.

Overall, in terms of options:

1:) Bid on PRICELINE.

2. HOTWIRE is offering what appears to be the Swissotel for $119 and James for $195.

3. Expedia's Sofitel deal for $175 and change.

If you are looking for higher-end luxury, the James deal or the Sofitel deal are recommended, although the Sofitel deal for $20 less (after coupon) is what I'd suggest. The Sofitel is a block from the main part of the Michigan Ave. shopping area, but it's also only a few blocks from the Oak St boutique shops/Gold Coast, as well.

If you are more just looking for a place to sleep, I'd suggest the Swissotel or, if you are more flexible on what you may get, trying PRICELINE.

Let me know your thoughts and I'd be happy to offer further suggestions.

As another note, there are a couple of really nice Farmers Markets downtown on Saturday - one on Division between Clark and State in the Gold Coast area (easy walk from Michigan Ave) and another next to the Zoo in Lincoln Park (which is a green/organic market.)

Please use the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE or Expedia.com links to start your purchases and searches.

[mangione]

Going with the Sofitel!

Thanks for all your help and for the info re. farmers markets! You sized me up very well!

Thanks for making this message board the essential ressource that it is!

Cheers!

[AaronJB]

Fantastic deal for the Sofitel! Please let me know if you have any other questions about the city.

I'll also highly recommend Goddess Grocery and Cafe, which is a few doors down from the Sofitel. (http://www.goddessandgrocer.com/) Definitely a very nice choice for a quick bite.

Thank you for using the site's Expedia.com link to start your purchase.