One block west of North Michigan Avenue, the major shopping district and upscale retail section of Chicago called the ‘Magnificent Mile’ is Four Points Chicago Downtown-Magnificent Mile. The hotel is next to Trader Joe’s supermarket for access to food and drink when a restaurant is not in your meal plans. 

This hotel stay was a Starwood Hotels Best Rate Guarantee claim where I saved about $10 on the room rate and earned 2,000 bonus Starpoints. Starwood Hotels had a prepaid, nonrefundable room rate of $105 for a room with two Double beds and Hotels.com rate was $95 for a King Bed. Read More…

Marriott’s Renaissance Blackstone Chicago has a 96-hour tax return sale for $96 rates through the remainder of 2013. The sale ends at 12 midnight Thursday, April 18 (CDT).

http://www.marriott.com/search/default.mi

I checked dates for May and November to find scattered availability.

Enter code L9Z in the “Corporate/promotional code” box.

The rate of $96 is a prepaid, nonrefundable rate.

Regular rates were $200 to $300+ for dates I checked with the $96 rate special offer.

Renaissance Blackstone Chicago $96 Tax Return Sale for prepaid, nonrefundable bookings by Thursday, April 18 for stays through December 2013. Limited availability.

Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago offers rooms in two styles with ‘Naturally Cool’ light woods and ‘Mansion House’ blue tones and sparkling bathroom tile. The room I stayed in for the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group 2013 Full Service Brands conference was the Mansion House style. The three nights at the Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago were complimentary as a press attendee for the conference.

Mansion House décor in King bed room, 9th floor, Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago. Read More…

A trip to Chicago in a few weeks had me looking at hotel rooms. When I checked Hyatt’s site I was surprised to see Hyatt Chicago Magnificent Mile listed. I was not aware of this hotel before, but a $105 midweek rate certainly grabbed my attention. After a little investigation I learned the hotel was rebranded recently from Wyndham Chicago after an $88.4 million dollar purchase May 2012. The 417-room hotel started a $25 million renovation January 1, 2013 and is taking guests during the remodel period. The renovation is expected to be complete in May 2013.

Those money moguls from Blackstone Group scored another valuable property transaction, buying the Wyndham hotel property in 2010 in a distressed sale and flipping it to Sunstone Hotel Investors at double the 2010 assessment for the Chicago hotel property. Read More…

The first skyscraper was built in Chicago and completed in 1885 after William Jenny won an 1883 building design contest by the Home Insurance Company.  The first skyscraper at 138 feet had a 10-story design using a metal cage covered in stone for fireproofing. Preventing fire in downtown Chicago was a major concern after the great fire of 1871 destroyed much of the city’s business core. In 1890 two more stories were added to the Home Insurance Company building raising its height to 180 feet.  The Home Insurance Company building was demolished in 1931.

Read More…

Last month I passed by the JW Marriott Chicago, across the street from Starwood’s W City Center Hotel. The lobby was busy with workers adding the finishing details to the $396 million dollar renovation of the Continental and Commercial National Bank Building.  The Burnham building is a piece of Chicago history. Daniel H. Burnham, raised in Chicago, was America’s preeminent architect at the turn of the century and his architectural firm was the largest in the world at the time of his death in 1912. Other notable Burnham buildings are Union Station Washington D.C. and the Flatiron Building in New York City.

The hotel opened three weeks ago with 610 guestrooms on the lower 12 floors of the building. TimeOut Chicago has a 21 photo slideshow of the new hotel interior.

Dom Perignon Champagne & Andy Warhol-inspired snacks

Wednesday, December 1 from 4-9 pm there will be an event in the JW Marriott Lounge hosted by Dom Perignon to release a new limited edition collection of Warhol-inspired DP champagne bottles with a 2002 vintage. The bottles come in six colors and Warhol inspired appetizers will accompany the specially priced champagne.

Sounds like an interesting event if you have the time and inclination to check out the new JW Marriott Chicago hotel.

Room rates currently run at $239 per night for this weekend Dec 3-5, 2010.

One of the unexpected surprises for me in visiting Chicago hotels were the old-style design elements I found at two historic Hilton hotels. The Palmer House is in the center of the entertainment district and The Drake is the north end of Michigan Avenue at Oak Street where it meets Lake Michigan in the Gold Coast district.

The Drake Hotel (Left bottom) and Gold Coast Chicago viewed from Westin Michigan Avenue

As a first-time tourist I hear Magnificent Mile and I think “Yeah, right?”

The Magnificent Mile is Michigan Avenue from the Chicago River north side from the Wrigley Building at the river with the InterContinental and Marriott  hotels just a few minutes walk to the river. The Drake Hotel is almost a mile north of the Chicago River where Michigan Avenue becomes the 8-lane U.S. Route 41 or Lakeshore Drive locally by name.

Google Maps-Chicago-The Drake Hotel (a Hilton Hotel)

This area is lovely and quite-safe feeling area of Chicago despite what your preconceived notions of downtown Chicago may be.  The area south of the river is a little more gritty, but the major streets of the Gold Coast, Magnificent Mile, and the Loop areas are packed with thousands of global tourists every day and there is certainly safety in numbers when in the hotel districts of downtown Chicago.

Hilton Palmer House Chicago

Palmer House Hotel is a hotel in the Loop district of Chicago and an official Chicago Landmark with a plaque. Holabird & Roche were the architects who designed the hotel in 1925-27, which, according to the plaque, was the world’s largest hotel at the time. Potter Palmer was an important Chicago businessman (click the Wikipedia link if you want to go off on an historical tangent.)

The hotel is designed in the Classical Revival style with French Neoclassical influences.

Holabird & Roche also designed Soldier Field Stadium in 1924 which is the Chicago Bears downtown lakefront stadium and noted as the smallest capacity stadium in the NFL at 61,500.

The Peacock Doors of the Palmer House hotel actually pay homage to the first retail business in Chicago, “House of Peacock”,  founded by Elijah Peacock in 1837.

One of the business joys of being a blogger is when I find totally unexpected connections in the blogosphere. Here is one of those Ethernet life connections as my wife loves to refer to them.

PeacockFairy blog on blogspot does more justice for the Hilton Palmer House than I can from my short visit. If you are at all interested in the Palmer House experience then read this blog post.

The Chicago French Connection

Bertha Palmer wanted all guests at the Palmer House to feel romance and this Romeo & Juliet bronze sculpture in the hotel lobby entrance was designed to inspire romance.

Like many other women who received far less acclaim than her husband during her life, Bertha Palmer was the cultural genius behind her husband’s successful business and was an instrumental force in bringing French impressionist art to Chicago.

The lobby of the Palmer House was “painted at the turn of the 19^th century by French muralist Louis Pierre Rigal. The ceiling is actually 21 individual paintings done in the style of Michaelangelo but depicting Greek mythological subjects.” The previous line is ripped off the Palmer House hotel’s historical plaques.

All you budding photographers in the Chicago area should try and develop an astounding display of the 21 Palmer House ceiling paintings. I have a crap camera for 2010 and these are my photos of a few of the Palmer House ceiling paintings. Please leave a comment if you know a link to a website for good photos of the Palmer House ceiling paintings.

Here is a link to an official Palmer House webpage on several historical rooms of the hotel. Here is a Chicago Sun Times article on the historic Palmer House hotel. This newspaper piece is a great description of a visit to the Palmer House. I kept reading references to Chicago being the greatest place next to Paris for seeing French impressionist art. You know the Monet, Cassatt and Degas stuff.

Turns out that Bertha Palmer, the French-born wife of Potter Palmer, was the woman who acquired many of the French impressionist paintings currently in the Art Institute of Chicago for viewing today.

Mary Cassatt 'The Bath' 1893 - Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute is one block east of the Palmer House Hotel. Thursday evenings are free admission to the  Art Institute of Chicago, which I was fortunate enough to avail myself of during my visit last month.

Here is another one of those beautiful blog posts on the Hilton Palmer House Chicago Empire Room that you do not see the depth of vision when reading mainstream papers.

Chicago Location

Many of the tourist sites in Chicago are located between Soldier Field Chicago and the Gold Coast with Hilton’s The Drake Hotel. Soldier Field and the Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum and planetarium are less than two miles southeast from the Hilton Palmer House on the lakefront, accessible  through urban parkland two blocks from the Hilton Palmer House.

The Drake Hotel is about 1.5 miles north of the Palmer House Hotel, and much of the main city tourist sights are in these sections of downtown lakefront Chicago with the Magnificent Mile in between the two hotels. Transportation is frequent along the lakefront and major north-south roads with buses every few minutes and the Red Line subway will take you between Chicago Avenue where the Magnificent Mile and Gold Coast districts meet and Monroe station that is right by the Palmer House Hotel.

Google Maps - Chicago - Walking Distance Between Palmer House and The Drake

The Drake Hotel Chicago, a  Hilton hotel

The Drake Hotel Chicago entrance

Here is the Wikipedia version of the Drake Hotel story.

The Drake Hotel has the best historic elevators I saw in Chicago. You feel history at the Drake.

Elevators to the lobby of The Drake have couches

“The Drake was built in 1920 as a summer resort in the middle of the city. It is a fourteen story structure, including 10 guest floors, and 800 guest rooms, private dining rooms, lobby and a colonnade dining room. The architect was Ben Marshall.”  is how the hotel concierge historical packet begins.

The Drake Hotel, Chicago - Michigan Avenue side of hotel

The Drake Hotel officially opened in 1920. Ownership changed after the 1929 stock market crash forced the Drake Brothers to sell the hotel in 1937 to the Kirkeby Brothers. The hotel survived escalating real estate prices and today occupies one of the highest valued pieces of real estate in Chicago.

Hilton took over the Drake Hotel in 1980.

The Drake Hotel, Chicago, East Walton Street main entrance

Coq d’Or was the second bar in Chicago to serve drinks at the end of Prohibition on December 6, 1933 at 8:30 pm. 200,000 gallons of whiskey in supply meant the party didn’t stop for some time.

1998 saw a major restoration of the lobby, Palm Court, French Room and Executive Floors.  

The Drake Hotel, Chicago - the lobby

The Palm Court was renovated and the fountain replaced.

The Drake Hotel, Chicago - The Palm Court

Suite 550 is the Presidential Suite. The 10^th floor Executive Lounge at the top of the Drake Hotel looks out upon Lake Michigan. The Drake Hotel has 537 guest rooms.

The Drake Hotel Chicago - Palm Court fountain close-up

High tea at 4pm is still offered at The Drake.

The Drake - Real Chicago

Time and cost constraints make new build hotels loaded with sleek design elements, but real craftsmanship in physical details is rarely seen as with older hotel buildings.

The Drake Hotel Chicago - lobby clock

The beauty I find in old hotels is the design craftwork touches like trim moulding in the halls. I enjoy seeing restored older buildings become hotels or former landmark hotels be restored to past grandeur.

The Drake trim moulding

Celebrities of the past and present have slept in The Drake.

Park north of Oak Street - view from The Drake Chicago

Links: The Drake Hotel - hotel’s website

Palmer House Hotel virtual tour

Palmer House Hilton website

I walked into the W Chicago City Center and I felt that ‘WOW’ factor that I never got at the Chicago W Lakeshore.

W City Center Hotel Chicago - living room space

W Chicago City Center at 172 West Adams Street is across the street from the JW Marriott  hotel, a historical building renovation, scheduled to open sometime in the next few months opened November 11, 2010. The W City Center Hotel is a renovated building from 1910s or 1920s. The hotel opened as the W Chicago City Center in 2001, the same year the W Chicago Lakeshore opened.

W Chicago City Center

The interior architecture is cool to walk around.

W Chicago City Center interior arches

The lobby is dark and moody, but in a positive light.

W Chicago City in blue ray

In contrast to the living room space and low lit 3-D elevator space, the bedrooms reflected brilliant light.

W Chicago City Center bed

The seating was not so traditional. This was a standard size small room facing West Adams Street.

W Chicago City Center room bench

In another room was a lounge chair.

Larger space room on backside of hotel.

All the mod cons present and accounted for in these rooms.

Wonderful Wall in guest room

WORK space has a comfortable desk chair.

W Box of Wine

And of course every room comes with a bathroom!

The hotel had a hopping bar, but too crowded for photos. The restaurant IPO was preparing to open.

W Chicago City Center IPO Restaurant

My Way Cool W Hotel Guide – V – comped me a drink after showing me around the W City Center hotel. I felt like I had put in a full day’s work after visiting 15 Chicago hotels in a single day.  My feet hurt.

I hung out in the W Chicago City Center living room taking in the ambience. In the spirit of full disclosure I accepted a free Pilsner Urquell beer and drank it all.

This lamp is so Alice in Wonderland - You have to see it to really appreciate it.

Location:

This hotel is located right in the Chicago Loop. The advantage of this location is close proximity to Millennium Park, the Art Institute (free Thursday evenings with extensive Impressionist and Georgia O’Keeffe collections) and the Willis Tower (formerly known as Sears Tower to us older people).  

The Loop is the section of the city where the elevated train winds through downtown. The trains are loud, clanking along the old elevated metal frame and wooden platforms. I give it a Disneyland C ticket ride (again for the older folks who remember Disney history).

Reviews of the W Chicago City Center hotel are positive about the atmosphere of the hotel, but less forgiving of the noise from the ‘L’ trains above Franklin Street one block away. Wikipedia actually has a good page on the Chicago Transit System and where the different CTA lines go around the city.

One great thing is this hotel is just about four blocks from the Monroe or Jackson CTA stops on the Chicago O’Hare Airport Blue Line. There is little difficulty paying $2.50 for a ticket and getting the blue line directly from the airport right into downtown Chicago. The inconvenience results in changing to a different CTA line like the red line to the Magnificent Mile area or the ‘L’. Make sure you can carry all of your luggage. You will not necessarily find an elevator or escalator once in the city in some of the transit stations. Be prepared to haul your stuff up and down stairs.

CTA train Blue Line goes directly into the Loop area of downtown Chicago

Related post: Loyalty Traveler – W Chicago Lakeshore Hotel review (Oct 26, 2010)

Last week was my first trip ever into downtown Chicago. 

My viewpoint is the imagery of Chicago for a first-timer. I love architectural design and Chicago is one of the world’s great cities for architecture. Yet there are park spaces within the vicinity of the downtown hotels on both the south side and north side of the Chicago River.

I am a natural urban explorer. I purchased a 7-day CTA pass at the airport for $23 which is good for travel on the trains and buses from ORD through the entire downtown Chicago area. I do not even think I used $23 worth of trains and buses since I primarily walked around the city.

The Loop area of downtown Chicago (south of river) has extra noise from the elevated trains

I found Chicago to be an easy walking city with many of the primary tourist attractions located within one mile of the lakeshore.  

The Chicago River where it primarily runs west to east near the lakeshore creates a natural central city divider.

Chicago River meets Lake Michigan - view east from Sheraton Chicago

Millennium Park on the south side of the river provides a green and waterfront two-mile walkway to the museums around Soldier Field. The Field Natural History Museum, Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium are about two miles south of the river and this is a great location for viewing the Chicago skyscraper skyline.

Chicago Skyline view from Shedd Aquarium

Chicago Field Museum

 Buckingham Fountain is a spectacular piece of waterworks.

Chicago Buckingham Fountain SW view

Chicago Buckingham Fountain looking north

Willis Tower Chicago (Sears Tower) view from Shedd Aquarium

Chicago Millennium Park near Pritzker Pavilion (Pritzker's are the Hyatt Hotels family)

Chicago Millennium Park Pritzker Pavilion

The absolute coolest structural art in Chicago is Millennium Park’s Cloud Gate or affectionately known as “The Bean”.

Chicago Millenium Park Cloud Gate or The Bean

The Bean - Chicago Abstract

Chicago Cloud Gate

Portrait of a Tourist - Chicago Bean

Hyatt Regency Chicago, Swissotel,  Westin Riverfront and Sheraton Chicago are located alongside the river.

Hyatt Regency Chicago and Radisson Blu Chicago Aqua Tower

Interestingly, the Michigan Avenue Bridge was renamed on October 15, 2010 to DuSable Bridge during my stay in Chicago. I came across the dedication ceremony at noon on my walk back to the Sheraton Chicago.  Here is the WGN Chicago news story print version telling how DuSable was a freed black man from Haiti who was the first documented non-native settler of Chicago in the late 1700s.

Chicago Michigan Avenue Bridge renamed DuSable Bridge October 15, 2010

The Magnificent Mile on Michigan Avenue North begins at the Wrigley Building on the north side of DuSable Bridge and is truly about one mile of top end stores and hotels like InterContinental Chicago, Conrad Chicago, Marriott Chicago on the south end of the Magnificent Mile and north of the river. Embassy Suites Chicago is one block north of the river across from the Sheraton Chicago adjacent to the river.

InterContinental Hotel Chicago on Michigan Avenue's Magnificent Mile

Midway up the Magnificent Mile (Michigan Avenue North) is the historic Chicago Water Tower.

Chicago Water Tower and Ritz Carlton Tower in upper right

On this block are The Peninsula, Park Hyatt Chicago, and Four Seasons Ritz-Carlton Chicago. There is not a comma missing in the previous sentence. The Ritz-Carlton Chicago is not affiliated with Marriott’s Ritz-Carlton Hotels  and is actually a Four Seasons brand hotel.  Not to be confused with the Chicago Four Seasons Hotel, more northerly by a couple of blocks. The northern end of the Magnificent Mile has the historic Drake Hotel, a Hilton brand on Michigan Avenue that has the coolest elevators.

Style Points to The Drake Hotel (Hilton) Chicago for elevator couch

Other treasures along the Magnificent Mile stretch include Sofitel Chicago, Knickerbocker, Elysian, and a variety of chain hotels like Fairfield Inn, Four Points, Hilton Suites, Homewood Suites, Crowne Plaza Hotel Avenue, Omni, Wyndham Chicago, and Courtyard, which mostly sit a block or two off Michigan Avenue.

Sofitel Chicago (Accor Hotels) has new world design style

The Lincoln Park Zoo is less than three miles north of the Chicago River.

Chicago Lincoln Park

Some people think I get free travel. The hotels and opportunities I get for discount rooms are the same opportunities open to any loyalty program member who plans with good travel strategies. I do not take complimentary rooms from hotels when I travel.

My goal is to show readers what is possible with hotel loyalty programs. Sometimes I probably get a nice upgrade due to being Loyalty Traveler, but the nice upgrades were a benefit I received as an elite hotel loyalty program member for many years prior to writing this blog.

Here is an example of how I stayed mostly in upper upscale and luxury hotels in Chicago for under $100 per night this past week even though a major Opthalmologist Convention was happening and filling many of the downtown Chicago hotels.

Holiday Inn Elk Grove (O’Hare Airport)

• Points & Cash = 0 points + $30
• Priority Club elite benefit = free Gatorade and chips from hotel pantry
• Published room rate = $109 or $122.08 after tax
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $30 + $5 maid tip = $35
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $87.08

Holiday Inn Elk Grove Village (O'Hare)

Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers

• SPG Cash & Points $60 + 4,000 points
• SPG Platinum benefits = 33^rd floor lounge access with evening snacks and sodas, morning lounge breakfast, free internet, SPG Platinum Welcome Amenity 500 points and late checkout
• Published Room Rate = $265 or $304.75 after tax.
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $69 + $5 maid tip = $74
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $230.75
• There is no cash equivalent value given for the 8,000 Starpoints used in Chicago since I earned 70,000 free Starpoints through this “My Midas Touch” promotion. There was also an option to buy SPG points at the rate of $145 per 10,000 points through DiscoverAmerica.com in May 2010. The cash equivalent value for 4,000 points would have been $58.

Room view from Sheraton Chicago

W Hotel Lakeshore

• SPG Cash & Points $60 + 4,000 points
• SPG Platinum benefits = Lakeview room, high floor, two free drinks at the Wave Bar, free internet, SPG Platinum Welcome Amenity 500 points and 4 pm checkout
• Published Room Rate = $309 or $355 after tax.
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $69 + $5 maid tip = $74
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $281

View of Navy Pier from W Hotel Whiskey Sky Bar (similar to my room view)

Crowne Plaza Hotel Avenue

• Priority Club 25,000 points award ( I purchased 25,000 points last May for $150 through DiscoverAmerica.com Priority Club discount offer).
• Priority Club elite benefits = 15% off breakfast buffetat 40^th floor lounge; free beer at Elephant & Castle pub; complimentary upgrade to Tech floor with Mac computer and free internet.
• Published Room Rate = $329 or $379.67 after tax
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $15 (Elephant & Castle pub meal) + $5 maid tip = $20
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $229.67

Chicago at sunset from 40th floor rooftop pool deck at Hotel Avenue Crowne Plaza

Park Hyatt Chicago

• Hyatt Gold Passport Category 6  award for 22,000 points ( I purchased 22,000 points last June for $206.25 through DiscoverAmerica.com Hyatt Gold Passport discount offer) (oops … I posted this a few minutes ago incorrectly stating I paid $123.75, so now my average is a little over $100 per night.)
• Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond elite benefits = complimentary breakfast at NoMI ($33 value for crab omelette); free internet; Diamond member welcome amenity of 1,000 points; preferred view room on top floor (18) of hotel facing historic Chicago Water Tower.
• Published Room Rate = $422.50 (AAA) or $487.56 after tax
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $5 maid tip
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $281.31

Breakfast at 7th floor NoMI Restaurant Park Hyatt Chicago

5 hotel nights in Chicago = $564.25 for Loyalty Traveler

Actual lowest published rates for these hotel rooms = $1,649.06

That is why I am a loyalty traveler.