Finding an affordable trip is like putting a puzzle together. You need an appealing destination, good airfare and reasonable hotel rates. Searching for ways to lower the cost of your trip with reward points makes the challenge even harder to complete. If you have an interest in visiting Chicago this summer, here is one piece of the puzzle to get you going along with a few flight options.
Chicago In Early July
If you do a flexible date search for Chicago on the Hilton or Marriott websites you will notice a drop in rates during the first week of July. I assume the holiday period means fewer business travellers in the hotels? Anyway, if you then go to a hotel search website like Kayak or Trivago you’ll see a wide range of hotels at lower than normal rates at this time. These are rates you would typically find in January or February when tourists are presumably scarce in the Windy City.
Although there will likely be a lot of tourists around the Fourth of July holiday in a major city like Chicago, I would hope that its size would absorb the crowds fairly well. I have never been to Chicago although it’s on my list to go someday. I’m especially interested in the architecture tours. Keeping with the theme of this post, here’s an example of a guided walking tour where you can explore several hotels of note in the city.
Hotel Rate Examples
Below are a few examples of hotel rates in early July. They tend to be lowest June 30th to July 4th so I’ve highlighted a few of those, but rates later in the week are also lower than average at some properties. For chain hotels I’ve chosen the lowest flexible/cancellable rate including any member discount. It’s possible you can do better using AAA/CAA or senior rates if those are available to you. You can also get a lower rate if you’re willing to make a non-refundable reservation.
All of these hotels have a review score of at least 4 out of 5 on TripAdvisor.
June 30 – July 3
Acme Hotel Company*
1 King
$87 + tax
Total for 3 nights = $305 USD ($413 CAD)
Holiday Inn Express Chicago – Magnificent Mile
1 Queen
$94.05 + tax
Total for 3 nights = $331.24 USD ($448 CAD)
Aloft Chicago Mag Mile
1 King or 2 Queens
$102/102/92 + tax
Total for 3 nights = $347.51 USD ($469 CAD)
Courtyard By Marriott Chicago Downtown / River North
1 King w/ sofa bed or 2 Doubles
$107 + tax
Total for 3 nights = $376.86 USD ($509 CAD)
Wyndham Grand Chicago Waterfront
1 King
$112.20/95.20/112.20 + tax
Total for 3 nights = $372.86 ($504 CAD)
Hilton Chicago
1 King or 2 Doubles
$115.43 + tax
Total for 3 nights = $406.54 USD ($550 CAD)
Flights
This year Chicago O’Hare airport returned as a seasonal non-stop flight destination from Halifax on United Airlines.
Halifax – Chicago (O’Hare)
United
July 1 – 6
$442
Porter flights from Halifax or Moncton require a stop or connection on the way to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport where you connect onward to Chicago (Midway). Sign up for emails from Porter and watch for a discount code.
Moncton – Chicago (Midway)
Porter
July 1 – July 6
$448
Air Miles
Chicago is a sweet spot for Air Miles redemptions from Maritime airports at 1500 in low season and 1900 in high season. Here are some search results from earlier today.
Halifax – Chicago (Midway)
Porter
June 30 – July 3
1900 Miles + $153.42
Moncton – Chicago (Midway)
Porter
June 30 – July 3
1900 + 149.97
One Last Thing
*Recently I wrote about unusual hotel package rates. Well, in the course of checking rates at the Acme Hotel Company mentioned above, I noticed this rate: “Hair Of The Dog Package – includes 2 Gatorades, aspirin packets and $15 to MBurger”. That’s an unusual package rate.
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