<p>A good alternative place to stay for O-week, IMO, is at the huge collection of hotels (clustered into a single compound) right next to Midway Airport. There must be about 7 or 8 relatively new chain hotels (e.g. Marriott, Hilton, etc.) just a few blocks south of Midway, which is only about 5 miles from UChicago. We stayed there for our son’s O-week a couple years ago, and there were lots of other parents there as well. It’s a fairly quick drive, or even bus ride, with little traffic. As a bonus, there are big box stores like Target nearby if you want to do the whole dorm room shopping thing. If you happen to be flying on Southwest, then it’s even more convenient.</p>
<p>Thanks all for your replies!</p>
<p>We have booked Southwest tickets to arrive on Sat. 9/21 as the Orientation starts Sun 9/22. I will be staying for a few days in case my D needs something. You never know. :-)</p>
<p>rlmmail is right. I was looking at the hotels and found there are quite a few reasonably priced mid range hotels in the midway airport area. Since I will rent a car it is not bad to be a few miles away from the campus.</p>
<p>Hope to see some of you there in Sep.</p>
<p>I beg you not to stay at Midway! Midway is Nowheresville. It’s a great airport; you will love it as a University of Chicago family. But Chicago is one of the great cities in the world, and the area around Midway gives you no sense of that at all.</p>
<p>The University usually has deals that are quite good with hotels in the South Loop, which is a vibrant area of Chicago, easy walking to Millennium Park, the Field Museum, the Art Institute, and various other attractions. It is a 15-20 minute bus ride from Hyde Park – even though you have to take two buses to get to the middle of the university, it’s faster than the bus from Midway, which usually takes 45+ minutes. It’s also right by Lake Shore Drive, so if you have a car it’s about a 15-minute drive, and a pretty one, right along the lake until you get to Hyde Park. Yes, you are farther from the Target, but why would you go all the way to Chicago to stay near a Target? (And, Newsflash: The rooms are small. You are NOT going to be spending a lot of time at Target.)</p>
<p>One of the best things about the University of Chicago is that it’s in Chicago. That’s exciting for the whole family – and should certainly be super-exciting for the new student. But if you huddle at the airport, it might just as well be Des Moines or Muncie.</p>
<p>We live in the Chicago area as well and I have to second JHS’s advice to avoid the area around Midway for hotels. As an airport it’s great–we fly in and out of there often–but there is absolutely nothing interesting to see nearby. There are so many better options in Chicago. Hotels in the South Loop may be most convenient but if you have a rental car any hotel downtown or on the north side would be fine as well.</p>
<p>JHS and Chwwhc make good points, but it may not be as clear cut as they make it sound. If money is no object, and you can afford a loop hotel and $50/night for parking, and you’ve never enjoyed all Chicago has to offer, and you won’t need ready access to a Target to buy stuff for your kid, and you’ll never again visit with your student at a less fraught time, and if you desperately want to be distracted from the moment at hand by the glory of the Second City, then by all means stay in the loop!</p>
<p>In my case, I had lived in Chicago for 7 years, so was fine with spending two nights out by Midway. In addition, except for the trip to Target and one meal in the loop, we spent the entire time in Hyde Park; each day we just made one trip there in the morning and one back at night (and then one back to Midway to catch our flight out). In subsequent trips, I’ve stayed at the I House and in the Loop, but for that bittersweet O-week moment, Midway proved just about perfect.</p>
<p>In our case, the UChicago hotel rate in the South Loop was competitive with Midway rates, I don’t know what parking would have been there because we didn’t rent a car (and didn’t need to, because we all got 3-day CTA passes at the airport), and there wasn’t really a need to go to Target (the university has buses that go there periodically during O-week if the students discover they need something). We didn’t spend a lot of time out of Hyde Park – really just a few hours the day we arrived, morning walks, and the evening after the convocation – but we loved what we saw.</p>
<p>Also, if you’re doing a dollar for dollar analysis, I believe many of the Midway hotels charge for parking, which surprised me. We stayed at I-house for move-in and it was great to be in Hyde Park. We rented a Zip Car for a few hours on Saturday for a trip to Target/BBB and then again for maybe two hours on Sunday for the actual move-in. Zip-car has several locations on campus that made pick up and drop off super easy. Just another option for you to consider…</p>
<p>There’s no charge for parking at the Midway Hotel Center, a complex that has nine different hotels. I’ve never seen anything similar, and in a way it’s kind of strange. (We were calling it the “Hotel Mall” when we saw it.) But it’s basically one massive complex containing nine hotels, tons of parking space, and a few chain restaurants. Yeah, it’s totally generic in the sense that it could be almost anywhere, but if you’re looking for a place to sleep, shower, and park your car at a reasonable price and convenient location, it’s hard to beat.</p>
<p>[Midway</a> Airport Hotels | Chicago Midway Hotels | Chicago Midway Hotel Center](<a href=“http://www.midwayhotelcenter.com/hotels.php]Midway”>http://www.midwayhotelcenter.com/hotels.php)</p>
<p>UChi has a great preferred hotel program for visitors to the school (see link below). When we visited last year, we stayed at one of the five-star hotels in an executive suite for about $225. On the day we visited campus, we rented a car in the morning about a block from the hotel, drove to campus and then to the airport where we dropped it off. Saved the parking and it was probably a wash with what a cab to the airport would have cost. </p>
<p>[Chicago</a> Hotels Programs](<a href=“http://finserv.uchicago.edu/purchasing/travel/chicagohotelsprograms.shtml]Chicago”>http://finserv.uchicago.edu/purchasing/travel/chicagohotelsprograms.shtml)</p>
<p>I stayed at the Midway Hotel Center last weekend (Marriot). I was charged $12/night for parking.</p>
<p>The website lists a fee for parking for all of the included hotels. Maybe they were running a free parking deal for a time…</p>
<p>We stayed at the Best Western on South Michigan, twice. It’s not on the list underradar linked to, but there was definitely a deal for move-in both years my kids moved in.</p>
<p>It looks like five of the hotels have free parking (for either 7 days or 14 days) when you stay there. Perhaps the other four hotels charge daily parking fees? </p>
<p>[Midway</a> Airport Parking | Midway Parking | Chicago Midway Hotel Center](<a href=“http://www.midwayhotelcenter.com/transportation/parking.php]Midway”>http://www.midwayhotelcenter.com/transportation/parking.php)</p>
<p>Maybe they could see I was a dumn hick from out of town (which would be accurate)! :)</p>
<p>Priceline, bidding around $80 a night for a 4 star hotel in downtown. Hotwire also great rates.</p>
<p>There is a Target in the South Loop on Roosevelt Rd. During OWeek there is a shuttle service for students from UofC to the Roosevelt Rd. Target. Also in that area is Bed, Bath Beyond, Whole Foods, Dominicks grocery store, and Marshalls. You can order items at your local Bed Bath Beyond and have them delivered to the Roosevelt Rd. location for pickup. </p>
<p>Has anyone stayed in the Radisson in Hyde Park on Lake Shore Drive? Just wondering what that was like.</p>
<p>You mean the Ramada Inn? Havent been inside it. but avoid if possible, unless you love bed bugs. It’s in pretty bad shape</p>
<p>Tripavisor, great site for travelers.Hotels, Restaurants, etc.</p>
<p>Yes, I meant the Ramada Inn. Thanks for the correction. Too bad that it’s in poor shape since it is so close to the University. I noticed it while driving on Lake Shore Drive. Hopefully, the new hotel to be built on 53rd Street will alleviate the distance issue in the future, and encourage the Ramada Inn to clean up its act.</p>
<p>We reserved and prepaid parking about a block from our hotel on S. Michigan avenue for $20/day. It would have been less if we had reserved earlier. Make sure that you can enter/exit multiple times. Amazing that the Ramada Inn still gets bad reports after we stayed there almost 5 years ago.</p>