unforum

[hapworth]

Chi-Town

[logic_phyber]

Just a thought to the planners who are examining Chicago for a place for us as well as a possible hotel. If you let them know that we want a space to meet, they will probably give us a better group rate on rooms. I didn't know if anyone thought of it, so I decided to post it here.

[bagsbee]

I've gone and done it. I went and bought my Chicago tickets, woo! I'll be arriving Thursday afternoon (July 20), I'm going a day early to (hopefully) hang out with a good friend of mine, after that I'm all yours.

So, what's the plan? Hijinks? Buffoonery? Exciting brushes with the local authorities? Or maybe I'll be the only one... Hanging out by myself. Drinkering. Alone. In my hotel room. With the adult pay-per-view channel.

I'm holding off reserving a hotel room until I hear from the Official ARGFest-O-Con V Planning Committee. Yoo hoooooo, committeeeeeeee!!!!!

[Varin]

Just a reminder -

Anyone who is planning on attending the Chicago ARGfest should add their name to the wiki attendee page. We're working on some group rate quotes and need an approximate number of attendees. Thanks!

(more info on the way soon - I promise!)

[thunderclap8]

any chance there's been hotel developments? I'd like to get something locked in before time gets even closer and rates skyrocket.

[Anton P. Nym]

I'll second that request for more info on hotel arrangements, now that it looks probable that I can attend.

-- Steve'll need to get away from work around then anyway. *Far* away.

[BrianEnigma]

I third the request for hotel arrangements. Kim and I would like to go, but we have been holding off on making any sort of reservations until a central hotel gets nailed down. I have been to several conferences and conventions and have found that being able to stumble to the elevator to get back to your room is is worth almost any room price compared to having to navigate a train or taxi to a cheaper hotel. Not that I get so drunk that I have difficulty even stumbling, no.

Several people have mentioned $100-ish room prices, which, to me, seem fair for a big city like Chicago. I doubt you could even find a Motel 6 or Travelodge downtown for much less than that. Room sharing is always an option, and for events like this often makes things more fun.

So let's pick a "home base" hotel. We don't necessarily need conference space there (unless there really will be talks.) As long as enough people stay there, we can be assured that due to laziness (ahem, I mean inertia), most extracurricular activities will occur in nearby bars, clubs, and restaurants (or heck, maybe even in the hotel bar or in somebody's suite.)

[Varin]

We've been looking at rooms all around Chicago to try to find a hotel that is both nice and reasonable in price. Most of the acceptable downtown hotels were really pricey so we broadened the search since Chicago has such a great public transportation system.

Holiday Inn O'Hare Kennedy - $109 a night.

It's near a train station that has trains that go straight into the city. The hotel caters to conventions and conferences so it has meeting rooms and wifi access. There is also a restaurant in the hotel and room service. Once we know how many people are going to be there, we might be able to take advantage of their banquet hall for one/some of the meals.

We have reserved 15 rooms. PM me if you are interested and I will give you the code you need to reserve the room at that rate. You'll have to phone in your resevation to get the rate. You can pick either a one bed or two bed room, but the earlier you book - the better chance you have of getting what you want. The rooms are held until 6/23. After that date you can jump through a couple of hoops and get the same rate, but only if there are still rooms available Also, if we need more rooms than that right away, we can up the number.

Again - rooms are only guaranteed available until 6/23.

This was the best rate in a decent hotel that we could find. If you would like to book one on your own, please be advised that some of the hotels that come up as a bit cheaper on the search sites are not in nice, safe areas.

Also, if you do plan on staying somewhere else in a suburb, I'd suggest that you make sure there is train service from that area and that the trains run on the weekends.

Also, if you are planning on staying in a different hotel and renting a car, be aware that construction is everywhere around Chicago right now.

[thunderclap8]

Great, thanks Varin!

I think INCyr is asking you this on IRC now, but are the reserved rooms non-smoking? I ask because on their web site they show no non-smoking rooms with two beds available at all.

Also, if anyone wants a smoking room with one bed, the AAA rates are currently $87.50.

[aliendial]

Let me suggest that while this solves the price of rooms issue, I'm not going to Chicago to hang out around O'Hare. I agree rooms this cheap in a decent neighborhood would be impossible downtown, but you have to have access to the city, and O'Hare is not close in.

We need a center of operations down on the Mile or in the Loop somewhere - where people can peel off to do touristy things (the Field Museum, the Pier) and still meet up with the rest of the group, without having to haul all the way back out to the airport. An understanding restaurant perhaps?

[Varin]

[Varin]

[rose]

Varin -thanks for finding this hotel for us.

[hapworth]

Ehhh....

[Dorkmaster]

Re: Ehhh....