Who booked all the hotel rooms in Chicago next week?

November 9, 2011 5:41 PM

Why can't I get a hotel room in downtown Chicago early next week?

Need to travel to Chicago for business next Monday-Wednesday, 11/14-16. Either I am going crazy or there is not a single hotel room available in all of downtown (save for the $800/night Trump Tower) on those dates. This has never happened to be before. Is there a Super Bowl or a Democratic National Convention I'm not aware of next week or something?

posted by eugenen to travel & transportation around Chicago, IL (6 answers total)

Chicago has a website that shows upcoming conventions http://www.choosechicago.com/events/pages/calendar.aspx?view=1

Looks like there is one those 2 days called Fabtech that has 30,000 attendees.
posted by interplanetjanet at 5:53 PM on November 9, 2011

Try Hostelling International - Chicago. It's downtown, inexpensive, they have single rooms, and you don't have to be a member to stay there. And if the Cuban restaurant is still there, they make an amazing morning coffee.
posted by spinifex23 at 10:05 PM on November 9, 2011

Whoa, that is strange. The Best Western Hawthorne has the 14th and 16th open, from what I see (good neighborhood, 25 min. by bus to loop). Maybe pair it with a different room for the 15th? Assuming those nights are still available by the time I hit POST.
posted by heyho at 10:15 PM on November 9, 2011

Stay in a furnished condo!
posted by barnone at 12:37 AM on November 10, 2011

There are plenty of options besides the major hotels. You didn't say how you are searching - presumably you have tried all the major search sites - Hotels.com, Expedia, Priceline, Tripadvisor, or even Google?
posted by JJ86 at 5:59 AM on November 10, 2011

Also I don't know that this is that unusual. It happened to a bunch of people at a small library conference I went to in Chicago once. There was some other huge conference going on at the same time and the city hotels were all full. They wound up staying in hotels in the suburbs and took public transport to Chicago.
posted by interplanetjanet at 8:32 AM on November 10, 2011