Hi everyone,

I am travelling to Chicago for a long weekend next month (friday to monday) and meeting up with several girlfriends coming from all over the country. There will be eight of us on Friday night, nine on Saturday night and seven on Sunday night.

We want to stay downtown - and plan on sharing rooms (from three to five per room). Can anyone recommend some great places to stay that won't break the bank? Also, what is the best place to book through to get great deals?

I'd love tips on things to see and do during our stay as well (Nov 7-10).

Thanks so much! Jeanette

Stay downtown near or on N. Michigan Avenue.

I've seen some great rates on biddingfortravel.com for priceline downtown bids.

Most importantly, there is no way I would put more than three people to a room. Two max would be preferable just because of the bathroom jockying.

Priceline is the way to get the best rates but they don't guarantee more than 2 people will fit per room. Do check out www.biddingfortravel.com to see what hotels you might get and the prices people are paying for them.

www.hotrooms.com is another website you can try, a friend of mine got a great rate not too long ago using that site.

www.877chicago.com sometimes has discounted rates.

Or the usuals-www.expedia.com or www.travelocity.com

Do some research at www.biddingfortravel.com regarding prices and places people have been getting at Priceline. It's possible that you can get 4 rooms on PL for what 2 or 3 would cost otherwise, and be much more comfortable.

If you want 3-5 people per room Priceline is not going to work. You will only get a room for two, especially on a weekend when more families already have the double/double rooms. I would recommend booking an all suite hotel many will have double/double + sofa sleeper rooms that will sleep 5. Such hotels include, Embassy Suites, Homewood suites, Comfort Inn, Omni, and the Doubletree. My pick would be one of the Embassy Suites because they give you free breakfest and free booze at night.

But they can probably get 4 rooms on PL for what 2 suites at ES will cost, and then they'll have 4 baths!!

My thoughts exactly Anonymous, maybe even cheaper on Priceline!

1 bathroom for 5 women, what a horrible thought! ;-)

Expedia.com has some decent rates at Embassy Suites, Doubletree Suites, Homewood Suites. You'd get a king bed and a sofa bed, probably only suitable for 3 people....but there's a bedroom & separate little living room area so you have plenty of room for 3.

There are some good rates listed for Milennium Knickerbocker on Travelocity, but the rooms are small.

Thank you all so much for your tips and suggestions - my mind is spinning. The problem when there are so many of us travelling it seems impossible to come to a consensus.

Keep the ideas coming - this is such a great help!
Jeanette

Priceline questions:
I browsed around biddingfortravel.com until my eyes crossed - and I have to admit I was a bit overwhelmed and confused by the whole system

Say we wanted to go with Priceline, trying for four rooms. Can any of you experienced Priceline users tell me what star level I should accept and where to start bidding. Is it best to start really cheaply and go up from there? I'm a little confused about the rules for re-bidding too.

Help!

Jeanette

Jeanette....try www.hotwire.com to get an idea of what kind of bargains are available downtown for that weekend. It's a lot easier to navigate than Priceline for a novice. And remember when you use a discount service, you pay up front and their are no refunds, so make sure that everyone is committed to going.

We have stayed at the Omni Suites on Michigan Ave right near the water tower. It is an all-suite hotel and the bedroom part of the suites does have two queen or two double beds, plus extra room may have a sleeper sofa. This is my family's favorite hotel in chicago because of the extra room and location. We book with quikbook.com , travelhero.com or the omni.com websites. Hope this helps, itsv

Jeanette, all the information you need about Priceline is on the biddingfor travel website. Go to hotels-Illinois-Chicago, look at the first topic heading which is Chicago Hotel List. There you will find the likely hotels that will come up if you bid, I'd say go for a 4 star on North Michigan Avenue although some of the other categories aren't bad either.

Then you can look at all of the bids that people have gotten recently to see where you should bid. Every time I have bid, Priceline comes back and says something to the effect that I have little chance of getting it at that rate but I also hold firm and except once I have gotten the rate I bid on.

Make sure you understand the risks associated with Priceline, once your bid is accepted, it is very hard to get a refund. So if there is any danger of someone cancelling, Priceline may not be the way for you.

Also look at the frequently asked question section regarding hotels and you can also look towards the bottom for reviews of hotels.

Alternatively, the original poster could set up backup reservations that can be canceled, and then try bidding on Priceline a day or two before leaving. This would lessen the risk of someone canceling. And if Priceline did not work, the backup reservations would be in place.

Thank you all SO much - I can't believe all the help I am getting!

I'm not too worried about cancelations - we've all purchased our tickets, arranged sitters, etc. I think the only way we'd have a problem is if some sort of emergency came up for someone.

Kristi:
I think I spent four hours at biddingfortravel last night. I read through everything - but I think it was a case of too much new information at once. It all started to look like greek to me!

Thank you for mentioning the message that Priceline gives you - I was playing around with the first few screens of the bidding process last night and got hte same message, I was unsure if I should up my bid or not.

We are definetly wanting the N. Michigan Ave Zone, I guess we just have to figure out what to bid. Do you know if there is a big difference between what bids are usually accepted for four and three star hotels. The rest of the ladies are wanting to stick somewhere around 50-75 I think, is it at all likely to get a four star, or would we be better off just bidding that amount for a three star right off the bat.

I'm going over to biddingfortravel now to check things out - but thought I'd see if you had an opinion on that as well. For some reason, although I'm normally quite an internet savvy person - this Priceline thing has me a little freaked out!

I'm probably the person least qualified to offer opinions on Chicago hotels as I've never stayed in one. The 3 star hotels all have great locations, the reviews on BFT are mixed on the Lenox, the others are pretty good names.

The BFT site tells you that you can only rebid for a lower star value and not a higher one within a 3 day period. I usually start with the level I want at the price I want. And remember, after 3 days you can go back and try the same offer again.

The first time bidding is a little nerve wracking but Chicago is a great place to use Priceline as the hotel rates can be high and there are lots of weekends that are busy with conventions, etc.

Just wanted to let you all know we bid on Priceline and got the three star Marriot Downtown for 75 dollars! THank you so much for all your help!

Now we've got to figure out resturants, parking and things to do!
Jeanette

A couple of great websites as you are looking for ideas

www.metromix.com
www.877chicago.com