Hotwire Hotel: 4.5* Chicago (Airport OHare ORD South) InterContinental

[oldporkchops]

I'm impressed at the kindness and the willingess to help here at this site. Thanks a lot to all who have contributed in some shape or form. I've browsed for a guage of Priceline bids in the past but need more in-depth help this time.

My wife and a 2 year old plan to stay in downtown Chicago from 7/3 to 7/6. Our criteria are:

- total including tax must be below $200

- no lower than 3.5 star

- be in the NMA, Greater Chicago, or Millenium Park areas

Do you think it's a reasonable budget? If so, what would your recommended plan of action be?

Thanks a million!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

If you've purchased via PRICELINE (or HOTWIRE) in the past it would be appreciated if you started to share your wins with the board as the information helps other users.

In regards to your stay above, what does $200 'all-in' work out to on a per nite basis before taxes and fees? (ie- what is the maximum per nite bid amount)

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

[AaronJB]

I'm guessing it's about $60-62?

[oldporkchops]

I'm guessing it's about $60-62?

Yup, that is about right. I would set a $65 maximum a night.

Sure, I'd be glad to post my wins henceforth.

[thereuare]

I'm not sure if $65 will be enough, but you can give it a shot...

At the 3.5* level you have THREE re-bid zones. If you're not familiar with re-bidding please read Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding.

(also doublecheck that you're willing to stay in the Greater Chicago area as it's not one that we see selected very often)

Select 3.5* NMA and Loop...

Bid $45, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $50, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $53, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $55, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3.5* NMA and Greater Chicago...

Bid $45, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $50, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $53, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $55, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3.5* NMA and Loop and Greater Chicago...

Bid $58, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $60, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $63, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $65

Any questions feel free to ask.

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

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

PS- if you decide not to bid Greater Chicago post back and we'll revise

[oldporkchops]

Thanks for giving me a refreseher course on rebid zones. I checked out your tutorial and it sure made a lot of sense.

Here's what I've tried:

4* Loop

$60 rejected

4* Loop and Lincoln

$63 rejected

4* Loop, Lincoln and MDW

$67 rejected

Defeated by priceline, I decided to wait for the experts here to advise as to a revised bidding strategy.

Since you mentioned that Greater Chicago is not usually chosen, I decided to stick to the majority opinion and leave it out of my choices. So that leaves Loop and NMA.

Thanks a lot!

[oldporkchops]

Since it appeared bleak that my 4* bids had any hope of being accepted, I tried the following to no success.

3.5* Loop $58 rejected

3.5* Loop and Lincoln $60 rejected

3.5* Loop, NMA and Lincoln $63 rejected

3.5* Loop, NMA, Lincoln and O'Hare South $65 rejected

3.5* Loop, NMA, Lincoln, O'Hare South and Niles $67 rejected

Seems that the reserve for 3.5 rooms in the Loop and NMA are higher than $70. :)

Would you recommend Greater Chicago? Why? Why not?

[oldporkchops]

In a frantic attempt to get rooms in NMA and Loop, I also tried the following:

4* Loop and NMA $73 rejected

4* Loop, NMA, ORD S, Niles, Lincoln $76 rejected

3* Loop $58 rejected

3* Loop, NMA $59 rejected

3* Loop, NMA, Lincoln $60 rejected

3* Loop, NMA, Lincoln, ORD S $65 rejected

In an attempt not to be pushed further into really undesirable areas, I tried Greater Chicago with the following:

4* Greater Chicago $60 rejected

3.5* Greater Chicago $65 (was offered $17 rebid offer but declined since the reported Holiday Inn Downtown is definitely not worth $82 a night)

Please help! In your opinion, in terms of just room rates (exclude exorbitant parking and other cost concerns in this evaluation), do you think it would be wise to stay 30+ miles and 1 hour drive from downtown for less than $40 or raise my maximum to stay downtown? If the latter, what would be a good price to set the max at?

Finally, any pointers on where to catch the big city fireworks on the 4th away from the crowds would be appreciated. We have a 26 mth old who probably won't do well with crowds.

[thereuare]

Everyone's budget and tolerance for inconvenience is different, but i think you can likely be successfully for a 4* downtown hotel for under $100... possibly in the $80's, and that would be my preference vs. driving 1+ hour each day (that's 2+ hours roundtrip... i don't like doing that by myself, and especially not with a 2 year old in tow); as well as having the added convenience of staying directly in the city.

Let us know how you'd like to proceed and we'll advise accordingly.

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

[GM Mike]

Please help! In your opinion, in terms of just room rates (exclude exorbitant parking and other cost concerns in this evaluation), do you think it would be wise to stay 30+ miles and 1 hour drive from downtown for less than $40 or raise my maximum to stay downtown? If the latter, what would be a good price to set the max at?

Is there a possibility to leave the car at home? (I'm thinking Amtrak, depending on where you live...)

It's a pain to stay outside of the city. You could try to target a suburban area with Metra commuter rail but the schedules can be thin on the weekends and it's still a long commute. You could also stay by O'Hare and take the 'L' into downtown but with a baby that could be really, really grueling. You could also stay by the airport and drive in. That could work out ok but you may still get hit with parking charges at the hotel (AND when you get downtown).

If it's possible, you would get a lot of value out of bidding higher for Loop or NMA. Much easier to run back to the room if the kid gets fussy and it'll maximize your time on a short trip.

I'd probably continue to avoid the Greater Chicago zone. The Hyatt at McCormick Place is remote, the Marriott Medical Center is not in a great neighborhood (tho it's easy to get downtown on the 'L' from there).

[oldporkchops]

Thanks for your comments on Greater Chicago.

I'd like to stay downtown and can up my budget. Can you please suggest a bidding strategy? Thanks!

[singingchef]

I bid for, and won a NMA hotel for those same dates two days ago. We were bidding only in 3.5* to 4* range as well and got up to $85 with no luck, so I started re-evaluating the star rating we were looking for.

This site does not have a lot of bidding history for 3* hotels--don't quite know if that's because most won't bid that range, or if due to to the fact that many that do bid for a 3* end up getting higher anyway.

Because of budgetary constraints I decided to lower our star rating to 3* and won after a few trys (Hilton Garden Inn at $62/nt). I should say, though, that I thoroughly researched the hotels in that range for the area we wanted (NMA) before doing so, so that we know what to expect and wouldn't get stuck somewhere that was a disappointment. What I found is that a lot of the 3* hotels (at least in that area) offer more included amenities in the room than the 3.5 to 4* properties, and did not seem to be much of a compromise in quality. (Many of the Trip Advisor and Priceline reviewers commenting on the higher rated hotels complain about being "nickeled and dimed" A LOT.)

I can say that I've stayed in a few different hotels spread across each of the various star ratings in Chicago before and have not yet been disappointed. It was not until I looked at the individual hotels in the 3* rating that I realized that for this trip, they would work equally well, if not better, for our purposes (we are travelling with kids, too). Rating preferences are a very individual thing, so go with your gut on what works best for you, just my two cents regarding another option to look at...

I see that you did already try some bidding in 3*, it's possible that all available are currently booked for that range being as it's a busy holiday weekend and the Taste of Chicago is going on as well, but sometimes things do open up. You may be fairly close to a 3* in your areas with your bidding so far. You might even luck into something that's within walking distance of a cheaper public parking garage. (AaronJB has posted a few tips on this in the last couple of weeks).

As far as places to watch the fireworks go, I can't give you a recommendation on that, as this will be our first time in the city on a holiday, but I wanted to let you know that there is also a fireworks show on Friday the 3rd over Grant Park that is part of the Taste of Chicago event. I doubt the crows will be that much smaller, but it may give you more options from where to watch that could be a little more kid-friendly. Here is a website that provides some of the details of that event: http://www.explorechicago.org/city/en/thin..._fireworks.html

Good luck with your bidding!

[GM Mike]

One historical reason why there are fewer bids in NMA for 3*... In the past, priceline had a "Boutique" category that was effectively 3.5*. The Tremont Hotel was listed as "Boutique" and was won quite often, so there was a danger a 3* bid would be "upgraded"... not many people liked the Tremont.

Seems that since the Boutique category went away, Tremont was last reported as a 2.5*.

Also, the Holiday Inn at the Mart is on the opposite side of downtown (by the Merchandise Mart). It can be a little annoying (though quite workable) to stay over there.

In the Loop zone, there are two Club Quarters hotels that are reported at 3*. Their rooms tend to be rather small and there are few amenities, though I have stayed at the central Loop location and thought it was fine. (Looking now, it appears one of the Club Quarters locations has been upgraded to 3.5*.)

Overall, there's a little more uncertainty moving down to 3*, so I think many folks here don't risk it.

[oldporkchops]

SingingChef, thanks very much for your comments about catching the fireworks on the 3rd. I thoroughly researched the downtown hotels after reading the horror reviews about parking and nickling and diming and other complaints too. I had not success with any of the 3* hotels in the NMA and Loop areas and was tempted to select Greater Chicago after my two 3* rebid zones had been spent. Our similar dates is a good example of booking early.

In the end, I checked out Hotwire after a long debate as I have had two very terrible experiences with Hotwire, but was pleased that the 4.5* brand new InterContinental O'Hare South could be had for $72 a night. The only reason I accepted O'Hare South and decided to go out of NMA and the Loop was that I didn't want to go higher than $76 for 3* or lower than a 3*. After reading all 8 pages and 39 reviews at TripAdvisor, I decided to take the plunge and book it. The total came to just under $250 for 3 nights. The only complaint seems to be the $12.95 daily internet rates. The entire hotel seems to be an art gallery in itself. The exorbitant parking problem appears to have been resolved by looking at Google Maps - there appear to be office lots within walking distance.

Thank you all who have contributed to this booking experience in some shape or form. Singingchef, I'd like to thank you personally for sharing your Priceline experience with us. It's a pity Priceline didn't deliver for us this time.

[singingchef]

You are welcome! I've gotten SOO much help and information from this site I'm happy to "pay it forward". Hope you guys have a fantastic trip. The InterContinental sounds great!

[AaronJB]

I'll also make a suggestion with some pros and cons:

The Rosemont Metra station (http://www.metrarail.com/Sched/ncs/rosemont.shtml) is right near this hotel. The Metra Trains are a much nicer, much more comfortable way to travel than the CTA trains. However, unfortunately this particular Metra line does not run on weekends and runs somewhat infrequently during the week, so it may be a good idea if you want to go downtown on 7/3 or 7/6. It does have very few stops between Rosemont and Chicago, so that does make it a somewhat fast trip, considering the distance.

[thereuare]

In the end, I checked out Hotwire after a long debate as I have had two very terrible experiences with Hotwire, but was pleased that the 4.5* brand new InterContinental O'Hare South could be had for $72 a night.... I decided to take the plunge and book it.

Glad you found something that you're happy with and works well for your plans.

Can you please add a reply to this thread with the amenities shown before your purchase... you can still view this information by going to HOTWIRE and clicking the MY ACCOUNT link near the top right of their home page.

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

Enjoy your stay.