Priceline Hotel: 4* Chicago (NMA-River North) Westin Michigan Ave

[JasonG]

Tried from $55 to $85 using NMA/Loop and Skokie and Midway. Any suggestions?

[GM Mike]

There are a few small conventions in town that part of the week, but I suspect one major thing is that the Millennium Knickerbocker, one of the most frequent hits for 4* NMA, has an in-house convention 4/26-4/30 with 220 guests expected, about 2/3 of their rooms. So that may take them out of the hunt entirely. Also, the Palmer House (frequent 4* hit Loop) has a group 4/26-4/29 with 800 expected, which is about half of their rooms.

You're probably just hitting bad luck because of how these groups lined up.

What is your maximum bid? Do you have a refundable backup booked?

I think you would have success if you lowered your quality level to 3*. The Club Quarters in the Loop has a rack rate of $139, pretty low. A few of the other places we see sometimes are reasonably priced. There is a pretty noticable quality gap between 3* and 4* (Club Quarters has some really small rooms, for example). Just be careful if you do this, as you only have one free rebid at 3*, not two.

You could also wait it out, to see how the groups at the Knick and the PH fill or don't fill those hotels. You might see inventory released.

There are a lot of hotels listed on hotwire for those days. You could use the hotwire lists here to try to figure out what they are, and either use that to frame your priceline bidding, or take a hotwire offer.

What do you think about all of that?

[JasonG]

I have a place to stay with a friend, but I was looking for a nice couple of nights before crashing at his place.I'd really like to spend under $90 a night and stay at a nice hotel. I don't if a 3* would be worth spending any money...

[GM Mike]

I really think you're in striking distance. I'd say keep bidding with the same strategy you're using for 4* with two free rebids and your two target zones, maximum bid $90 like you said. Time is on your side, for now.

Hotel 71 and Tremont are on EasyClickTravel Off the Record at $108. What might be the Chicago Hilton is on Hotwire for $105 and what might be the Tremont is on Hotwire for $76.

(Note that I wouldn't lower your NMA bid to 3* or Boutique, since you have a high probability of getting the Tremont. It gets terrible reviews, tho I did stay there about 3 years ago and I thought it was pretty darned great. But apparently it's gone downhill.)

Keep updating us as you bid.

[JasonG]

Just tried again today and got Westin Michigan Ave for $90 on the first bid. I should've started lower, but I assumed it would get rejected because it did last week. Still saved money. Thanks for the help.

[AaronJB]

I still think that's a very good deal. The Westin Michigan Ave isn't as sleek as the Westin River North, but I felt the rooms were a bit warmer and cozier. Fantastic location, too - you may want to consider the Water Tower food court a block away for a quick bite. Join the Starwood Preferred Card (spg.com; free to sign up) before you go if you haven't already. No guarantee of room placement, but I hope you'll get a Michigan Ave. view - some rooms do provide a nice view looking down Michigan Ave. Quite beautiful, especially at night.