Advice for 5-night award stay for (soon-to-be) ex-Diamond during Marathon?
Rates are fairly high in Chicago during the Chicago Marathon in October so I am planning to use points.
My Diamond status is expiring at the end of this month, and I am not sure if I will be able to redeem for "5th night free" after that happens so looking to book this month. This probably also means no lounge, and I am travelling with my girlfriend so we are only 2 persons, no kids.
For my dates these hotels are all 56,000 point/night (or $340-$380/night):
-LondonHouse
-theWit
-The Drake
For the Marathon the LH or Wit are best located out of these but otherwise it seems most of our planned destinations are further north (Local Option, Map Room, Bangers&Lace, Piece Brewery to mention a few) which tips the hat in favour of The Drake.
I need to top up my account ($300) to afford one of those properties, but can have one of these for 40,000 points/night instead:
-any one of the Hampton Inns
-Hilton Garden Inn Chicago/North Loop
-DoubleTree - Magnificent Mile (which nobody seems to like)
In between, at 48,000 points/night comes:
-Any one of the Embassy Suites
-Homewood Suites Chicago-Downtown
-Homewood Suites Downtown/Magnificent Mile
Is this a no-brainer and I should go for the Curio, or is there more to consider, or are all of the options more or less OK and I can't go right/wrong anyway?
Any advice or feedback appreciated!