Priceline Hotel: 4* Chicago (NMA-River North) Millennium Knickerbocker

[majorca]

I would like a 4* hotel in Chicago for 5 nights from 5-6-07 to 5-11-07 and I'm hoping to spend less than $100 per night.

Here's what I've bid so far.

4* Millennium Park, Loop & Grant Park Area - $70 - rejected

add North Michigan Avenue - $75 - rejected

add rebid zone Midway - $77 - rejected

changed check out date to 5-10-07 and bid $80 - rejected

changed check in date to 5-7-07 and bid $85 - rejected

add Greater Chicago and bid $90 - rejected

I really only want to stay in the Millennium Park, Loop & Grant Park Area or North Michigan Avenue.

I assume that I have to wait 72 hours before bidding again, is that correct.

Any advice on this would be great.

Thanks,

Majorca

[thereuare]

The lock-out period is now only 24 hours (not 72 hours).

What is your maximum bid for this stay?

[majorca]

I'd like to stay under $120

[AaronJB]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but $120 for a 4* (and maybe 3*) for these dates is very unlikely, due to two conventions taking up major hotel space for the first two days.

May 6-8

Food Marketing Institute - The FMI Show

McCormick Place North

Delegates: 35,000

www.fmi.org

May 6-8

9th Spring Fancy Food Show

[thereuare]

Another option is Quikbook which has the Affinia Chicago for $153/nite... which for a few dollars more might be a higher quality than the HOTWIRE 3* above (NOTE: the Quikbook rate is non-refundable (most of their rates are cancellable, but this one is not)).

The reviews are predominately good as well.

AaronJB knows the area well so he may be able to best talk about the location of this hotel and answer any questions you have about it... if the above is of interest to you

[majorca]

:)

Thank you to both of you. I appreciate your feedback, and so fast too. After looking at the different web sites and hotels, I decided to try priceline again. I thought about splitting my bid, but I really don't want to have to change hotels during the week.

After getting such good prices in London, San Francisco, Boston, Washington DC, and New York, and seeing that people were booking 4* hotels at around $80, I thought I was going to get something in Chicago for less. It never occurred to me to check for conventions around that time. So thank you for that information

I checked on Hotwire and they had a 4* hotel for $199, a 3 1/2* for $183, and a 3* for $161 so I thought I'd try a 4* for $175 on priceline and I got it.

It's the Millennium Knicker Bocker. I got 5 nights at $175 = $875 + $151.12 taxes = $1026.12.

I checked the Hotel Website and I the price for those 5 nights is $1240.55 - which makes a savings of $224.43.

I'm just glad to have all my hotels booked through June now and I can move on to other things.

Thank you to so much,

Majorca

[AaronJB]

The Knickerbocker has quite a bit of history; it used to be a hideout for Al Capone and, during the 70's, was the Playboy Club.

The location is half a block from North Michigan Ave. shopping.

[majorca]

I've been to this hotel before, a friend of mine stayed there. And when Oprah was new to Chicago, she lived there for quite awhile.

I used to always stay at the Sutton Place Hotel, which is a really great hotel, but now that I've learned how to bid on Priceline, I just can't bear even thinking of paying those kinds of prices again. The Sutton Place hotel is currently listed at $315 per night during that time period.