Priceline Hotel: 3* Chicago (Millenium-Loop-Grant Park) Essex inn

[Vanadu]

My husband and will be in Chicago for a meeting (his) from 16th-21st October staying at the conference hotel (Hyatt O'Hara). We will be arriving in Chicago on the 11th October and would like to book a hotel in downtown Chicago from the 11th-16th October. I would be grateful for any advice - specifically if this is the right time to start bidding or whether it is too early. I read the forum and see that MMA is THE place to be but would be very grateful for any advice on area too. We are thinking of a 4* or I see on the forum that it is a good idea to look at 3.5* hotels too. We are hoping for a good deal but would rather have something nice at a good deal than the lowest price possible. Thank you very much. It is my first time posting but I love the forum

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

Please provide your desired budget for the night, and I would be happy to offer suggestions on how to proceed.

Additionally, in terms of the conference hotel for 10/16-21, you could quite possibly find a better rate via HOTWIRE or PRICELINE at a comparable hotel in the O'Hare area; while it might be a trip from the other hotel to the Hyatt, the savings may be worthwhile to stay at another nearby property.

Chicago in the Fall is often busy/more expensive, so it is best to start trying now and it may take some time. The suburbs (which are quite nice) are less expensive and offer some sights/attractions of their own, but it's best to be driving if staying in the suburbs and it's a bit of a trek to get downtown (driving from the hotel to the train, then taking a 35-40 min train ride on the Metra train, or just driving downtown.)

Additionally, this should be a great time for Fall colors on the trees in the area.

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

[Vanadu]

Thank you very much for your quick response. I don't want to drive so would prefer to stay in town. My preferred budget would be up to $100/night (before the taxes) if that is possible but as I said - I would rather go over this for a good deal on a nice hotel than stay within it for a less satisfactory one. We are both pushing 50 (from one direction or the other) but like to walk so if we are in the middle of town maybe we could see quite a lot by walking around. I am very excited to see the fall colours - thanks for mentioning them. I will ask my husband about the option of changing the conference hotel but I think that he is pretty fixed on that. While he is conferencing I will be finding myself amusements for the day - and I am looking forward to that too.

I have looked at the site to study the bidding strategy and would appreciate any advice that you can give me as to where to start.

Thank you again

[AaronJB]

Rates for these dates in terms of regular rates are higher-than-average ($200-400 regular rate for 4* properties and HOTWIRE rates are above-average, as well.

In terms of a 4* in NMA, given the amount of time that you have before your stay, you could try starting with a lowball bid ($90-100), but in all likelyhood, unfortunately I think this bid will likely take upwards of $125, and possibly as much as $150+ if hotels are not aggressively discounting.

There are not much in the way of reasonably priced regular rate properties, such as the Standard Club ($160, Orbitz - that is a very upscale, elegant, old world private club that rents rooms - the only issue is the Loop location.)

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

[Vanadu]

Thank you - I saw that the prices seemed higher than usually reported on the board but I have plenty of time so can afford to try. I would appreciate your experienced opinion on whether the better option is to close a deal now at whatever price I can or to wait and keep trying the lower prices to see if things change? Also is the Loop a good area to add to the search? I see that they seem to go together a lot?

Yet another question - I am trying for quite a lot of nights - could there be an advantage to splitting up the stay? We could maybe stay the first night close to the airport and then move into the downtown the next day - or any other reasonable option (I would not want to move every day obviously).

[AaronJB]

In terms of now vs. later, it is best in terms of Chicago in the Fall to try to lock in something now. One idea that I do suggest when there is a moderate-to-significant amount of time between the bid and the stay is to pick a "ceiling" and bid up to that ceiling once every few days/twice a week. If a few weeks go by and no hotels accept, you could raise the ceiling or consider other alternatives. In terms of splitting the stay, these dates appear busy across the board, unfortunately; otherwise, I would suggest possibly splitting the stay downtown.

The River North-NMA area contains the Michigan Ave. shopping area, the River North area (which has a wide variety of restaurants and nightlife) and Gold Coast (nightlife.)

The Millennium Park-Loop-Grant Park area includes some shopping (on State St) and some restaurants. It is closer to the Museum Campus than the NMA area, and the Art Institute is in this zone. The problem with this zone - especially in the South and West portions - is that this area can be very quiet later at night. Once the offices let out, quite a few stores and restaurants close. If one does not plan to be out late, this isn't an issue, but if one does plan to be out late at night, a taxi or other public transit may be needed to get to/from where you are going.

A couple of the Loop hotels in the West end of the zone (such as the W City Center, Allegro and to some degree, the Club Quarters Loop) are primarily good for business travelers, but are not particularly convenient for travelers. The Hilton and Renaissance Blackstone are also not in stellar locations from a tourist perspective, but at least those are within reasonable walking distance to the Museum Campus and if one goes a few blocks North, the Art Institute.

Overall, NMA is preferrable, but including the Loop is a good idea in terms of having more possibilities that may accept your bid if trying to get the lowest 4* rate downtown.

A few hotels at the far North end of the River North-NMA area (the 3* Ambassador East and Hotel Indigo) are not centrally located either, but at least in that case, those are only a few minutes walk from Michigan Ave and have the restaurants and nightlife of the Gold Coast nearby. The 3* Holiday Inn Mart Plaza is at the West end of the River North-NMA zone, and while it is a bit of a walk to Michigan Ave, that is at least not too far from a lot of what River North has to offer - there's also an "L" station next to that HI.

In terms of 3* or 3.5*, if you do decide to go that route, I will say that quite a few of the 3* and 3.5* properties in the River North/NMA area are quite nice and some of them are particularly strong properties (the Homewood Suites, Indigo, the two Courtyards, the two Embassy Suites) that I would be very happy to stay at again. At the 3* level, you could also start lower.

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

[Vanadu]

Thank you very much for your advice. I will start as you suggest using the links here. Is it a reasonable supposition that the business hotels will be less likely to answer a bid since I want weekdays so that I would be fairly safe not getting these?

[thereuare]

Is it a reasonable supposition that the business hotels will be less likely to answer a bid since I want weekdays so that I would be fairly safe not getting these?

Not necessarily... the business hotels are often larger then their 'boutique' counterparts and therefore may have more vacant rooms which they attempt to fill by offering inventory (and at a deeper discount) thru the opaque suppliers.

Thanks for using the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your future bidding and searches.

Let us know how you'd like to proceed and how we can be of further help.

[Vanadu]

Tried all kinds of bids - thank you for the permutations and combinations and finally got to $98 on 3* Chicago's Essex Inn. I am pleased to see that it has a pool which I was not expecting and although the reviews are a bit mixed I am pleased with the result

Thank you very much for all the advice.

I used the PRICELINE link on the board

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see you're happy with the results and that you'll make use of the (unexpected) pool at this property... we're happy to have helped!

Thank you for sharing your win and using the PRICELINE links on the board to begin your bidding.

Enjoy your stay.