Hotels in Chicago, IL

[Steven_Draker]

Hey Chicago guys, this is a question for you. I need to find out which hotels in Chicago feature High-speed Internet access and have a good gym. I consider the North Michigan Avenue Area.

Thanks for your advice.

 

Steven Draker

http://www.HotSexyStud.com/uk

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

From this Chicago-native~

 

I recommend Hotel 71, the largest hotel in Chicago, which has a great gym and is convieniently located on East Wacker & Michigan Ave. It was originally built as a luxury condo complex in the '40s, but was recently rennovated to function as a contemporary hotel. It's relatively inexpensive, but in no way chintzy.

 

The other property i enojoy staying at is the W Lakeshore. It's sleek, modern and very sexy. Their workout facilities are top-notch and the male staff are drop dead georgeous. It reminds me quite a lot of an Ian Schrager property: All of the staff look like models & everything looks perfectly placed.

 

Whichever hotel you choose, i suggest going to TripAdvisor.com and reading reviews on any property you're considering. I've gotten some great tips (and troublespots) from this site when vacationing.

 

Enjoy the Windy City!

 

 

Warmest Always,

 

 

 

Benjamin Nicholas

[+ Hoover42]

>The other property i enojoy staying at is the W Lakeshore.

 

Benjamin,

 

Have you ever been to the City Center W Hotel? I was there last sping and I thought it was quite cool, although the "gym" was a tiny little room. However, the staff were hot, and the happy-hour crowds were super chic.

 

I wonder how it compares to W Lakeshore?

 

...Hoover

[Guest alanm]

The city is offering great special rates on most of the best hotels, including the W and Sofitel through mid-March.

 

Try 877-CHICAGO

 

You have to give a credit card # to book, but are not charged until the stay.

[FrancoDiSantisxxx]

The Windy City

 

Personally, even at a number of four star hotels and resorts, I always find the gyms lacking for anyone who wants to get in a serious workout. If you wish to do some simple arm exercises and do not need to go high on weights or want to do cardio, most hotels gyms are fairly adequate. However, if you are doing a serious chest or back routine, or legs, I think you would be better served with the Crunch gym which is accessible to most of the hotels downtown. There is also a chain gym on Halstad, I forget the name, which has the highest cruise factor, if you are looking for that, but you would need to either cab it or take the "El" there. I personally preferred the convenience of Crunch.

 

As far as hotels go, if you are looking for good rates and do not wish to use a service like Priceline, two other suggestions are the Marriott (which nearly in all case has high speed internet access for a fee) and either the Hyatt Regency on Wacker or the Park Hyatt. I have stayed at the Hyatt Regency, the internet access there was free and I enjoyed the facilities. It was also easy for clients to access the property. All Wyndham properties with high speed access provide it free to members of their affinity plan and the Wyndham near Lakeshore was nice, although I was unimpressed with it and found it difficult for clients to access my room without going through the front desk.

 

You can also find some other hotel suggestions with high speed internet access at this site: http://www.geektools.com/geektels/showhotels.php?country=USA&state=Illinois&city=Chicago

 

However, I would strongly urge you to inquire at the front desk and make sure the information is accurate and that you request a preassigned room with working internet access. I once found myself in a four star property in DC without internet access because the properties web site did not make clear that only two floors out of five actually had high speed internet access.

 

Good luck.

[bluenix]

Check out my current favorite, the 5* Le Meridien Chicago. It's in the North Bridge/Nordstrom shopping complex on N. Michigan at Ohio. Their rate right now is a remarkable $129 a night.

 

I'm not sure about gym facilities on site, however a Holmes Place Health Club -- that's Bally's European brand -- is three blocks away, in addition to the others Franco mentions.

[+ deej]

RE: The Windy City

 

An excellent reply, Franco.

 

I've got a few trips coming up. What are your experiences (if any) with finding Wireless broadband on the road?

 

I'm not worried about an upcoming trip to Seattle. Microsoft will have 1800 nerds in hotels of MS's choosing. They'll have it covered, I'm sure. And I know some of the gay resorts in Palm Springs are now providing wireless.

 

How pervasive is it? Any of our traveling guys feel free to chime in here. I'm trying to justify buying that 802.11g laptop. ;-)

[FrancoDiSantisxxx]

Size King

 

I think a 30 gig hard drive laptop, Deej, like the one I bought last year for $2K, should have been more than sufficient.

 

The Citidal in Palm Springs has WiFi service, but only in the front of the property, by the lobby. It fails a number of times. As they charge more for those rooms, it is something to keep in mind. If there is another property in the area that has WiFi service, that is news to me, but welcome news at that.

 

There are a couple of sites of WiFi access as well:

 

http://Wi-FiHotspotList.com/

 

as well as

 

http://www.jiwire.com/

 

I really have not used either that much, preferring a DSL or T1 connection, and I also feel the prices are high, unless you have one of the T-Mobile type subscriptions and that carrier is accessible, but I do not travel enough to make that a more cost effective option than hotels with hard lines.

[Steven_Draker]

Thank you Ben, Alanm, Franco, Bluenix and those who replied privately for the advice.

I still have to make up my mind.

 

Warm regards, Steven

[Steven_Draker]

RE: The Windy City

 

>If you wish to do some simple arm exercises

>and do not need to go high on weights or want to do cardio,

>most hotels gyms are fairly adequate.

 

I do cardio in the bed ... it's more fun ;-)

 

>There is also a chain gym on Halstad, I forget the name, which has

>the highest cruise factor, if you are looking for that ...

 

I've got everything I need :+

 

Thanks again for the advice. It was helpful.

 

Warm regards, Steven

http://www.HotSexyStud.com/uk

[+ deej]

RE: Size King

 

Thanks, Franco. 802.11g is the currently "hot" wiFi standard, not a disk size. ;-)

 

In PS, in addition to Citadel the DP Inn went wireless (as well as solar electricity) with their last remodel. Unfortunately, when I stayed there they'd just put it in and hadn't provided dialup or wired alternatives for wireless-challenged computers. :-(