For great walking tours of architecture in the city, see those by the Chicago Architecture Foundation: http://www.architecture.org
HOTELS
Reserve early, as this is a big convention town, and there are some
weekends
when there are no rooms available anywhere.
BEST BUY: Club Quarters, two locations: 111. W. Adams (an easy walk from Union Station, where Amtrak trains arrive) and 75 E. Wacker (just west of Michigan Avenue, the better location if you're driving, as a good parking lot is only a block away). The rooms in the hotel are small but comfortable and well-kept, and there is free internet access on computers in the lobby and business center. These are great hotels, designed for business travelers with cut-rates on weekends (significantly under $100, when space is available) and moderate prices during the week. http://www.clubquarters.com. Through ACM's membership in Club Quarters, Knox faculty and staff can stay in either of two Club Quarters hotels in Chicago for very reasonable rates. This is a great perk! Club Quarters also has hotels in New York, Washington, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, and London; rates vary by location. To make a reservation online, you'll need the ACM password, which you can get from the office of the Dean of the College (x7216). Use the password to sign in on the Club Quarters website; then to get room information, click on "Make Reservations." The rates displayed for the various sizes of room are the standard rates. Go ahead and make your reservation online with those rates, and then call the main reservation number to ask for the special weekend discount (if you will be there Friday, Saturday, or Sunday nights): (212) 575-0006. (Or you can do the whole thing over the phone.) You may have to call in again closer to the time of the reservation to get the discounted rate, as they wait until they see how booked up the hotel is.
FOR MORE OPTIONS: Here are several agencies
or
websites that can help with reservations:
http://chicago.hotelguide.net Extensive listings, including
some
lower-priced hotels (1-800-695-8284)
http://www.hoteldiscounts.com You can sometimes find here
discount
rates at great hotels (e.g. the Hyatt Regency for $80 or the Allerton
for
$76).
http://www.quickbook.com Unlike
other hotel sites, on this one you don't have to pre-pay.
http://www.aroomwithaview.net/index.html
A Room
with a View: 1-800-780-4343. This agency specializes in finding
rooms
in sold out situations; handles Chicago, New Orleans, and Boston.
http://www.hotrooms.com
1-800-468-3500 For discount rooms in Chicago.
And if you can tolerate a bit of risk and can wait until a day or so
before
your trip, try Priceline. If you put in a bid of $75 for a downtown or
near
north hotel, you will probably get a reservation; you can try even lower: http://www.priceline.com
Here are SEVERAL SPECIFIC HOTELS with room prices UNDER OR ABOUT
$100 (as of 2006).
The first four are places where some of us have stayed; the rest
are
gleaned from information from the web "hotelguide" above:
Chicago Lodge on the north side (Foster and Sheridan)
(773-334-5600) Free parking at the motel.
Red Roof Inn, 162 E. Ontario (312-787-3580); a bit shabby, but great location on the near north side, and with a nice, reasonably priced Italian restaurant downstairs--the Coco Pazzo Cafe.
Cass Hotel, 640 N. Wabash (312-787-4040); small, clean rooms, no frills; very conveniently located on the near north side.
Best Western River North, 125 E. Ohio St. (800-727-0800)
Best Western Grant Park, 1100 S. Michigan St. (800-528-1234 or 312-922-2900)
Days Inn Gold Coast, 1816 N. Clark (800-695-8284)
Travelodge, 65 E. Harrison (at S. Michigan Avenue) (800-695-8284)