Priceline Hotel: 4* Chicago Sofitel Chicago Water Tower

[PBA]

Due to bad planning I've booked flights for a Chicago trip during one of the biggest conventions of the year.  We're going to be there from 5/15 to 5/19.  I managed to get a great deal downtown on the first night, but the prices shoot up after that so we're looking to the suburbs.  

 

I don't want to have to hire a car while we're there so we'd need a hotel within walking distance of a CTA station.  I read your article and Evanston looks like a good choice, though I was wondering if there's anywhere else you might suggest?  The Evanston zone on Hotwire and Priceline also includes Niles and Skokie which don't look so convenient for getting downtown, so it looks like the opaque sites aren't going to be the way to go on this.  I've found the Best Western University Plaza for $149 on ebookers, or the Hilton Garden Inn Chicago North for $230.

 

Any ideas for other places to stay or places to look would be appreciated!

[AaronJB]

What would be your desired budget per night for this stay? 

Unfortunately, the way that Chicago is, there's hotels downtown and then there's really very few hotels until you get out into the 'burbs. On busy periods, the closest areas (Evanston, for example) go up because of overflow from downtown. The suburbs become a little difficult because you could easily end up with a hotel not within walking distance of a Metra (which are different from the CTA trains) station. Some hotels do offer local shuttle, but a number of them don't.

 

Edited to add: the North 'burbs actually look quite reasonable for these date/s and some of the regular rate options (including a couple reasonably close to a train) even don't look too bad, as the area goes.

 

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

[PBA]

Sorry I didn't reply at the time.  Luckily I'd booked my domestic flights on Southwest so I was able to change them, and we changed the Chicago stay to the 05/24-05/28.  I found a deal on the Sofitel, GB£65 a night which is around $93.

[thereuare]

Thank you for closing this thread with your decision.

 

Please remember to follow-up your threads with your wins/decisions as you make them (even if you don't ultimately use PRICELINE / HOTWIRE, cancel the trip, book direct, etc) as this help keep the board better organized and more useful for everyone... as well as being a courtesy to anyone who took the time to help with your travel plans.

 

Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.