Priceline Hotel: Chicago Hotel from 6/3 to 6/6 NMA or Loop - Any Available?

[marywong]

Hi,

I am traveling to Chicago for first time and am in need of a hotel. There appears to be VERY limited availability from Friday June 3rd until Monday June 6 (when we check-out). I have made many modifications to our plans but still cannot pin down a hotel. My budget is up to $150/night. Initially I was looking for 3 stars and up, but now I'm just looking for any hotel in the Loop and NMA within this budget (whether it be 2 stars, hostel, - anything).

I have bidded up to $120 for 3 stars in MNA and $120 for 3 1/2 stars for Millenium Park/ Loop Area with no success. I was going to try and rebid tomorrow - if there are any insights, suggestions - I'd really appreciate it.

Or are there suggestions to budget hotels in this area that might have availability? Or any other areas that make the touristy destinations easily accessible that are in my budget and may have availability? Looking at the map - I was thinking Lincoln Park could be an alternative.

I'd truly appreciate any ideas as I'm feeling very desperate. Thank you.

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

The issue with Lincoln Park is not that it isn't a nice area (it really is a very nice area, and I recommend visiting) but there are VERY few hotels in that area, with a trio of independent hotels, a Best Western (which is often booked during baseball season as it's down the street from Wrigley) and a Days Inn. As a result, the discounts for these properties on HOTWIRE/PRICELINE are usually not substantial and are subject to "spillover" from downtown traffic.

The issue with these dates is - unfortunately - there's a convention during 6/3-7 w/32,000 people + Summer traffic. However, rates appear unusually bad even for a convention, with HOTWIRE showing no availability downtown side from a sky-high NMA 4* for over $400. Regular rates are $449 for the Embassy Suites and up to nearly $900 for the 4* Raffaello (which normally goes for about $150-200.) I'd normally look to suggest trying to split your stay between two different properties, but rates unfortunately appear similar throughout the trip.

Are you driving into the city?

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

[marywong]

Hi,

Thank you so much for your response! No, we are not driving in - we are flying in from the west coast. I had similar thoughts and have already split my trip with Wed/Thurs (6/1 and 6/2) booked, but cannot find anything for the remaining leg of the trip (dates during the weekend).

In terms of alternatives, I read your post re: staying at suburbs outside of downtown. Would you still recommend Evanston/Skokie area? It sounds like Evanston is more attractive to travel by foot - any way I can ensure I get something in that area rather than Skokie when looking on PRICELINE and what bid would you recommend to start with?

The commute into downtown appears to be about an hour using the metro (similar to staying at OHare). Are there any closer areas or any other areas that are safe that you could recommend? It's a bit for me to navigate since the areas on HOTWIRE and PRICELINE don't necessarily correspond.

Thanks again!

[brucelee]

Hi, I'm new to the board, but am pretty familiar with the Chicago area. Staying in Lincoln Park should be no problem if you find a hotel, it's in the city and it's easy to get downtown via El (train) or many buses.

However, if you do not have a car, I would NOT recommend staying in Skokie or Niles. The primary transit options to downtown Chicago from the suburbs are the Purple/Red lines of the El (subway/train) which covers Evanston, the Yellow line of the El which is a shuttle that links Skokie to Evanston, and the Metra (commuter rail).

The Metra stations are widely spaced and while I'm not familiar with all of the hotels in Skokie or further north, I don't think there's any guarantee (or likelihood) that the hotels will be near the Metra.

Having said that, I looked at rental cars on Hotwire for June 3 to 6 and am finding compact to standard size cars from O'hare for $15-$20 per day. CHEAP! If you're not adverse to driving, you could consider this instead of booking in the city. To save more money on the rental car taxes/fees (~$12 per day at O'hare), you can book a rental car through Advantage which (at least at O'hare) is offering a small car for $16 plus $4/day taxes.

Most suburban hotels have free parking, but you'd need to check what the situation is like wherever you're visiting. If you don't want to drive into the city, most of the suburban metra stations have parking.

Hotwire has a 3.5* in Northbrook for 52 and a 4* for 72.

Finally, if you don't want to drive and you're willing to stay by the airport, there's a 4* Ohare North w shuttle for $69 (looks like the Westin). The ride on the Blue line El from Ohare to downtown takes about 45 minutes. It looks like there is a Metra station that would be faster, but I've never taken it, so I can't say. You may want to call the Westin to clarify how often the shuttle runs and where it drops off.

I hope that was helpful. I would be interested to hear what you end up deciding and how it works out!

[AaronJB]

The issue with the Metra station on the outskirts of ORD is that that line does not run on weekends and only makes very limited runs during the week (which is really unfortunate, as it would be great to have a more reliable Metra option nearby O'Hare.) A Metra station not horribly far from O'Hare (but would require a taxi) would be Park Ridge.

The Orrington in Evanston does charge for parking, due to the dense nature of downtown Evanston, whereas hotels in the more suburban areas to the North have the space for a lot and do not charge for parking.

One could stay in Skokie, but it would be a royal pain (train to bus or vice versa) and not something I would recommend and the busses do not run that late. The Orrington is the only known 3.5* in the Evanston-Skokie-Niles zone, as the Doubletree Skokie was downgraded to 3*. The only issue is whether or not the Orrington has PRICELINE inventory for your dates - it may not.

The hotels further North of Evanston do offer free parking and some of them (such as the Renaissance in Northbrook and the Embassy Suites in Deerfield, as well as I believe the Hyatt Deerfield) do offer shuttles to nearby Metra stations. A number of properties in the North Burbs are isolated (a bunch are in office parks), so you do have to have a car, but they are not a far drive from shopping/dining.

Either way, a number of properties in the Deerfield zone are really not that far at all from a Metra station. The North Shore zone is a bit of an issue as some of those properties start to get far. A personal favorite bid is the 3.5* level in the Deerfield zone, where the only known three possibilities are the Embassy Suites, Hyatt (which is actually all junior suites) and a very nice Marriott Suites.

Additionally, the North Burbs have a few significant sights: the Ravinia Music Festival (which does get some big name acts; Ravinia.org) and the Chicago Botanic Garden (chicagobotanic.org), which is beautiful and in the burbs.

Lincoln Park is fine, but my guess - given that there's barely availability downtown - is that Lincoln Park is going to be problematic, given that that's one of the first options for "spillover" when downtown gets like this - and there's only about 5 hotels (none of them very large) in Lincoln Park, so there's not that much inventory to begin with.

Unfortunately, downtown does not seem to have gotten any better - HOTWIRE only has a couple of listings downtown, and prices remain sky-high.

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