Hotwire Hotel: 3* Chicago (Mag Mile-Streeterville) Hilton Garden Inn

[indymover]

Hello,

I have been reading through your site and love it already! Please help. I am looking for a family-friendly hotel in Chicago for myself, husband, and 2.5 year old for dates 6/14-6/18. We are interested in blues fest on 6/14, children's museum, navy pier, lincoln park zoo, shedd aquarium, and mag mile shopping. We would like to stay somewhere with breakfast included, but this isn't absolutely necessary as long as there are family-friendly local breakfast places nearby (no McD's, please...). We tend to like smaller, cheaper places like hampton, hilton garden, la quinta, homewood, and embassy suites.. but newer, cleaner properties--and we never pay full price! ....love Hotwire!!

Based on this, I thought that MagMile-Streeterville, NMA-Gold Coast-WaterTower, and Chicago Loop (in that order) would be best for us.

Please tell me what you think about this.

Also, I'd like to pay about $150 or less including parking, if possible, as we will be driving up to Chicago and need some place to store our vehicle while we are enjoying the city.

( I can stomach $200 at the most!) :)

I checked Hotwire and got these:

Water Tower Gold Coast

3* NMA- WT-GC $109

boutique, nonsmoking, fitness, restaurant

3.5*NMA-WaterTower-Gold Coast $94

nonsmoking, fitness, restaurant, business, internet, golf, tennis

4*NMA-WaterTower-Gold Coast $84

fitness, restaurant, business, hi-speed internet

Chicago Loop

3* Chicago Loop $108

breakfast, fitness, pool, business, laundry, internet

4* Chicago Loop $82

fitness, pool, restaurant, business, internet

Mag Mile-Streeterville

3* Mag Mile-Streeterville $64

fitness, business, internet

3.5* Mag Mile-Streeterville $116

fitness, pool, restaurant, business, internet

4* Mag Mile-Streeterville $132

nonsmoking, fitness, pool, restaurant, business, internet

I am interested in what you think they might be--also if you have other tips...it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

[AaronJB]

Welcome to the site.

Navy Pier's really an overpriced tourist trap (literally, if you look up "tourist trap" on Wikipedia, Navy Pier is one of the examples.) While it's understandable to visit the Children's Museum, the rest of it is a bunch of booths selling overpriced souvenirs, a few expensive rides and overpriced restaurants (such as a McD's) . I'd recommend going to the Children's Museum, then devoting your time to another activity rather than exploring the rest of the Pier. Just my 2 cents.

The Lincoln Park Zoo is a beautiful (free) Zoo, and you can also work in the nearby Lincoln Park Conservatory (free, beautiful plant shows) and the Peggy Notabert Nature Center (small admission, beautiful live butterfly exhibit) as all three are right next to one another.

In terms of parking, parking downtown is going to be quite pricey.

I would be happy to suggest some very nice suburban areas where hotels are reasonable and parking is free, but it would involve either driving into the city or driving to the nearest Metra station and taking the train in (and the Metra trains are quite nice - they are dual-levels like Amtrak.) In terms of an example, there is a 3.5* in the Northbrook area on HOTWIRE for $70, and there would be no charge for parking. Downtown, if you stay at an $80 property, you have to figure $30-40 (possibly a bit higher) for parking.

As a suggestion for outside the city (if you have time), the Long Grove Confectionery offers tours (http://www.longgrove.com/acatalog/Factory_Tours.html) in their Buffalo Grove chocolate factory, which is a lot of fun.

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In terms of staying downtown, what I'd recommend doing is searching for 6/14/09-6/18/09 for 2 adults and 2 kids. When you search for this, there should be a 3* Mag Mile-Streeterville for $79 with the amenities: fitness, business, internet, restaurant, pool. If you click to look at the detail page for this listing, there should be a 4/5 tripadvisor rating at the bottom of the page, making this a likely match for the Hilton Garden Inn. If that is the HGI, that would be a fantastic deal.

Please use the site's HOTWIRE link to start your purchase.

[AaronJB]

Additionally, that particular 3* Mag Mile-Streeterville HOTWIRE listing only appears when searching for 2 adults/2 kids or 2 adults/1 kid. It does NOT show up when looking for 2 adults only.

[indymover]

Additionally, that particular 3* Mag Mile-Streeterville HOTWIRE listing only appears when searching for 2 adults/2 kids or 2 adults/1 kid. It does NOT show up when looking for 2 adults only.

Thank you so much for all of your advice. I am considering it all. I forgot to mention an important detail---I am going to be attending a conference at the Hyatt on E. Wacker in the early AM for two of the days, so would like to be downtown so I won't have to figure commute time. I don't mind to pay for parking, really, esp if I'm getting a good deal on the room. Plus, we do want to walk to Grant Park (with 2.5 yr old in tow) for the Blues Fest on Sunday. For these reasons, don't want to stay in the 'burbs. When I plug in 2adult/1 kid, I am getting the $79 with amenities as you listed (likely HGI) and that would work. I am also getting a:

3.5* Mag Mile-Streeterville for $116 with fitness, pool, restaurant, business, internet

3* Loop for $108 with breakfast, fitness, pool, business, laundry, and internet

4*NMA for $109 with fitness, pool, restaurant, internet, business, spa

Can you help me ID these before I make a choice?

Thank you so much!!!

[thereuare]

These are all listed in the Hotwire Hotel List... best guess for each:

3.5* Mag Mile-Streeterville for $116 with fitness, pool, restaurant, business, internet

Doubletree Mag Mile

3* Loop for $108 with breakfast, fitness, pool, business, laundry, and internet

La Quinta Inn and Suites

4*NMA for $109 with fitness, pool, restaurant, internet, business, spa

W Chicago Lakeshore

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Let us know what you decide and how it goes or if we can be of further help.

[indymover]

Any thoughts regarding locations of these particular hotels for the things I stated that we wanted to do? LaQuinta looks far away from the action...is there anything around it? Also, is is true that the loop area pretty much shuts down in the evenings?

[AaronJB]

The W Lakeshore is a fantastic deal for $109, but I don't think that would be a family-friendly hotel. The La Quinta is definitely a better choice for business travelers, as it's out-of-the-way in the Loop.

While the Doubletree is a fine hotel, I still think the 3* Mag Mile-Streeterville for $79 with the amenities: fitness, business, internet, restaurant, pool (likely the HGI) that appears only when you search for 2 adults/1 kid would be a much better deal for nearly $40 less - that's a very nice HGI in a great location - while HOTWIRE rates the Doubletree and HGI differently, I think they're comparable hotels. The detail page for this particular listing has a 4/5 tripadvisor rating.

Please use the site's HOTWIRE link.

[indymover]

I used the HOTWIRE link from this site and booked the 3* Mag Mile as you suggested. I got the Hilton Garden Inn. I will let you know how our trip goes. Thanks so much!

[AaronJB]

That really is a fantastic deal for this property (reg. rate is $199 for these dates), and a superb location for what you want to do. Additionally, self-park is $29 at this property, which is the cheapest parking rate I know of at a downtown hotel.

Please ask if you have any additional questions.

Enjoy your stay, and thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE link.