How far is Fairmont Hotel Chicago from the Metra and is it a good hotel?

You won't use Metra. It's for hauls between the city and the suburbs. A taxi ride from the Fairmont to the convention center will be about $7.

The Fairmont is fine. Nothing to write home about, but fine.

The Fairmont is a good hotel but I'm curious why you have limited yourself to those two choices. There are better hotels in the same price range.

Expect to take a cab from every hotel in the city to McCormick place - there are minimal train options.

I thought there was a metra stop right in McCormick Place! That's what it looks like on the Metra map.
We thought the Fairmont (which was cheaper than Palmer house, but has one more star) was close to the Metra station and therefore a faster option of travelling to McCormick place in peak hour.

Why wouldn't we take the Metra? Is it unsafe at peak hour - I guess it's crowded but that's ok.

I think the hesitation is that Metra is a commuter system, which means it only runs in the morning and evening, and then only a few times. It is designed to bring workers from the suburbs into the city and vice versa. It is not designed, or scheduled, for tourists or general travelling because its trips are so limited.

You are not that far from the El, which is the main subway/mass transit system. That will get you around much easier, although probably not to McCormick place given its unfortunate location.

I think you may need a CTA map. That's the bus system in Chicago proper. Google it and I think you can print them out online. But there are many other hotels in the Loop that might probably be better located. Maybe a downtown Grant Park area location to bus it?

If you use the trip planner on
http://www.transitchicago.com/maps/tripplanner.html, you can either take the
# 3 King Drive Bus or the # 4 Cottage Grove Bus to McCormick Place. McCormick Place is not well served by the el.

Metra Electric Trains also stop at 23rd Street and King Drive, very close to McCormick Place. You can see the schedule here, the trains as mentioned before are not that frequent but I have seen convention goers using them, they may even add trains if it's a big convention. http://www.metrarail.com/schedule.html

The stations are at Randolph/Michigan & Van Buren/Michigan, other hotels that would be within walking distance of those two stations include the Crowne Plaza Silversmith, the Hotel Burnham, Hard Rock Hotel, Renaissance, Palmer House, Hotel Monaco. Metra is totally safe to use and you'd be going against the flow so they wouldn't be packed.

Are you sure the convention management isn't running shuttle buses between certain hotels and McCormick Place?
Taxi fares have gone up. Last fall, it cost closer to $9 with tip from the Fairmont area.

Thank you all so much - especially Kristi. Yes there are shuttle buses from the hotels and it's a HUGE convention - 60,000 or so delegates. My husband was there 8 years ago and stayed on the other side of the river, and said it took 45 minutes for the bus to get there, so we thought a train would be a lot faster in Peak hour.
I have looked at the Meta timetable and it looks pretty good for peak hour, so I guess we'll have the option of shuttle or train.