Hotels

Downtown Chicago is packed with hotels, thanks to the city's booming convention trade. The competition among luxury hotels is especially intense, with the Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons winning international awards even as newer properties (such as the James and the Hard Rock) get in on the action. The bad news: low-price lodgings have become even harder to find. Steadily increasing room rates (especially during peak convention season in late spring and during the busy summer months) mean that Chicago is not exactly a budget destination; all the more reason to do some research before booking.

Many Chicago hotels offer a quintessential urban experience: Rooms come with views of surrounding skyscrapers, and the bustle of city life hits you as soon as you step outside the lobby doors. Although every property listed here caters to business travelers, Chicago attracts lots of tourists as well, and you won't have a problem finding family-friendly hotels in the most convenient neighborhoods; this is not a city where luxury hotels have dibs on all the prime real estate.

Although Chicago has its share of places that tout themselves as "boutique" hotels (Hotel Burnham, Hotel Monaco, W Chicago Lakeshore), these aren't quite the same as their New York, Miami, or Los Angeles counterparts -- the so-called beautiful people who frequent these spots on the coasts aren't likely to stop off in Chicago. No matter where you stay in town, you'll likely find that your fellow guests are business travelers or vacationing families, but the boutiques usually attract business travelers who are a little more adventurous.

Hotel rates can vary enormously throughout the year, but I've divided hotels into four categories based on their average rates. "Very Expensive" hotels are luxury properties where rooms cost an average of $400 and up (and are seldom discounted). At "Expensive" hotels, rooms are at least $200 per night, with an upper price limit of $350 to $400. At a "Moderate" hotel, you can usually find a room for less than $200 per night; "Inexpensive" hotels are usually $150 or less per night. The rates given in this chapter are per night and do not include taxes, which are quite steep at 14.9%, nor do they take into account corporate or other discounts. Prices are always subject to availability and vary according to the time of week and season.

Because Chicago's hospitality industry caters first and foremost to the business traveler, rates tend to be higher during the week. The city's slow season is from January to March, when outsiders steer clear of the cold and the threat of being snowed in at O'Hare. (If you'd like to watch your pennies but don't want to sightsee in a heavy down coat, another option is to stay in an outlying neighborhood during the week and then move into downtown for the weekend.)

You never know when some huge convention will gobble up all the desirable rooms in the city (even on the weekends), so it pays to book a room well in advance at any time of year. You can contact the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau (tel. 312/567-8500; www.choosechicago.com; click on "Meeting Professionals," and then click on "Convention Calendar") to see if conventions are scheduled at the same time as your visit.

Reservations -- While our listings give the national toll-free numbers for most of the hotels in this book (as well as their local numbers), the best rates tend to show up on the hotels' websites, which often tout special deals. If you book online, follow up with a call to the hotel to discuss the type of room you want -- otherwise you might get stuck with a view of an alley rather than the Sears Tower.

Most hotels have check-in times between 3 and 6pm; if you are going to be delayed, call ahead and reconfirm your reservation to prevent cancellation.

Corporate Discounts -- Most hotels offer discounts of roughly 10% to individuals who are visiting Chicago on business. To qualify for this rate, your company usually must have an account on file at the hotel. In some cases, however, you may be required only to present some perfunctory proof of your commercial status, such as a business card or an official letterhead, to receive the discount. It never hurts to ask.

Reservation Services -- For discounted rooms at more than 30 downtown hotels, try Hot Rooms (tel. 800/468-3500 or 773/468-7666; www.hotrooms.com). Expect to get anywhere from 25% to 50% off standard rates (the rates here aren't always cheaper than the hotels' own websites, but it's worth checking out). The 24-hour service is free, but if you cancel a reservation, you're assessed a $25 fee. For a free copy of the annual Illinois Hotel-Motel Directory, which also provides information about weekend packages, call the Illinois Bureau of Tourism at tel. 800/2-CONNECT.

The Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau's website (www.choosechicago.com) allows you to book hotels as well as complete travel packages. Check out the "Immersion Weekends," trips planned around a particular theme (such as fashion or museums) that include behind-the-scenes tours and meals at distinctive local restaurants.

Bed & Breakfast Reservations -- A centralized reservations service called At Home Inn Chicago, P.O. Box 14088, Chicago, IL 60614 (tel. 800/375-7084 or 312/640-1050; fax 312/640-1012; www.athomeinnchicago.com), lists more than 70 accommodations in Chicago. Options range from high-rise and loft apartments to guest rooms carved from a former private club on the 40th floor of a Loop office building. Most lie within 3 miles of downtown (many are located in the Gold Coast, Old Town, and Lincoln Park neighborhoods) and will run you $150 to $300 for apartments, and as low as $105 for guest rooms in private homes. Most require a minimum stay of 2 or 3 nights.

A group of local B&B owners has formed the Chicago Bed and Breakfast Association, with a website that links to various properties throughout the city: www.chicago-bed-breakfast.com.

Accessibility -- Most hotels are prepared to accommodate travelers with physical disabilities, but you should always inquire when making reservations to make sure that the hotel can meet your particular needs. Older properties, in particular, may not meet current requirements or may only have limited numbers of specially equipped rooms.

A Word About Smoking -- Most hotels offer rooms or entire floors for nonsmokers. If it's important to you, be sure to specify whether you want a smoking or nonsmoking room when you make your reservation.

The Loop

Strictly speaking, "downtown" in Chicago means the Loop -- the central business district, a 6X8-block rectangle enveloped by elevated tracks on all four sides. Within these confines are the city's financial institutions, trading markets, and municipal government buildings, making for a lot of hustle and bustle Monday through Friday. The Art Institute of Chicago sits on the Loop's edge, and the Museum Campus, home to the Field Museum of Natural History and John G. Shedd Aquarium, is an easy walk to the south on a nice day. For visitors who want a real "city" experience, the Loop offers dramatic urban vistas of skyscrapers and the feeling that you're at the heart of the action -- on weekdays. Come Saturday and Sunday, however, the Loop is pretty dead; on Sunday, almost all the stores are closed. If nightlife is a priority, you won't find much here, but you do have some good dining options.