I am looking for a nice hotel and good location for Girls Christmas weekend. We have been meeting every year over the past 5 years. We have stayed at the Palmer House. I have been checking on the Omni because of the suites, and the Sofitel because of the comments. Which is the better hotel? Thanks PAM

All depends. The Omni is dead center on Michigan Ave. You could drop shopping bags off in your room all day long and not go out of your way.

The Sofitel is much newer and is quite the hotspot for the beautiful people. It is an architectural achievement (vs. the ugly Omni) and is in its own building (compared with the office building where the Omni is).

The Sofitel is a good 3 blocks off Michigan Ave. but is probably a bit closer to the nightlife around Rush and State Streets.

Both are near plenty of restaurants, with the Sofitel being a tad closer to more non-touristy ones.

Then there's the suite aspect. If there are a number of you and you need a lot of room, I'd go with the Omni and it's great location.

If you like new and interesting hotels and nightlife, I'd go with the Sofitel.

If it were me, I guess I'd say Omni. But then I don't know how you narrowed it down to just these two, in the first place.

Oh, and of course "The Omni All Suites hotel is where guests of the Oprah Winfrey Show stay when in town" which may be worth something to some people.

How did I chose the two hotels, while, Sofitel was getting good reviews and the size of the rooms at the Omni. I am open for suggestions. We are in our 40s.There will be 4 or 5 going and we will have two rooms.

This is at Christmas, Want to see the lights at night and night life, good resturants at the upper end.

Thanks for your help.

I would like to add that I like small hotels, over large commerical hotels. I did not like the Palmer House because I felt like I was in a city, not a hotel.

There's certainly nothing wrong with those choices, it's just there are so many hotels in the area!

Check out the Talbot on Delaware, the Inter Continental on Michigan, even the Westin might be good.

Also Hotel 71 and the Sutton Place Hotel.

These are all fine and well located.

You are smart to book now.

Have fun.