Hotwire Hotel: What area of Chicago is this in?

[Lollipop's Mom]

Looking to stay near American Girl place, but what is the area called on Hotwire/Priceline?

Nothing seems to say 'downtown' -and I am really confused!

[Angelnot]

There are a couple of ways to search on HOTWIRE. My favorite is by street address. Right now the address of American Girl Place Chicago (AGPC) is 111 E. Chicago Ave. If you are planning a trip during the fall they are moving about a block away.

On HOTWIRE the hotels in the area of AGPC will be in the Magnificient Mile-Streeterville or North Michigan Ave-Water Tower-Gold Coast area. Depending upon how far you want to walk either would be a good option with the NMA-WT-GC hotels going for a bit less (not by much). The hotel that comes up a lot and at lowest rates is the Hyatt on the river at Wacker and it is in the MM-Strville area The Intercontinental, Westin, Omni and Marriott also come up occasionally in the MM-S area.

On Priceline the areas are Millenium Park-Loop-Grant Park and North Michigan Avenue-River North. I've done this trip 3 times in the last 6 years and booked through Priceline. The last time was March 14-18, 2007. The location I liked best was the Marriott and the Omni but nothing is really far away. In March family stayed at the Hyatt and had rooms overlooking the river for St. Patrick's Day. Get a multiday Visitor's Transit Pass and you can hop on and off buses or the subway at will and it won't matter if it is for a block or a mile. We rode the bus frequently even if for only 2 to 4 blocks in March because it was bitter cold during our stay. During the spring we would have been happy to walk further.

Anywhere in the area is fun. One place that has an AG package (doll bed, cookies, milk, breakfast) that goes at good rates by booking directly is the FourPoints that is a half block off Michigan and a little less than 2 blocks from AGP. Check frequently, they often book rooms at half off. Last year, I got a call when the rates went to half off.

I've never seen it on Priceline or Hotwire but when the kids were with their grandparents they stayed at the Park Hyatt which is directly across the street from AGP and costs a pretty penny.

View of the river on March 17 from room at the Hyatt on Wacker.

http://i135.no_screenshots_please.com/albums/q152/Ar...ip/IMG_0079.jpg

[AaronJB]

Angelnot offered an excellent summary of your options, although to add a few more things:

1. If you have kids that do not want to walk long distances, I wouldn't consider the Millennium Park/Loop/Grant Park area on Priceline. If you bid on the MP/Loop/GP area on Priceline, you could very well end up on the opposite side of the city. While I don't think that's a horrendous walk (probably a good 40 minutes, maybe 35), it may not be something to look forward to, especially in the bitter cold. I would only bid on the River North/North Michigan Ave. area. If you bid very low for a 4* in the Millennium Park/Loop/Grant Park area, you could potentially get the Hyatt, and that would be okay - but - as with everything else on Priceline - there's no 100% guarantee that you will get the Hyatt.

If you are interested in using HOTWIRE, I would consider looking in the Mag Mile/Streeterville area (which is along the river and slightly North) and the North Michigan Ave/Water Tower/Gold Coast area (which would be closer.)

2. Chicago rooms on HOTWIRE and Priceline generally have what I like to call "spreads". In the Summer, you may see a hotel room that is in the $200 neighborhood go for anywhere from $100-125 (more or less) on Hotwire. In the Winter (meaning Jan/Feb./Mar), the spreads seem to tighten up and I see a fair amount of rooms that are around $100 or so go for $75-85 on Hotwire (and sometimes a bit less on Priceline). In other words, a lot of hotels seem to have "base" prices for their discounted rooms and as regular rates fall in the Winter, they get closer to the base prices for the discounted rooms.

And, of course, Chicago hotel prices continue to creep up. Some of the deals that I got three years ago I don't imagine I'll ever get again. I probably won't see the kind of deals I got last year again, either.

What I'd recommend is checking out what HOTWIRE has to offer, then checking out what hotels are actually priced for these dates, as Jan/Feb/Mar in Chicago can be very cheap (as Chicago hotels go) at times. It may be worthwhile to you to pay the extra $15-20 a night to get a refundable reservation, be able to be assured of the hotel you want and be able to choose smoking/non-smoking, two beds, etc. It all really depends on your dates of travel.

If you would like, let us know what date(s) you are traveling and myself or one of the other board participants would be happy to help.

[Lollipop's Mom]

THANKS so much for all of this wonderful info! We possibly have a 24 hour layover in Chicago in 2 weeks and I wanted to figure out what area it is in - so if I have to, I can log onto HOTWIRE and grab a room close and possibly cheap. Thanks.

[thereuare]

Yet there is a good chance that this won't be the hotel offered in two weeks.

If you have a 24 hour layover, when do you intend to purchase a hotel room? Why wait until you arrive?