Priceline Hotel: 3* Chicago (Millenium-Loop-Grant Park) Club Quarters Wacker at Michiga

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My wife and I will be spending 3 or 4 nights in Chicago during the beginning of November. Although we have visited many times before for shopping & museum visits, they have been day visits and we overnighted in the suburbs (1+ hr drive).

This time we still plan on visiting some museums and going shopping, but would we'd like to stay in an area with an active nightlife - not necessarily theaters and big venues, just cool bars & restaurants. Cost is a factor and I see the airport areas are much cheaper, but involve a rather long commute to attractions.

Are there cheaper areas with an active nightlife or should I plan to spend more and stay somewhere like the N. river area?

All suggestions are appreciated!! :)

[AaronJB]

1. The Loop area (especially West Loop) of downtown has very little nightlife. In fact, some areas of the Loop are so quiet as to be almost rather eerie at night.

2. Really the only area with nightlife and hotels is the River North/North Michigan Ave. area, as well as the Gold Coast area (which has a few hotels and is just a few minutes North of the North end of the NMA area.)

3. If you stay out by the airport, it's 55 minutes just to get downtown, then another few minutes to get to the River North/NMA area.

4. The only suburban area that does have some cool bars and restaurants that comes to mind would be Evanston (a college town - Northwestern), but keep in mind that Evanston's pair of main hotels - the Orrington and Hilton Garden Inn - aren't cheap for the burbs.

5. If you want to go on a nice walk with your wife, you could stay in the North burbs (Deerfield, Northbrook or Glenview) and take a romantic walk in the Chicago Botanic Gardens (which are located in the burb of Glencoe; chicagobotanic.org.) No nightlife nearby, but some nice shopping.

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3. If you stay out by the airport, it's 55 minutes just to get downtown, then another few minutes to get to the River North/NMA area.

I'm assuming you refer to O'hare here - what about Midway? From what I've gathered in other posts the Midway area is closer to a half hour. Is this correct?

Are there any recommendations on hotels that would be near bars/restaurants in the Midway/SW burbs? What are anyone's thoughts on transportation to & from this area and destinations of N. Mich Ave, Lincoln Park Zoo, and Field Museum? (I won't have a car)

I think I'm leaning towards spending trying to land a room for ~$50 more a night in an area close to my destinations rather than trying to save outside of downtown and commute every day...

[AaronJB]

My feeling is this, really: I've helped many, many people with hotel planning in Chicago and there have been a lot of people who've chosen to stay in the burbs because you can potentially get a very nice hotel (a Doubletree, a Radisson or that sort of thing) in the burbs for a very low price. Afterwards, there are people who come back and go, "That was great", but - there are also a lot of people who go, "Well, that was a nice hotel, but I wish I'd just spent the money and stayed downtown." It's different for different people.

The thing is though, if you are looking for nightlife, you won't find it in suburbia. There are some bars, but they would likely be impossible to reach w/o a car as many of the W/SW burbs are really pretty spread out. There's really not "concentrated" nightlife areas. Not having a car and staying in the suburbs offers only some limited options, as you'd need to be near a train and many hotels are not.

Most of the North burbs are nice, upscale suburbs - but not only will you not find bars (aside from maybe a couple), but the towns largely close up as the evening goes on. Same with a few of the SW burbs. Evanston - a college town just North of the Chicago border - is probably the only North burb that would be of interest, as it has a very nice selection of restaurants and some bars, not to mention some nifty shops. Northwestern is the college in Evanston.

Evanston would work if you can find the Orrington Hotel (one of the two main hotels in downtown evanston) on Hotwire or be able to bid for it on Priceline. There are two train stations (one Metra, one CTA) right nearby, so that would offer easy transit downtown.

I do recommend staying in Evanston if you do have to stay in the burbs, as it's a really nice town and it's easy to use public transit to get from there to downtown.

Midway is 30 minutes or so South of the city. It's not a terrible place to stay, but be aware that some areas around it aren't great. There is little going on around the airport - it's really a situation where you'd go back to your hotel and once you're back at your hotel, that's it.

Additionally, keep in mind that Chicago temps will start to drop in November. Where

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3* Mag Mile 11/3-11/6 $107

Fitness Center, Restaurant, Laundry, Pool, Business Center, High-speed internet access

Looks like the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza to me - any other thoughts?

[AaronJB]

Looks like the HI MP to me, too.

[thereuare]

Please keep all posts for the same stay in the same thread.

If do go with the above please use this HOTWIRE link to begin any purchases you make.

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I'm still trying to decide on a cancellable back-up before bidding on priceline, but have a couple quick questions about Chicago bidding.

1) For 4* hotels it looks like both Skokie and Midway used to be free re-bids - now only Midway is?

2) No free re-bid zones for 3*?

btw- txs AaronJB for all the help so far!

[thereuare]

There is currently only one re-bid zone at the 4* level and none at the 3* level.

[AaronJB]

No prob - happy to help and hope you're successful in getting a nice downtown property.

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I need a bidding strategy soon, but have another question first.

I'd like to stay 4 nights from 11/3-11/7 if I win a cheap enough bid, but may decide to only stay 3 nights from 11/3-11/6 if I think it will be be too much. Will I be able to switch from my first set of dates to the second during the same priceline session, using the same areas and bids?

[pterrell]

Yes, a change of dates is actually one of the ways to get a rebid. And if the bid is accepted, you may be offered to extend the dates as well.

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Bidding strategy needed please for NMA or loop...

I'd like to spend under $90 on a 3*, or up to $120 on a 4* for 3 or 4 nights between 11/3 - 11/8. From searches through multiple sites it seems that the 3rd-6th are the cheapest and most available, with hotwire offering the Holiday Inn at Mart for $116. Hotels.com has many options for ~$150-165 for mostly 3* places. I'd like to start kind of low-balling it, since both my wife and I can alternate bidding sessions and change dates.

Although quite optimistic, ideally I'd like a great hotel for ~400 for 4 nights and am willing to keep trying this week.

[AaronJB]

Let me look right now and see what I can figure out - be right back.

[AaronJB]

Ok, I say:

If you want to stay in the River North/NMA area:

Bid $70 per night for a 4* for 11/3-6. If accepted, then you could have the option of seeing if you could "extend your stay" using PL's extend your stay feature for 1 more day if you wanted to. The "extend your stay" option may or may not work. $70 would be a "lowball" offer, but it is not so low as to be out of the realm of possibility.

If you want to stay in MP/Loop/Grant Park area in a 4*, I'd say start at $80 for 11/3-6.

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Would it not be better to try bidding on the 3rd-7th to start? ...and if unsuccessful, then try 3rd-6th with an add-on?

[AaronJB]

I don't think so, personally, as the 6th-checkout 7th seems to get busier. The 3rd- checkout the 6th are cheaper and more likely to get a bid accepted for all 3 days. Whereas if you bid all 4 days (3rd-7th together) and the first 3 days were at the price you were bidding and the 4th day was higher, your bid wouldn't be accepted.

If you get a bid accepted for the 3rd-6th at a hotel you like, you can then see - via the 'extend your stay" feature - if the hotel will happen to honor another day at that same price, at a higher price or not at all.

If the hotel will only accept the night of the 6th at a higher price than what you got the 3rd-6th for, then you can know what the hotel is asking for an decide whether or not you want to accept or search for another property nearby.

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Well, I was probably a little aggressive and should have come back tomorrow, but I've got a room. (and used SavingsBarn PRICELINE link)

3* Club Quarters

$85 ... 11/03/07-11/06/07

here was my session:

4* NMA $70

4* NMA+MID $75

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Boutique NMA $80

Boutique NMA+MID $85

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3* NMA $75

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4* Loop $80

4* Loop+MID $85

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4* NMA+Loop $90

4* NMA+Loop+MID $95

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Boutique NMA+Loop $90

Boutique NMA+Loop+MID $95

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3* Loop $80 -was offered a rebid if I increased by $22, I passed

3* NMA+Loop $85 -win

I tried to extend my stay, but unfortunately the room was not available to extend my check-out 1 day. Not my ideal hotel or location, but the price works for me - through Hotels.com the Club Quarters is $159 for my dates.

Txs for all the help!!

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your win!

There are two Club Quarters properties in Chicago, can you please clarify which one you received? (post the address if you're not sure of the two different ones)

Thanks for using the PRICELINE links at SavingsBarn.com to begin your bidding.

Enjoy your stay.

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I won the Club Quarters Wacker at Michigan. I didn't realize that there were two different Club Quarters in the loop area at first and was dissappointed that I thought I was staying at the one was staying at the other one on W. Adams. The Wacker location look like it will work out nicely for me - close enough to museums, shopping and NMA nightlife.

Thanks again to all!!

[AaronJB]

You got the much better of the two CQ locations. Both are nice 3* hotels, but the Adams location is not nearly as central as the Wacker/Michigan one. Plus, the area around the Adams one is completely quiet at night.

With this location, you essentially walk a block to the Michigan Ave. bridge, then over the bridge to the Michigan Ave. shopping area. This location is also an easy walk from Millennium Park and the Art Institute.