Originally Posted by tailfins
Hey - that's actually the weekend of my wedding. We're getting married at the Museum of Contemporary Art about 4 blocks from the RI. The RI there seemed OK, but also seemed to be a bit older. But, given that it's Marathon Weekend, I think you did really well to get any sort of room downtown. I know some of our guests have had a lot of difficulty, as the RI, Fairfield Inn and Courtyard are pretty much sold out.
Well, good news: a few of those downtown Marriotts are once again available. (Kind of typical for a megamarathon - lots of would-be first-timers change their mind when they do their 20-mile training runs 4 weeks ahead of race day.
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Prices are still high, but if you can quickly acquire a Premium Pounds, the Renaissance or Marriott Mag Mile drop into the low $200's, which is a tolerable rate in the grand scheme of things. (Better than dropping $150 on an O'Hare hotel!) The Renaissance lounge is open this weekend; not sure about Mar Mag Mile.
I was able to get Residence Inn at $169/nt. and I will receive a $50 BB. I got that early...May or so. Long before the 40,000 entries were sold out.