Chicago for the holidays

Thinking about a trip to Chicago for New Years.. prices are quite good for NYE. Hotwire is in the $110s for the 30th and 31st but Lastminutetravel.com has a hotel, I think it's the Wyndham for $78 (4 stars ) and the James for $95ish (4.5) stars...

Keep in mind they are a foreign company, my credit card company would not accept their charges no my card. Jen's would though SWEET!

Take the guesswork out of your hotel choice.

Jen and I are looking to go to Chicago for the 4th of July and we were perusing Hotwire and went looking at two newer sites for hotels where they don't tell you the name of the hotel until you purchase it. LastMinuteTravel.com and Travelocity's Top Secret Hotels.

It turns out that LastMinuteTravel.com lists the number of hotel rooms the hotel has available. A quick Google search indicated the hotel we were going to "steal" was the Westin on N. Michigan Ave. They show 521 rooms. We were right! We think we're so smart.

Once you book it

I was going to go to Chicago today and sell this digital board advertising... but I never pulled the trigger on booking hotel and here's why.. once you book it, you own it. NO cancellations allowed.. not for weather, not for missed flights, not for a car wreck. It's yours.

I wasn't totally sure I was going, the weather turned sour so I didn't go.

You can always stop at a Biggby or a Panera on the way, and book the hotel. Yes you may pay more, but..

Hotwire comes thru again in Chicago

I'm working with a couple guys with a digital billboard in Chicago, I ran into one of the guys one day in town and he said "HEY.. you know Chicago pretty well." I replied 'yes I do' ..

"do you want to sell it in chicago? " I said "yes I do". So I've gone down there twice to see if I can get some customers 'on board' (how do I come up with this stuff? .. and when will I stop?)

I used HOTWIRE twice to stay there and I'm telling you it's the greatest internet site ever. I got a Holiday Inn in Oakbrook Terrace (Oak Brook is where the Oak Brook Mall is.) for $36/night. How can you beat that? I checked their website and the online rate was $88/night... so I saved a bunch of money. Three stars Oak Brook Lombard Downer's Grove.. $36 Holiday Inn.. it's a decent hotel.. with the slowest elevators EVER!

If you're going to go to Chicago at all.. invest $10 in the IZOOM toll collector and avoid those lines at the tolls. It's the best thing you will ever do if you go there a lot. Tolls have gone up a great deal in the past couple years but sitting in a line to pay that toll.. will just piss you off. So get one $10 Izoom is the Indiana toll collector but it works in Illinois too.

The sales tax in Cook county and Chicago is among the very highest in the nation. It's about 10%.. room tax for hotels is 16%. Parking in the city at a hotel $32-35/night. Factor those hidden costs into your trip.. you'll be surprised at how fast they add up.

Parking on the street.. used to be Monday thru Saturday.. $1.25/hr pretty much everywhere. Now it's all week, probably holidays too.. until 9 pm. more nickle and diming. You can either take a LOT of quarters or use your credit card. I've never seen anyone checking the slip of paper you put on your dash.. but I'll bet it's $40 or more if you get caught.

Ah.. Chicago.. I love you.. but you are a whore for my money.