<p>My son is starting in grad school next month, and we thought we would go along for a few days and help him settle in. It seems like there is a real dearth of hotels nearby. We will rent a car this visit, so a farther away would be ok, but we would like the neighborhood to be more or less safe, and the drive to the campus to be fairly easy. </p>
<p>Any ideas? suggestions?</p>
<p>For (our first) move-in day we are going to stay at one of the hotels recommended by the University:
[Accommodations</a> | Visiting the University | The University of Chicago](<a href=“http://visit.uchicago.edu/page/accommodations]Accommodations”>Accommodations | Visit UChicago)</p>
<p>The Hilton does not have any more at the special rate (and is very expensive). The Ramada is poorly rated by people who have stayed there. I have made email inquiries of some other smaller places, but have not yet heard back. No one answers a phone, either. </p>
<p>The rest of the ones on the list seem to be mostly in downtown, which I am guessing will fail the ‘easy to get around’ requirement. </p>
<p>Have you made reservations yet? We are going to have a bit of an easier time, because for grad school, his orientation is a week earlier than incoming frosh - since his dept is also having an orientation.</p>
<p>We’ve stayed in the loop, in various places–whatever was a good price at the time. Best Western Grant Park has a great location and more reasonable price than a lot of the other options–the rooms are small, though. Make sure to include parking in the price comparison. The drive to Hyde Park isn’t that bad and Chicago evenings in nice weather are lovely.</p>
<p>I made the reservation to a downtown hotel several weeks ago (eager freshman parent 
to a downtown hotel.</p>
<p>The Ramada on Lake Shore is mediocre, but also really close (still in Hyde Park/Kenwood, so definitely safe). It’s actually right next to the high rise apartments that a lot of grad students/upperclassmen choose to live in, though I’m not that fond of them personally. </p>
<p>I-House is even closer–it’s a more grown-up university dorm that rents some rooms for the night. I don’t know much about the guest room experience, but there’s info here: [International</a> House: Short-Term Guest Accommodations](<a href=“http://ihouse.uchicago.edu/residency/residency_short.shtml]International”>http://ihouse.uchicago.edu/residency/residency_short.shtml)</p>
<p>Other than those I’d recommend just staying in the Loop. It’s a fairly quick drive if you take Lake Shore, and the surrounding area obviously has a lot going on.</p>
<p>Anywhere in the South Loop area will have easy access to Lake Shore Drive, which will make it a 15-minute drive (at most) to the University, except maybe at the height of rush hour. Once you get to Hyde Park, however, you will have to park. Good luck with that.</p>
<p>The other place people will tell you to stay is near Midway Airport. That is cheaper than downtown, but not a pleasant neighborhood, and the drive to the University, though shorter, will take longer (and take you through neighborhoods you don’t want to think about being that close to the University). There’s a reason the University tries to steer you to the South Loop – the whole experience is way more pleasant, and you get to see great parts of Chicago (Grant Park! The lake! Soldiers’ Field! MSI!), not a lot of gang tags in Spanish.</p>
<p>Thanks, all. Eventually, International House got back to me, so we are giving it a try. This works well, because the first night our son will be with us, and it was reasonable enough, we got him his own room. The location is great and easy access to the metra to get downtown. It is close to his apartment. I really want this place to work. I suspect I will be visiting at least once or twice a year for the next five years. </p>
<p>BTW, the international house’s email is orgihouse, which I assume is short for Organization International House, but it amused me.</p>
<p>a hyatt will be opening in the future at harper court. much needed in hyde park</p>
<p>We are staying in the Millenium Knickerbocker , great rate in a Priceline bid. $150 per night not bad for a 4 star hotel in downtown.</p>
<p>Yes, objectiveperson, that’s really putting your much-professed committment to the South Side into practice.</p>
<p>Yeah, it might be a bit late. For his PhD goals, UChicago is probably the best place for him. If it were up to me, I would have had him select Stanford - because it is 6 hours drive away and the weather is pleasant. :-)</p>
<p>We became great fans of hotwire during our son’s time at Chicago. We stayed at a different place in various downtown areas each time we visited. Our lodgings ranged from very nice to amazing, and all were at incredible prices. Having the rental car made everything very convenient, although having to pay for parking downtown was not always so great.</p>
<p>I stayed in IHouse before for the commencement, its a place just to sleep, nothing else. Rooms are small, bathrooms are at the end of the hallway. But it is close to everything. Parking is still a problem, we did manage to find one anyway.</p>
<p>The Comfort Inn on Ohio St. offered $25/day self-parking with unlimited in/out in the same block the hotel is located on and with entrances/exits on three sides of the block which made it very convenient with all the one way streets downtown. At the time the hotel had a very reasonable special rate. We’ve also gotten the best car deals from Hotwire. On a couple of occasions for short weekend visits in the middle of the quarter I’ve stayed at the I-House by myself and found free parking right in front every night. For Spring Convocation this year (and every time we’ve visited) we’ve been able to park in the parking bldg. across from Ratner on one side and next to the Smart Museum on the other side.</p>
<p>We also stayed at the I House off season- had bathroom in the room- FYI BRING A HAIR DRYER! or you will be giving them your drivers license to borrow one</p>
<p>I just got back from my 5 night stay at the I-House, and thought I would give a review. </p>
<p>Positives:
Our room was $80 a night, and there was no tax on that. We got a $3 voucher for each day for the snack bar.
Great location if you want to hang out in Hyde Park (which we did).
Amazing building - fun to explore.
Clean
Quiet (that might be because most of the students had not yet arrived - but the walls are thick)
Linens were of good quality - including the towels.</p>
<p>Negatives:
Bed was uncomfortable. Pillows so-so.
Room was very small. These are converted dorm rooms. It has a queen sized bed, so there is no room for a chair. Plenty of closet/drawer space, though.
No A/C - which was not a problem last week.
Bathrooms down the hall.
This place would be difficult if you cannot handle a few steps. There are elevators, but in some places, you will need to go down/up steps to get to them. There are ways around this, but it is complicated enough.</p>
<p>Random comments - </p>
<p>The floor has a larger mens bathroom, and a small woman’s bathroom (one toilet, one shower). Next to the women’s bathroom is an elevator. This is the 8th floor. You can go up to the 9th floor where there are two women’s bathrooms, one big, one small. The smaller one has a big shower, and lots of windows for good ventilation. There is a second, hidden woman’s bathroom on the 8th floor. When you get into the elevator, press 8R, and the back door will open, step out. You are now in another, smaller wing. There is a bathroom (with a bathtub/shower) on this floor. This amused me.</p>
<p>On the 9th floor the emergency staircase says “access to 11th/12th floors.” We had fun speculating what happened to the 10th floor. </p>
<p>Many of the door knobs are old brass knobs specially made for the I-House with their insignia.</p>
<p>Thanks, anotherparent, I enjoyed your review, especially the inside info! I stayed in a dorm room for admitted students day (when S stayed in a dorm) and had the same impression you did. The bathroom also struck me as extremely minimal, not to mention faaaaar down the hall from the room I’d been assigned. I secured one of the rooms with a private bath for move-in this weekend and then for Parents Weekend, and I know I’m going to enjoy having that bathroom immediately accessible. For future visits, when H and I hope to enjoy Chicago more and S might only be available for a meal or otherwise for just a few hours, we intend to explore the South Loop hotels. But for campus-focussed visits, I-house is a terrific option. Interesting note: when we reserved in the spring for move-in weekend, I reserved dorm rooms for my S (night before move-in) and my older D who is coming along (this has pretty much become the family vacation that never happened this summer). When I called last week to confirm, I was told that the kids were now re-booked in their slightly nicer “guest” rooms (I think they get the larger bed and a TV). I assume this is a result of the announcement that first years would be housed in I-house this year due to the higher-than-expected yield for the Class of 2016 .</p>
<p>Thanks for the insider info for I-house. I reserved a room for parents weekend, and I am sure these tips will come in handy.</p>