Lisa

Hi everyone

I will be taking my son to college in Chicago this August and am looking for a hotel in a good location for 4-5 nights. It's easy to find centrally located hotels that are pricey, but the challenge is in finding an inexpensive one. We would like to be somewhat close to the Museum campus or the Navy Peir.

I am open to any and all suggestions.

Thanks!

Dan

This may be too far noth for you, but I had a friend stay at the Raphael for under $100/ He thought it was nice and
I noticed Fodors reccomends it. Very close to the Hancock building I believe.

http://www.raphaelchicago.com/

De Anna

Lisa,

I went to Chicago about a month ago. I went on priceline.com and bid on the Hilton (on Michigan Ave) -- got it for $50 per night. Very nice hotel and great location. Give it a try!

De Anna

Don

Just a point about De Anna's post--unless I'm mistaken, you can't actually bid on a specific hotel on Priceline. You can bid only on a city zone and a quality level. So even though De Anna got the Hilton by bidding $50 in a Michigan Avenue zone (there are two Michigan Avenue zones now), there's no guarantee that you'd get the same hotel if you bid that same zone and price. You might get that hotel, you might get another one, or you might get nothing at all (depending on available inventory) at that price. It's also possible you might be able to bid lower and still get a hotel that meets your needs (whether that's 2*, 3*, or 4*).

If you decide to go the Priceline route, check out http://www.biddingfortravel.com first and read the Hotel FAQs. It'll tell you everything you need to know about the art of Priceline hotel bidding. Then go look at the Chicago hotels thread on that Web site to see reports on actual winning bids and how the people structured their bids.

Also on that site, the "Bonus Money Opportunities" thread (pretty far down the main page) has a $5/night (up to $25/bid) bonus money link that will add a little extra to your Priceline hotel bids. That bonus money expires on 7/31.

Usual disclaimers apply--I have no affiliation with or vested interest in your using Priceline or the Web site mentioned above, yadda, yadda.

Good luck with your hotel search, and I hope your son has a great college career ahead of him.

buttercup

Try Hotrooms.com. They list several hotels for decent rates.

kal

As a follow up to DeAnna and Don,
I used P'line.com and got the Palmer House Hilton for $100/nite in 2 weeks from now.

It's a block or 2 away from Mich. Ave and a few blocks from Grant Park/museums.

Don

Hmm--people on biddingfortravel.com have reported getting the Palmer House Hilton (among other 4* Priceline-rated hotels in the Michigan Avenue zones) for $45-$60/night during periods in June, July, and early August.

No offense, kal, but you might have overbid. Then again, it's possible that the nights you bid on are periods of low inventory, so an acceptable winning bid might have to be higher.

In any case, the price you got is lower than I think you'd find on Expedia or Travelocity or some of the other hotel reservations sites.