Urgent Hotel advice for Chicago

Santa Claus

Booked flights to visit the gfs friends in Chiago from 15th to 20th of this month back in June.
Found out yesterday that they won't be there :mad: and so we can't stay with them so need to book a hotel but having looked on 1800hotels, lastminute, etc it seems it'll cost us the guts of a grand to get somewhere fairly central.

We're not snobs looking for 5 star treatment, just want something clean that's not 20 miles out of the city so all suggestions on cheaper alternatives welcome please !!!!

Cosmo Kramer

Try Hotwire if you haven't already.

Had a quick look there, for the five nights you are there you could get a 3.5 star hotel downtown for €660 all in. Is that cheaper than what you were coming up with?

If not, the cheapo option is out at O'Hare, 5 nights in a 4.5 star for €320 (it'll be the InterContinental)...if the hotel's near the airport its a $2 train ride into the city centre.

Use http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?showtopic=642& to work out what the exact hotels are and www.tripadvisor.com to find out if they are nice or not.

Santa Claus

Cheers for that, never heard of Hotwire so I'll have a look at that.

On a side note is the outlet place in Aurora the best one around Chicago ?

cson

J1'ed it in Chi City for the summer and worked in a fantastic 4 star in the city centre - www.hotelsaxchicago.com, the staff there are the best around. There are 2 outlet centres in the Suburbs, Gurnee Mills up north and Aurora out west. Gurnee has the cheaper prices but Aurora has the better quality/more brand names.

If you want to know anything in particular about Chicago etc just ask!

cityhotels.ie

Hey Santa, you haven't mentioned your budget but not to worry, the Allegro Hotel at Randolph Street is a good hotel with central location perfect for the budget traveller. Owned by the respected Kimpton Group/ It has good reviews on tripadvisor too at 42/187 hotels in Chicago! If not suitable get back with your budget and we will find something ideal!

cson

The Allegro isn't budget....

The Allerton on the Mag Mile can be cheap enough and it is a very good hotel - probably the best location of any reasonably priced hotel in Chicago. Ask for a corner room though ("away from the elevator") because the rooms are quite small otherwise.

Creamy Goodness

aurora outlet is not bad, it's run by the premium outlets they all over america.

tickets on the amtrak - that depart from union station - cost $5.85 one-way.

gurnee also has an outlet but i'm unsure how to get there.

check out hotel felix too, it's nice and only open about a year.

also don't forget to buy some garett popcorn, catch a free concert in millenium park, go to the field museum and catch a cubs game if you can.

check out a comedy gig in second city if you can, stud turkell's "not working" is excellent and well worth $20, try go on a sunday night if you are there on a sunday as you get an hour of improv for free.

the o'hare is about 40 minutes on "the el" (train) on the blue line so i'd advise against staying out at the airport.

best of luck, chicago is a great city you'll love it.

Santa Claus

Thanks for all the info guys. We were going with the sax cson but couldn't get availability on 1 of the nights so ended up booking the marriott on the mile as the gf works for a US company and they get a corporate rate there.

Whats the story with getting in from O'Hare to the Mag Mile....with luggage is it practical to get the EL (large suitcase each) or would we need to get a cab ?
I looked into shuttles but price for 2 on shuttles is about same as cab fare (web site said it'd be 40 bucks but we're getting in at 4.40pm so maybe we'll hot rush hour and it'll work out more).

Any advice on the outlets would be appreciated cson....gf is already planning on buying a 2nd case in the outlet to bring back her purchases !
I'd choose gurnee because it has a victorias secret outlet but she reckons Aurora has better selection of shops.

Also, do you know if you can do tours of Soldier Field ? I think like every irish boy growing up in the 80s I was a fan of the Fridge and the Bears.
Looked on their website but says nothing about organised tours.