Priceline Hotel: 4* Chicago (NMA-River North) Hyatt Regency

[faughaballagh]

Hello, you Chicagoans. I've pricelined NYC before to great results (with the excellent help of thereuare), but I'm not to familiar with the Chicago area. I know these details:

Stay: 1 night, 10/27/07

Area: Magnificent Mile, etc.

Stars: 4* or 3*

Hotwire seems to have Holiday Inn Mart Plaza for $127, and that's pretty good. I'd say the max I'm willing to pay is $150 in general, but if I can hotwire at $127, I want to max out there. If Holiday Inn is what people think I'm getting at Hotwire, and 127 is pretty good for people's experiences there, I'll just do that.

Any advice about the area is appreciated. Just looking for a brief tourist sojourn, dinner, maybe a show, drinks and music, stroll about town.

Thanks for some advice.

[thereuare]

What zone and amenities are are associated with the HOTWIRE hotel you're being offered?

If you want to bid on priceline, exactly which zone(s) are you willing to accept? "Magnificent Mile, etc" doesn't tell us which areas you're willing to accept :)

[AaronJB]

You could attempt to bid on Priceline for a 3* in the River North/North Michigan Ave. area for $110 to see if you couldn't undercut Hotwire's offer for what does appear to be the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza. No guarantee you wouldn't get something else with Priceline, though.

The HI Mart Plaza is your average big city, convention-oriented HI. It is a bit out of the way downtown, but not bad. It's an easy 10-15 minute walk along the river to the Michigan Ave. shopping area. There is a subway station right next to the hotel, as well.

I'd recommend trying to see if you couldn't get it (or something else) for less, though.

[faughaballagh]

Oy. Sometimes you think something is 100% clear, only to reread it and see that it couldn't be more nebulous. Sooo, I meant by "etc." the rest of Hotwire's Mag Mile area, which is "Magnificent Mile - Streeterville." I think the North Michigan - Water Tower - Gold Coast area would be great, too.

On priceline, I think this means I'm looking at the North Michigan - River North area. There are no rebid-friendly zones in the area, it appears, so I'll start at around 100 as Aaron recommended, and move up from there.

I'll let you guys know the results. Thanks for the review on the HI Mart... it's less appealing than I'd originally thought, so we'll see what offers I get.

[faughaballagh]

Haha. I never know whether to feel good about this happening: first bid, 120, NMA, 4*, Hyatt Regency. Done and done. Always makes me feel like mayyyybe I could have gone lower, but hey, I'm very pleased.

Thanks for the good words, y'all.

[AaronJB]

I'd recommend calling Hyatt customer service and making basic requests (non-smoking, king, early checkin, etc.) While I can't guarantee all requests will be honored, Hyatt's one chain that's actually pretty nice about taking basic requests from HW/PL customers.

As for the Hyatt itself, it's not a favorite hotel, but it's not bad, either. It's simply a giant (biggest hotel in Chicago) convention hotel, with service that at times doesn't seem like it can keep up with the amount of customers on busier days. There are auto checkin machines here, too - so no waiting in line.

However, in terms of one night just to explore the city, you couldn't be in a better location - the Hyatt is half a block from the Michigan Ave. bridge. When you walk to Michigan Ave (1/2 block away), you can walk North over the bridge and be in the Michigan Ave. shopping area or walk South on Michigan Ave. a few blocks and see Millennium Park and the Art Institute after that.

Recommendations: skip Navy Pier. If you are not interested in high-end clothes shopping, Michigan Ave. isn't going to offer much, as that's really the majority of what is there. If you are interested in pizza, but not interested in walking too far, you can go to Giordano's on 135 E. Lake and carry out and take it back to the room. 135 E. Lake is essentially the short walk to Michigan Ave., then head a couple of short blocks South to Lake and it should be right by the intersection.

[faughaballagh]

Thanks for the great tips, Aaron. Keep doing your great work!

[thereuare]

Thanks for your donation to the board :)

[AaronJB]

Thank you for the compliment. :)

Hope you enjoy your stay in the city! :)