Downtown Chicago Hotel
 

Looking to make my first trip to Chicago soon.

Currently looking at Kimpton Gray, Kimpton Monaco, or the Intercontinental. Any strong preferences for one over the other, and if so, why? Are any of the particularly safer, or unsafe compared to the others?
Plan to be walking around the city and doing the usual tourist stuff. I'd rather walk around, do public transit, etc. vs sitting in Ubers all day and being home by 6pm.

Strongly prefer IHG properties, unless there is a significantly better choice.

The Kimptons are in the Loop and the IC is in...I guess that's Streeterville? I think the Loop will be pretty dead outside of M-F 9-5. The IC will have a little more going on. All of the options are easy walks to each other. No real differences in safety aside from those associated with fewer people being around. The Kimptons will be a little closer to more train lines, but not by so much that it makes a difference if you're already wanting to walk places.

I would also consider staying in a neighborhood like Wicker Park or Lakeview. Neighborhoods are more fun.

You should consider staying in West Loop. There are a lot of restaurants and night life spots there; it is close to the Loop and is nowhere nearly as touristy as Michigan Ave, which gets as crowded as Main Street in Disneyland. If you wish to stay at an IHG property, there is a Crown Plaza.

Over thr years on my business trips I’ve stayed near magnificent mile and just south of the river. I can’t recall if an IHG property was there.

last visit was in April where I attended s conference. Where I stayed there was just off Michigan avenue. When I returned I went out to dinner at nearby places.

As a native Chicagoan who goes back a decent amount, I would recommend not staying in the Loop or Mag Mile/Streeterville. The Loop is mostly an office zone, and with half the world still doing WFH, it really has a sort of post-zombie apocalypse feel to it these days. Mag Mile/Streeterville is just tourist central; it's a place you stay if you're coming down from Wisconsin to go shopping at Nordstrom and take your daughters to American Girl Place. If you want to go shopping and see it, you can, but I'd suggest not basing yourself there.

I personally like staying in the Gold Coast/Old Town area - think between Division and Lincoln, from the lake west to Wells. That area is much more of a neighborhood than downtown; it doesn't get the tourist traffic, has a lot of good restaurants and bars, and it's very well connected by L and buses to the rest of the city. It's also right next to the lakefront/Lincoln Park, which is gorgeous. I'm not sure if there's an IHG property there, though.

Wicker Park, as gfunkdave mentioned, is another option - although the only hotel I really know there is the Robey, which is somewhat expensive and right at the very busy and possibly noisy triple intersection of North, Milwaukee, and Damen. That area has a million places to eat and drink, lots of funky stores, and beautiful residential streets to amble down. The Blue Line L is also right there, which can take you both downtown and to ORD. There's also a Hyatt Place at North/Ashland, but that location is a bit removed and unattractive (at least to me). I know nothing about the hotel itself - have just seen it when taking the bus by it and thought to myself, "That's a very odd location for a hotel."

If you need specific recommendations on things to do, places to eat and drink, etc., please let me know!

We ended up at the Gray and it worked out perfect. Excellent hotel, good enough location (5 min walk to major public transportation stops) and service was top notch. Would absolutely recommend it to others.

Sorry to reopen thread, but looking for advice on hotels/neighbourhoods for a weekend catching up with old friends all coming from other parts of N.America (long story - Chicago makes sense for our schedules). Don't want to be constantly in an Uber or taxi, so ease of public transit and walkability to restaurants, interesting spots, etc. is of importance. Thanks in advance.

See my post above about Gold Coast/Old Town and Wicker Park. If you're in the North Side lakefront neighborhoods, or Wicker Park/Bucktown along the Blue Line, you'll have lots of restaurants and entertainment options in walking distance and can easily get around by public transportation.

For hotels, I've heard great things about the Robey in Wicker Park, although I haven't stayed there and I'd be a bit worried about the potential for noise given its location at a busy intersection. I have stayed at the Ambassador in the Gold Coast and really like it.

There are also some boutique hotels farther north along the lakefront, in Lincoln Park and Lakeview. There's apparently a luxury hotel now right next to Wrigley Field with views of the baseball field, although I haven't stayed there either.

Just back from 4 days at the Gray myself. Solid hotel, I would go back. However, what others have commented on re:Loop is true. It's business heavy, so come the weekend it's pretty quiet. Which, depending on your needs/desires is either a plus or minus.
I was transiting via Union Station, so Gray's location was a plus for me, as I could easily walk.

Reviving this thread to also ask about downtown Chicago properties. I have a few days post-conference to spend in downtown. I'll be there on a Sunday and Monday in mid-September.

I wanted to do points/awards nights if possible and I'm interested in staying in properties I haven't been to before. A decent neighborhood vibe with some nice restaurants would be more than sufficient.

I have one 50K Marriott FNC and I have 10,000 Hyatt points. I'm fine with shuffling between one Hyatt and one Marriott property.

On the Hyatt side, I see only Hotel Lincoln is a cat 3 and would fit the bill at 9,000 points. It seems a bit out of the way, but I have previously stayed at the Ambassador jdv property which is not too far from it. And the Ambassador was nice overall, good staff but the room was a bit dated. I've also previously stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Lakeshore East.

On the Marriott side, I read some reviews of the JW which didn't seem all that good and same goes with the W. Maybe the Ritz would be worth a try? Any nice property that I could use up my FNC at -- preferably with a breakfast offering, but I'm only Bonvoy Gold, which probably wouldn't qualify me for that.


Thanks in advance for all advice and input.

I had 1 friend stay at the Hyatt next door to the gray, it was significantly cheaper by the time he booked. No complaints, although he said our rooms were much nicer. The bar/restaraunt at the Hyatt was good, we popped over there a few times.
I have no experience with Marriotts in that area however.

Thanks for your feedback. Looks like the Hyatt next door to Gray is the Centric. Not a bad option, maybe a bit higher in points than I'd want (12,000 per night vs the 10,000 I have available).

As for Marriott, let's see if someone else offers input. A friend who grew up in Chicago suggested the River North area, so that would be Westin, Marriott, and W.

Chicago is a bit weird for Marriotts because the entire range of brands exists, but none of the properties are necessarily a standout. Having said that, would probably recommend the Ritz - followed by the JW, Gwen and the Westin.

For Hyatt - the Centric is solid but the most unique property in town is the Chicago Athletic Association (though I'm not sure it fits within your point budget)

What's the best option for IHG in Chicago? Intercontinental, Kimpton Gray, or voco?

The Kimpton Gray is a nice hotel and it has a great bar (Vol. 39), but the quality of the location depends on your reason for visiting. It's in the middle of the Loop (our business district), so it is extremely convenient for transit and business travel, but the area is dead quiet at night without much to do. But it's an easy walk to some of the major tourist attractions like the Art Institute and Millennium Park.

The Intercontinental is on the border between River North and Streeterville, located on the Mag Mile. This would be my choice if you are visiting for leisure, as it will be a better area to walk around on the weekends and nights with more to eat/see/do in that immediate area. Still an easy walk to Orange/Blue line trains if you are commuting from the airport on the train, and the Brown/Red line trains to access the rest of the city.

Chicago trip observations
 

We just stayed in Chicago over a part of Easter week 2025. The first night we stayed at the Gray, which was a solid experience in an older building. After a day elsewhere, we returned to Chicago and stayed at the Canopy by Hilton on Jackson, just a couple of blocks from Union Station. It is in the same building as the Hilton Garden Inn, but the entrance for that one is around the corner on Franklin. The two hotels even share adjacent elevator banks. We were quite pleased with the Canopy; they even let us check in early at 9am without demanding a surcharge.

Both the Kimpton Gray and the Canopy are within a couple of blocks of the CTA Blue line to O'Hare, albeit different stations (Monroe and La Salle, respectively). The Canopy is one block from the L at Quincy, and 2 blocks from Union Station, while the Gray is perhaps 5 blocks from Union Station. Downtown Chicago is very walkable, and we found that there were always quite a few people out and about, even on the weekend. We walked the half mile to the Cadillac Theatre for Moulin Rouge in the evening, and to the Art Institute on Michigan Avenue. The Sears (Willis) Tower is right across the street from the Canopy. We took the 146 bus on a Sunday from State St. to the Adler Planetarium, took the L to easier walking distance of the starting point for the architectural river cruise (and walked back, about 1.5 miles to the Canopy),. We walked to the West Loop, about a mile each way, to "The Girl and the Goat" restaurant of celebrity chef Stephanie Izard on West Randolph in Restaurant Row, walking via Greektown (Halsted). Overall, a very good experience on the streets and on transit. We took the Blue Line to O'Hare twice. No complaints about Chicago. The streets still look relatively clean in the Loop compared with other cities, as I remember it from one or more decades ago. There were a few homeless people here and there, but the typical person out and about during our stay was a normal person.

This is my neighborhood. Glad to hear you enjoyed your experience. Thanks for sharing!

Hi guys, which would you recommend for nice views, with a pool and in a strategic tourist location?
From what I can see that should be around the little horizontal river up to the lake right?
Only going to be there for a few nights in summer, so have to use our time efficiently.

No preference re/hotel chains etc.
Preferably not a very grey room (as in the person I am travelling with really does not like that, so no Voco/Silversmith etc).
Also; nice hotel breakfast is on the preference list :)
I don't mind old/historic etc but should not feel tired/dirty

If within your budget, I would definitely recommend the Park Hyatt. Heart of the Mag Mile and retail district, easy public transit access throughout the city. Short walk along Michigan Ave to the tourist sites downtown, riverwalk as well as the lake. Also recently renovated, bright and energetic decor, very good breakfast and superb experience overall.

Yeah agree it looks very good! Unfortuantely a bit above budget. max is around the 1000-1100 mark but preferably lower than that.
Radisson Blu looked nice but reviews are bad.
The Wade looks cool but a bit far from public transport.
Sentral looks ideal but no more 2 beds.

If I'd need to choose I would prefer an excellent breakfast over having a pool

I like the Sofitel and they have a good breakfast (I don't usually eat breakfast at hotels, but my travel agent got them to comp it for us); I don't think that they have a pool, though. It's close to Michigan Ave., however, just far enough to be away from the massive crowds there, and it's two and a half blocks from a Red Line station.

Instead of hotel breakfast, I'd go to Lou Mitchell's and get an old timey Chicago diner experience.

Good tip, will definitely try to check it out!
Thnx :)

For complex reasons, I need to be in Chicago for work on both the Friday and Monday either side of the Marathon weekend. I have absolutely no interest in the Marathon, and also want to avoid the sky high hotel prices downtown over that weekend. Ideally, I’d like to find a mid scale hotel somewhere within about 30mins of downtown by public transit, ideally with some walkable places to eat and have a stroll etc (e.g. I don’t want to stay at an airport hotel) so I could avoid going downtown on Marathon day.

Evanston seems to tick my boxes - there’s a cluster of reasonably priced hotels around Davis Metra and L stations, and it looks like I could walk to the lake and the Northwest campus.

I don’t know Chicago well at all, so my question is - are my assumptions reasonable, is Evanston a good choice given my criteria, are there other places I should be looking?

See this post further up the thread:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/35688805-post5.html

It may partially depend on the location of your workplace. If you have to be in River North in the mornings anyway, Old Town is not a bad suggestion since you'll just be two stops away on the Red Line but it's also right in the middle of the race over the weekend (at mile 10, not near the start or finish, but still).

I will say that Evanston is extremely walkable. Any of the five hotels in the downtown Evanston area are within ~15 minutes of the lake and of multiple restaurants. The commute to the Loop will be 25-30 minutes on Metra or 45-60 minutes on the L. Depending on where you're headed, one might make sense more than the other. Getting from O'Hare to Evanston you might try the Pace Pulse BRT because on Metra or the L you would have to go into downtown and back out.

Thanks very much, that’s really helpful.

Evanston is fine. You could also check out the Robey in Wicker Park. Looks like it's $399/night for Fri-Mon. Cool newish hotel in an old bank building right in the middle of one of the more happening neighborhoods. It's next to the Blue Line, which will get you downtown in 15 mins and to O'Hare in about 30.

Just a note to thank posters above for their help. I ended up in the Holiday Inn at Evanston, which was fine - nothing special but clean and functional. I was impressed with Evanston, plenty of places to eat around Davis and more options around Dempster, including an amazing pizza place. I had a pleasant walk around town and a nice run up the coastline along the Northwest Lakefill.

The Pulse bus worked well. The concept was a bit bizarre - very bright livery, which just seems to signify it gets some priority at traffic lights, whereas the bus is just a normal city bus inside. A long ride from ORD, but direct and still quicker than going into town and out again.