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Astronomically high rates and limited availability on 17 May - any reason?

Astronomically high rates and limited availability on 17 May - any reason?

Old Apr 23, 2014, 5:29 pm
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Astronomically high rates and limited availability on 17 May - any reason?

I'm looking to book a hotel in Chicago on 17 May and I noticed that virtually every hotel is either booked solid or offering absurdly high rates (as in $400+) for the night.

Is there a special event going on in the city, or is this whole thing a coincidence?
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Old Apr 23, 2014, 5:58 pm
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National Restaurant Association, May 17th - 20th. It's BIG.
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Old Apr 23, 2014, 8:24 pm
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...also my google for Chicago that day reveals no less than eight (8) festivals and special events going on for several days which include 17 May 14.
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Old Apr 24, 2014, 4:50 am
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Originally Posted by gmax58
I'm looking to book a hotel in Chicago on 17 May and I noticed that virtually every hotel is either booked solid or offering absurdly high rates (as in $400+) for the night.

Is there a special event going on in the city, or is this whole thing a coincidence?
You may be able to get something for around $300 or in the $300s on hotwire.com. It's probably another one of those "too many things going on at once" days for the Chicago area -- I've been hit by them before in the late spring or early fall sometimes. You may be better off with AirBnB.
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Old Apr 24, 2014, 4:53 am
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Cubs are in town as well. But mostly the Restaurant Show.
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Old Apr 24, 2014, 8:30 am
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Are you sure it's not Beaglefest?

Seriously, though, this is a huge convention. It is not open to the public and still draws over 60,000 attendees each year. That's a lot of hotel rooms. You can imagine folks in the industry, even from within the region, will want to book rooms and stay downtown rather than commuting back and forth from Rockford or Kenosha or Aurora every day.
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Old Apr 24, 2014, 10:13 am
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Originally Posted by jerry a. laska
National Restaurant Association, May 17th - 20th. It's BIG.
This also means that reservations at restaurants will be as scarce as hen's teeth, and if you get one the staff will be overworked and grumpy. Also, toward the end of the show they'll begin to run out of things like most of their wine list. Pretty ugly for us, but given the money it brings to Chicago is something I can live with.
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