Hotwire Hotel: Chicago area August 1-8 or 8-15

[lionsmadpete]

I should begin by saying that we have used Hotwire hot deals several times before, with varying results, ranging from wonderfully surprised, to feeling nauseated at the thought of paying money to have to endure the hotel we naively though was a good deal prior to finding out where we would be staying, we saw the Priceline website advertised and decided to take a quick look, but not knowing what we were doing, stumbled across this website and decided to ask for help with booking from either.

 

We are looking to visit Chicago for a week during either of the said dates above, preferably a hotel with a pool, hopefully with a complimentary breakfast (we are on a budget after all and every little helps) and ideally situated within around a 30 minute drive into Chicago, as we intend checking out the numerous attractions over 2 or 3 of the days that we will be there.

 

Not knowing too much about any of the suburbs, we are also hoping for help some input into area's/neighborhoods, we don't know which area's are the places that would include things for us to do during the days that we won't be travelling Downtown, and restaurants/bars for the evenings, or even whether the area is safe.

 

Any help/suggestions is greatly appreciated.

 

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

I often recommend the North Suburbs from the standpoint that it's not a far drive to a Metra station from most hotels (rather than having to drive into the city and deal with parking costs and traffic), plus the fact that the North Burbs do have a few sights (the Chicago Botanic Garden, Ravinia Music Festival), plus shopping and restaurants. Additionally, it's not that far (a day trip) to Lake Geneva Wisconsin (resort town in Wisconsin, not far) or an even shorter trip to the great outlet malls (Gurnee and Pleasant Prairie), which are a little South and a little North of the IL/WI border. 

 

I mean, I could spend half a day at the Botanic - it's a huge place, with both indoor and outdoor gardens. As Hot.wire notes for the Northbrook area, it is also the home of Ferris Bueller. There are a number of locations from John Hughes films in the area. The area is safe there's a lot going on.

 

Is your desired budget $500 + taxes/fees or $500 "all-in"? With rates the way they are, unfortunately $500 or under "all in" is going to be a little difficult, but there are some options around $530-550 "all'in", although I think some of the potential options start to get a bit too far North.

 

You could likely get the total down via bidding, but then it becomes not being able to guarantee breakfast/pool. There is certainly no shortage of breakfast options in the North Burbs if you were able to get the price down via bidding and wound up with a hotel that doesn't offer breakfast. If this is of interest, we can certainly offer options on how to proceed. There are certainly some classic places in the North Burbs to eat breakfast, including Walker Brothers which is an institution in the North Suburbs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walker_Bros.)

 

A main Hot.wire option that I'm seeing is a 3* in the Northbrook area w/Fitness, Complimentary Breakfast, Free Internet, Hi-Speed Internet, Business, Kitchenette, Laundry, Free Parking, Blind Accessible, Deaf Accessible, Travel Accessible, Room Accessible, Bathroom Accessible, Handicapped Parking, Roll-in Shower, Pet Friendly for $64 (the price you see may vary slightly.) This listing has not yet been ID'd/reported to the board, but I'd guess that it may be the Hawthorn Suites Northbrook-Wheeling, with a different star rating/slightly different amenity set than when it was last reported to the board.

 

If you stay in the North burbs, you would take the Metra trains in - these trains are very nice, with two levels, conductors and bathrooms. They do not run as often as CTA trains, but they are a lot more comfortable and it's easy to plan the day on the train going in. They end downtown at either Ogilvie Transit Center or Union Station, both of which are effectively next to each other.

 

Definitely let us know if you have questions on the above, your thoughts on bidding/budget and any city/area questions (restaurants, sights, etc etc.)

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lionsmadpete]

Thanks for the fast response, we were looking at the price being all in, but we could get to $600 if we could find the right deal, and were mostly confident of the hotel that we would end up staying in, the lack of a breakfast and distance from Chicago are definitely not things that would discourage me from staying anywhere, although I would probably draw the line at around an hour driving, however the wife is insistent that she would like a pool because she likes to swim, she actually said that she would like an outdoor pool, but after sitting her down and explaining the fact that we had a budget and she was being overly optimistic, she accepted that as long as there was water, she could swim and be happy.

 

Northbrook is an area that we were looking at, although we did concede that it may be out of our price range, the hotel that we were really wanting to try to find in budget in Northbrook was Crowne Plaza, but I couldn't find a price better than google showed at $136, we seem to be finding places we love but we can't afford, and places that are in budget that look like they need fumigating, in all honesty, if it is clean, and fairly modern, i.e flat screen t.v, fresh bedding and a bathroom that doesn't look like you need to wash after going in there, I would consider it.

 

We also looked at Burr ridge and Lombard, as these areas seemed to be more financially viable on Hotwire, is this the case, but again I don't know anything about the area. We stayed in Schaumburg at Quality Inn last year for a night as we were picking up family from O'Hare and the hotel was very average, but it was wonderful, it did everything we needed and it was brilliant value for money, but we were in the middle of nowhere and ended up having a pizza delivered to the room because the staff said that there was nowhere to eat or drink that was close, so we are trying to avoid the same situation if possible.

 

Once more, your help is very much appreciated. 

 

 

Thanks again.

 

 

 

 

[thereuare]

Please start by reading your messages (which will also remove the red box at the top of the page and make the board easier to navigate)

... i'm sure AaronJB will reply further once he sees your reply above.

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

[AaronJB]

Taking a look at various options for these dates. Will post a reply here shortly.

 

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

[lionsmadpete]

Thanks, you're a lifesaver.

[AaronJB]

What you mention in regards to being sort of "in the middle of nowhere" is why I often recommend the North Burbs, as the towns are generally a little less spread out and while some of the hotels in these zones are a little isolated (often in office parks), there are usually options down the road.

 

The issue with an outdoor pool is that you're not going to find that that much in Chicago, given the fact that for a large part of the year, no one could use it.  I know of one or two downtown and there are a few in the burbs, but indoor pools are far more common given the reality of Chicago's not-exactly-delightful Winters (which only seem to be getting worse in recent years.)

 

In terms of Burr Ridge, to use an example, you could go to the nearby Hinsdale Metra station (or another one nearby) and then from Hinsdale, it's about 55 minutes or so (non-express, express would be shorter) to Union Station downtown. Schaumburg is just way too far out. Oakbrook is fine, but I think Lisle-Naperville gets too far out.

 

I'm not seeing much in terms of Burr Ridge/Oakbrook in terms of pool + breakfast. There is one option for $68 in Burr Ridge, but it gets very poor reviews (30% approval) and my fear is that it may be the Willowbrook Inn. Pricing in the SW burbs seems fairly similar to the pricing in the N burbs.

 

I do see what appears to be the Holiday Inn Express Vernon Hills for $65. That property gets great reviews, is in a really nice area (MallTownUSA, practically; everything is right nearby and there are a number of very nice towns within easy driving distance, including Libertyville. Walmart, Target, Costco and more, all right there or nearby, too) At this point, would be an easier drive up to the outlet malls and less time to get to Lake Geneva. The only problem is that I think this does start to get too far North to reasonably go back and forth from downtown. Still, nice, newish hotel and area couldn't be better.

 

The potential Hawthorn Suites Wheeling-Northbrook doesn't have a pool, but it would be an easy drive to the North Glenview Train Station. What appears to be the Holiday Inn Riverwoods/Deerfield is showing for these dates on PRICELINE EXPRESS, but unfortunately for $87. You could potentially split your stay but it would be a little difficult to keep within budget. 

 

You could also try bidding for all or part of the stay. When I search for Deerfield for 8/8-8/15, I see pool as a guaranteed amenity at the 3* and 3.5* level. I see pool as a guaranteed amenity at the 3.5* level in the North Shore zone.

 

Overall, I think Northbrook, Glenview, Deerfield, Oakbrook, Burr Ridge would be fine. As much as I like Vernon Hills - great area - I think it gets too far North, unless you wanted to stay there for part of the time to explore the general area and then try to stay closer for the remaining dates. Schaumburg I think is too far. O'Hare you may run into a hotel that charges parking and personally, I'd rather stay somewhere where you can take the Metra in instead of the CTA. Lisle/Naperville is too far. Evanston-Skokie would be nice, but unfortunately are usually the most expensive suburbs due to their proximity to the city.

 

I'm not really seeing much in the way of hotels offering both breakfast and pool at a reasonable price unless you get further out. You could try PRICELINE bidding for a hotel with a pool and if you can get the rate down enough, breakfast options in the North burbs are plentiful.

 

If you are seeing a HOTWIRE listing of interest within your desired budget range, please let us know. Or, if you'd like to try and bid, let us know.

 

Additionally, if you are not familiar with the Metra trains, I'd really recommend considering trying to take the train in instead of driving in. If you drive downtown, it ultimately is just a huge hassle plus parking costs.

 

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

[lionsmadpete]

Thanks for all the effort, and the information, I'm more than happy to take your opinions about which areas we should be looking at as fact, and will narrow down my search accordingly, I would like to get the hotel booked within the next few days if possible, but as I am in no immediate hurry, I am thinking about trying out the bidding on PRICELINE, but I don't fully understand what to do or how to to it exactly as I have never used the website before, is it possible to bid on a specific hotel?, or at least specify the amenities?, or is it just a star rating and hoping for the best? also if I was to go down the route of splitting the stay up as you suggested, would there be a specific day that would benefit me financially to leave one hotel to move to the other, or doesn't it matter? 

 

Again, all of this time and energy is greatly appreciated.

[AaronJB]

PRICELINE Name Your Own Price ('bidding"): You bid on a star rating and zone and have to be willing to accept any star rating in that zone. Opinions in terms of hotels are understandably going to vary from person-to-person, but I think there are some bids in the North Suburbs where I'd be happy to get any of the possibilities (for a reasonable price, of course.) The 3* level and the 3.5* level in the Deerfield zone. During the bidding process, you are sometimes given a list of "guaranteed" amenities and sometimes guaranteed guest rating at that star rating. There is the chance you may be upgraded to the next higher star rating.

 

Given the more opaque nature of bidding, it is usually the cheapest option.

 

PRICELINE EXPRESS offers a set of listings with price, star rating, zone and amenities. Given the information given, it is sometimes possible to make an educated guess as to which hotels are showing. PRICELINE EXPRESS is usually slightly-to-moderately more expensive than bidding.

 

HOTWIRE is similar to PRICELINE EXPRESS, in that you are given information and can make a guess based on information given. As with PRICELINE EXPRESS, you are told the name of the hotel after purchase and at that point, it's not refundable/can't be changed.

 

I haven't explored splitting options much for these dates - unfortunately, prices look pretty similar across the board. It also becomes a matter of - especially in the North Burbs - I wouldn't pay much more for a hotel with breakfast when you can get a reasonable breakfast nearby. I'll give an example:

I see what appears to be the Holiday Inn Express Riverwoods for $84 for 8/1-8, which unfortunately is nearly $700 total.

 

 I'd really recommend trying to bid for a 3.5* in the Deerfield area (all of which have pools) and at least try to see if you could get something in the  3/3.5* level by bidding in the Deerfield zone for $55-65. If a bid isn't accepted, then it isn't accepted, but I think it's worth a try. I see what appears to be the Wyndham Glenview Suites on HOTWIRE for $72 for these date/s, as well - and you could try bidding for that. That Wyndham doesn't get great reviews, but it's in a good location.

 

Overall, my view is that HOTWIRE and PRICELINE EXPRESS are where you would look for a hotel with breakfast - unfortunately, what limited options there are with breakfast are either more expensive (potential Holiday Inn Express Riverwoods) or further out (potential Holiday Inn Express Vernon Hills.)

 

If you could get something with a pool and no breakfast and it's $20-25 less than a PRICELINE EXPRESS/HOTWIRE listing with breakfast, you could try local places for breakfast instead.

 

Let us know your thoughts on the above and how you would like to proceed.

 

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