Priceline Hotel: 3.5* Chicago (Greater Chicago) Marriott Medical District

[Mongol]

I am looking for a hotel for 3 people, between July 15 to July20 in Chicago. We are going for a conference, really big conference. and also it seems a little late bidding hotels here. so I am afraid that I can't get a great deal. Anyway,I tried several bids.

4-star hotel in Greater Chicago, MP,Loop& Grant park area with $83 at the highest. No luck at all. HOTWIRE has no matching hotels at lower price too..

and now I have to wait for 24 hours to increase my bid.

The reason is I don't know the re-bid zones in Chicago, which doesn't have 4-star hotel. Because I don't want to risk to add an area that far from the conference.

I need some help to figure out which ones are re-bid zones. Thanks a lot first...we can accept the price up to $150.

one more question, when i used my friend's computer, there is a online assistant. But on my laptop, I couldn't find it. Is it blocked? How can I find it?

[thereuare]

See this thread: Priceline Re-Bidding Explained to see how to figure out your re-bid zones. At the 4* level in Chicago you have FIVE re-bid zones... please see the previous link and try to determine your re-bid zones and then feel free to confirm theme with the board, or if you're still confused, let us know and we'll break it down further for you.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases. (and ask your friend to do the same if bidding from his/her computer)

[AaronJB]

If you are looking for one room for 3 people and are using PRICELINE, there is a definite chance (especially in Chicago, especially on a busy set of dates) that you may not get two beds, as PRICELINE only guarantees 1 bed/double occupancy.

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

[Mongol]

Thanks, I used up all the 5 re-bid zones and my price went up to 110, still there is no luck for me today. So I have to wait for another 24 hours..at this point I can't lower my star level. otherwise I might got caught in those dummy area. any suggestion?

[Mongol]

If you are looking for one room for 3 people and are using PRICELINE, there is a definite chance (especially in Chicago, especially on a busy set of dates) that you may not get two beds, as PRICELINE only guarantees 1 bed/double occupancy.

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

I know, but the bed type includes 2 doubles..and can be requested thrrough the hotel, right?

[yellowdog]

Mongol

I know, but the bed type includes 2 doubles..and can be requested thrrough the hotel, right?

Yes, you can request this through the hotel. But like said before, there's no guarntee that you will get it.

Thanks, I used up all the 5 re-bid zones and my price went up to 110, still there is no luck for me today. So I have to wait for another 24 hours..at this point I can't lower my star level. otherwise I might got caught in those dummy area. any suggestion?

Yes, you need to wait 24 h since you only got 5 zones when bidding 4*.

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

Yellowdog.

[AaronJB]

Prices are definitely on the high side; for a 4* in NMA I think the bid may take $125-150, especially if hotels are not aggressively discounting for these dates due to higher traffic.

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

[thereuare]

I know, but the bed type includes 2 doubles..and can be requested thrrough the hotel, right?

Not necessarily, as there are some hotels where a 2 bedded room is not 'standard' and is considered an upgrade... but as noted the above, the bigger issue is not hotel not willing, or able, to honor your request for a room with 2 beds.

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

[Mongol]

OK, so what's your suggestion in this situation? Can I bid on 3.5 star or 3 star now without waiting for 24hr from the last bid? Since I don't see any luck with 4-star, I might have to give up. Plus, we don't mind staying in a lower star hotel as long as close to my conference.

[AaronJB]

Where is the conference located - McCormick?

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

[Mongol]

Yes, that's the place.

[AaronJB]

You would have to look at the conference website to be sure, but most major conferences do provide transportation from a set of various city hotels to McCormick. The hotels do vary from conference-to-conference, but are scattered across downtown. If this is the case with this particular conference, you could then stay in either the River North-NMA zone or the MP-Loop-Grant Park zone downtown and then walk from your hotel to a hotel where transit is provided.

Additionally, you could take the Metra from Millennium Park to McCormick (not a long trip) or take a taxi (fares would vary but again, not a terribly long trip from much of downtown.)

As I noted in another thread today, the 3* and 3.5* properties in the River North/NMA zone are - with a couple of exceptions - good-to-great (and a few excellent.) There are much less in the way of 3*/3.5* in the Millennium Park-Loop-Grant Park zone, although those properties are fine. I'd recommend trying for 3/3.5* in the River North-NMA zone first though, as there are some particularly nice 3/3.5* possibilities in that zone.

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

[Mongol]

Thank you very much. I will try that.

[AaronJB]

Happy to help! Please let us know if you have any questions and if you are successful.

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

[Mongol]

Finally,we got this hotel after tons of bidding for my conference trip, July 15-July 20.

With all your help, we started North Michigan Ave for 4 star hotels with $95. got rejected.

we added Greater chicago area, bidded $100, got rejected.

added Millinium Park-Grant park area, bidded $110, got rejected.

added a re-bid zone Franklin park, and bidded $130, finally accepted.

This hotel looks like a little bit far from McCormick Place, but we are still happy, it seems a good hotel.

We can rent a car if the traffic is not that bad in Chicago. Public transit or car rental? If anyone has a better idea, it will be appreciated a lot.

Thanks a lot with the help from this board.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see you're happy with the results and should be able to make this work for your needs.

I'm guessing a rental won't be worth the added expense plus parking charges (at both the hotel and convention center) but AaronJB will likely know better and i'd await his reply in this regard.

Thanks for sharing your results with the board.

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

Enjoy your stay.

[AaronJB]

I wouldn't rent a car, given the $28 parking charge per night + rental fee. The best option in this case would be to cab it to McCormick (as there's not a real straightforward way to get from that hotel to McCormick via public transit), and given where this particular Marriott is, I would think that most streets the average cab would take from there to McCormick would be not particularly high-traffic areas.

[Mongol]

Thank you for your suggestion. This Marriot seems like in a safe area ? although it is a little bit isolated from Downtown and lake shores. We are out of the States, and we heard there was a lot of crime in Chicago. Safety would be our first consideration. And the rate for 5 nights is $2121 on Booking.com ( don't understand why), anyway, we saved a lot of fortune. Cab maybe the first choice for us. And I checked my conference website, they have some shuttles from certain hotels, mostly in downtown.So if we find a hotel close to ours, we can walk to there and take the shuttles.

Thanks again, you helped us a lot.

[Mongol]

Thank you. we were excited when we saw the hotel name (big name), but when we saw it's only 4-stories hotel. It was like big disappointment.. WHAT, ONLY 4-STORIES? just kidding.. We are happy in fact..I hope it will be a nice and safe place to stay. Thanks again for all the help.

[AaronJB]

This is an area to the West/SW of the city; there is not a great deal around it aside from the UIC Campus and Med Center (as a result, this hotel is primarily used by those visiting the campus or med center.) There are a number of restaurants along Taylor Street, which is just a few blocks South of the hotel.

In this area, I'd recommend staying on main streets, especially at night. It's an okay area, but there are some areas nearby that are iffy. Downtown Chicago and the area North of the River are very safe; some of the outlying areas have fine/nice spots, but the area a few blocks away may not be very good. As with any big city, I'd just recommend being alert and having a sense of your surroundings/what's going on around you.

Which hotels are offering a shuttle? I would definitely not recommend walking downtown from this location; it would be a pretty far walk and exhausting if it was a hot day.

You could take "L" downtown, but it's a matter of waiting for the "L", paying for the "L", going downtown and then going to a hotel and waiting for the shuttle. A cab would be a little bit more expensive, but be more straightforward/less time, as you could just head right over from the Marriott.