Chicago - 1-day meeting for 60 at O'hare: Hilton, Hyatt or Marriott?

We're planning a 1-day seminar next April for about 50-60 participants at or near O'Hare. It's a high end meeting for which participants will pay; attendees may include Directors, VPs and Presidents. (We previously did one at the ATL Renaissance.)

I would like to have it at the Hilton that's right in the airport for maximum convenience. My partner is thinking that the Hyatt or the Marriott are close enough, and we can save some money.

First, how long does it actually take to get from an arrival gate to the hotel? Am I right in thinking it takes about 45 minutes (walk to transit hub, wait for shuttle, shuttle to hotel)?

Second, anyone here ever attended or planned meetings at any of those properties? Any comments pro or con?

Thanks.

Hilton at ORD would be very VERY convenient for attendees: walking distance.

But from personal experience I can definitively say they could not give half a cr@p about helping you with your meeting. They get the traffic anyway, and they don't care. AT ALL. I was looking at several hundred rooms for 2+ nights and they did not even return my phone call.

Hyatt Rosemont is a decent place, but a few minutes away by shuttle or L. Nice big hotel, 1100 rooms, used to meetings. Plenty of nice restaurants (steakhouses, Italian, etc.) close by for that aspect of your meeting. So whatever you lose on the airport transfer, you'd gain on meals. Would probably be my choice.

Marriott ORD would rank last of the ones you mention, IMO. Farther and less upscale. And some idiot sales reps, IME.

Intercontinental O'Hare is very very nice for an airport hotel. Meeting staff was very friendly. They even have 5000 PC Points Breaks all the time.

Hilton Rosemont has an accommodating sales staff. Might check with them.

Rosemont is very close to ORD (3 miles maybe), so the determining factor is the shuttle wait. That you'd have to ask about.

PM me if you like. Good luck.

How about the Hyatt Rosemont (not the Hyatt O'Hare in Rosemont)? The Hyatt Rosemont is a smaller hotel and newer, and it is often used for upper-end medical meetings, since there's a major medical association headquarters next door.

Important factor may be airport van transportation--check with Hyatt Rosemont to be sure their van does not also stop at the big Hyatt O'Hare on the way to/from airport.

For your guests, the walk to any hotel shuttle van means walking just about to the Hilton through the underground tunnels from the terminals, so they will see the signs for the Hilton and wonder why the meeting is not there. But maybe the cost differential vs. the Hilton would allow dedicated vans to pick-up your attendees!

At one time, we used a conference center inside the airport (inside security) which was located on the mezzanine level of the Terminal 2 rotunda...... but not sure if it still exists.

You may also want to consider the Hilton Garden Inn there as well. It's not your typical Hilton Garden Inn. They're more of a full service hotel than other Hilton Gardens. I attended a seminar there a couple of months ago and was surprised on how much meeting space they had.

They're right next to the new casino and I'm pretty sure their shuttle runs 24 hours to and from the airport and doesn't make any stops to any other properties.

Very, very helpful - thanks.

We've pretty much settled on the Hilton - we're willing to pay a little more, dinners won't be an issue (one-day meeting), and convenience is very important. Peersteve's comment that attendees have to walk past the Hilton to get to the shuttle basically tipped us over. (That, and the Hyatt rep's comment that the shuttle could take longer if it gets stuck in traffic - that is, you can't really know how long it takes).

BTW, I agree that the Hilton sales staff seem less professional than the others, but my experience has at least been better than toomanybooks - they have been willing to deal on the meeting room, food and AV.

Although you've pretty much made your decision, I'll just chime in to say "I agree" that the Hilton has it hands down for maximum convenience - if you have anyone from Chicago attending it's even extrordinarily close to the Blue line station. I've been to meetings there, and it was fine - just fine, but fine - and the people who were flying in for the day were overjoyed at how easy it was.

For a great experience, I'd probably go with the IC, I've heard nothing but good things about that property.