Chicago Lodging
 

Looking for recommendations - either hotel, b&b, any clean, temporary housing for a short
weekend in mid-July...preferably with air conditioning and close to the L train

Thomas, the only places I have stayed in Chicago is in the Magnificent Mile areas. There are a lot of good hotels to choose from. http://www.themagnificentmile.com/hotels/ I have used Priceline also for that area with good results.

We got The Residence Inn Mariott thru P'line last year. Excellent place, steps away from The Big John (Hancock)/Mag Mile and The El.

We got the Palmer House Hilton thru P'line too. That's a very short walk to The El.

I can't imagine ANY hotel in Chicago w/o A/C!

The HI Hostel on Congress is next door to the SE corner of the loop. http://www.hihostels.com/
I did stay there with my DW but not in hot weather.
It is clean, cheap and near the things you want to see.
The drawback is that the restrooms are down the hall and not in the room. They also have a laundry room which I used.
There is a kitchen available if you want to cook instead of going to restaurants for every meal.

Hi, Thomas.

You may want to take a look at this posting.
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...y-hotel-in.cfm

Chicago doesn't have much to offer in the way of b&bs. It's more a hotel kind of town.

But you may wish to book quickly as some weekends in July will undoubtedly offer some festival or other that will increase room rates.

I always recommend the Amalfi and the Four Points Sheridan (ask for a room in the back to avoid street noise). But if there's a budget you can provide or a place you wish to be near, we may be able to help with other reccos.

If you only want access to the 'el'/elevated train tracks (brown, orange, pink, green lines), you'll want a hotel in the loop. However, the subway (red and blue lines) run through the loop and parallel to the mag mile. Also, our bus lines are very convenient, so depending on what you're thinking of public transportation for, we can perhaps guide you in that, too!

Good luck with the hotel hunt!

It is so easy to get around Chicago that I always use Priceline if I need a hotel--staying in the Magnificent Mile or Loop.

As long there isn't a major convention in town that weekend, you will get a good rate on Priceline--and all the area hotels are pretty nice.

check www.betterbidding and www.biddingfortravel.com. You can get an idea what hotels are coming up on Priceline/Hotwire

Chicago has a lot of places. A budget idea would help. I would check the Best Western and Holiday Inn.

http://chicagovisitor.net/ChicagoHotels.html

Try The River Hotel. It is on the river just a block from Michigan Ave and a block and a half from the loop in the other direction. I really enjoyed my stay.