Traveling solo can be lonely at times. Before I go any further I'll just say that I am not married and a pretty young guy (24). Hotel bars can be a great place to find companionship. After all, if you wanted to be alone you would have stayed in your room.

At the hotels I stay at regularly I have learned the type of female patrons that usually make their way to the hotel bar well after dining hours are over. Most are usually professionals who live out of town, a few are visiting for pleasure, and then sometimes you find some locals.

Is this pretty much the standard array at most hotel bars? I'm staying at the Grand Hyatt Washington soon and I've never stayed at this hotel before. Does anyone have any knowledge of the kind of clientele that usually gathers at the bar? I'm just wondering if I should "stay in" for the night or make plans to go elsewhere.

Also, feel free to share any other hotel bar experiences/advice.

Well, it worked for George Clooney in "Up in the Air." But maybe that's just Hollywood and/or Clooney. Supposedly the situation has been covered in the few score-chicks guy-oriented manifestos out there, and there's said to be a number of do's and don'ts. But I'm no expert, having usually opted for curtain #2 and trying to get out and see what things there are to see, even if solo.

In the last ~5 years, Chicago's hotel bars (and restaurants) have had a surge in popularity among residents. I think the trend has been fueled by two factors:

1. Hotels are no longer treating their food & beverage programs as "anything will do because guests will use it" because the hotel restaurants and bars have to compete with so many other great options in the city.

2. Many hotels have their previously unused rooftops with great views--so why not take advantage of it and add a rooftop bar?

As a hotel guest, I used to assume that hotel bars and restaurants would always have a seat or table available for me, no reservation required, because--frankly--they weren't that popular. These days when friend suggests that we head to a restaurant or bar that happens to be located in a hotel (not a "hotel bar" anymore), I'm more inclined to think, "I wonder how hard it will be to get a reservation. Am I going to be crammed in a corner and jostled by other patrons because it's packed?" Not sure if that's the case in other cities, but it's the trend in Chicago.

Now, all of that said: It's not a universal truth in Chicago. No friend has ever said to me, "Let's go to the bar at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers." But the Hotel Lincoln, Hotel Wit, Park Hyatt, Rafaello, Peninsula, Hotel Palomar, Conrad, James, etc. are all packed.

If you're looking for drunk, mid-western and fifty.

The oldest I've gone is 34. She was in town for a nurses convention and we had a lot of fun. Don't get me wrong I like a challenge but sometimes it's nice to get the deal done quickly and that has mostly been my experience at hotel bars.