There are so many hotels to stay at in downtown Chicago that picking the right one for your trip may feel a little intimidating to you. I was a little overwhelmed myself with trying to find a nice hotel at a decent price. Although where I ended up staying wasn't the nicest hotel around, I got a decent price for it. And like I have said in earlier posts, there just isn't really a bad location to stay at while in Chicago. We were just four or five blocks away from Michigan Ave. (The Magnificent Mile) and only three blocks from downtown Chicago. We were also just three blocks from the nearest subway/train station. I'll go through a list of twenty or so hotels here. There are a few bargain, three-star type hotels on the list, but most will be four and five-star upscale and luxury places to stay. Now, I know some of these hotels are extremely expensive at a lot of times, but check the dates of your trip and you may get lucky and able to book an excellent five-star hotel. Or you may just want to splurge some and stay at these nicer places anyway!
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| Springhill Suites by Marriott. Image from Orbitz.com |
I'll start off with the three-star type hotels with the place we stayed during our trip.
Springhill Suites by Marriott. I had a Marriott gift card that I wanted to use so this was the main reason for booking this hotel. One thing to remember if you do happen to have or get a Marriott gift card is that you need to book a qualifying rate to be able to use the gift card when checking out. A qualifying rate is one that you
do not prepay for. As I said before, the hotel location was very nice and the rate I payed was $129 a night which isn't bad for downtown Chicago. This hotel also happens to be in the same building as the
Residence Inn Chicago/River North. The rooms at our hotel consist of all suites, as the name implies, and were pretty spacious. When you walk in, you have a sofa area with a desk and chair and also a "kitchen" area with a small fridge and microwave oven. Our room had a king bed, a nice view looking north, and a so-so sized bathroom. The sink and toilet/shower areas were separated. There is also a small pool and hot tub on the 26th floor of the hotel. We were also able to get free continental breakfast and coffee here which was very nice. If you are ever here during the winter, don't forget to bring some hot coffee with you as you roam the streets! The staff was very nice when we talked to them as well. All in all this is a nice hotel and location to stay at and start your Chicago trip off nicely.
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| Springhill Suites room. Image from Booked.net |
This is the only hotel we stayed at during this trip, so technically it is the only one I can review. The rest of these hotels will be listed out in their categories of three, four and five-star properties. All of these hotels on this list are located centrally to all the action that goes on around downtown Chicago. With the utilization of trains around the Loop which is around downtown, subways and buses, you can easily get from one part of Chicago to another. You can even walk! A little exercise won't hurt a thing! (Unless you have some knee problems or back problems or any other body ailments, then you should probably take some form of transportation to get around). OK! Here goes. I have also put the hotel brand's parent in parenthesis after each hotel. In later posts I will talk about all the brands and which parent company they belong to and how you can sign up for each of their reward programs to star earning points.
**One thing to remember is that in order to receive points from a hotel you have to book directly through the hotel. So all those sites that give you better deals such as hotwire.com, hotels.com, orbitz.com, etc. will not earn you points for stays booked through them. Such a shame! :( **
Three Star Properties
These hotels most likely will run you around $85-140 a night depending on your dates of travel.
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| Holiday Inn Express. Image from hrs.com |
Four Star Properties
These hotels can run anywhere from $100-$250 or more a night.
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| Marriott Downtown Chicago/Magnificent Mile lobby. Image from Marriott.com |
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| Hilton Chicago. You can see part of Willis Tower behind. Image from Expedia.com |
Five Star Properties
The epitome of elegance and luxury, these rooms can range from $140 on the low side and all the way up to $400 or slightly more during the high side. You'll receive high class service if you stay in one of these hotels.
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| The pool at the Intercontinental. Image from chicagotraveler.com. |
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| Park Hyatt Chicago room. Image from michiganavemag.com |
- Waldorf Historia (Hilton)
- Trump Hotel - this building also happens to be the second tallest building in the United States currently. It has residences as well as a hotel right on the Chicago River.
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| Trump Tower |
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| Trump hotel room. Image from iprefer.com |
A lot of these hotels are in historic buildings and the architecture is second to none. The buildings look amazing. But then again, I'm into that sort of thing. Even you aren't staying in any of these hotels, go walk into them and around their lobbies and check them out. High class at its finest.
I hope you are able to travel to Chicago if you've never been and back again if you've been before and hope that my review of just a little bit of the city helped you out to plan your visit there.
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