Chicago

We're headed to Chicago on Friday to spend a week with our son. Has anyone exchanged into the Chicago Wyndham resort? Anything to share? What was bad, what was good?

If I'm the first one, I'll be glad to report back and answer all the above.

where is it located?

71 East Wacker Drive

The bad has to be the points required

IIRC, it's very expensive to park there... don't do it.

Bigrob said:

IIRC, it's very expensive to park there... don't do it.

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We are headed there in August and are seriously considering parking at O'Hare and taking the train in. From what I can find on-line, it will be $8/day instead of $60 and the train stops 0.3 miles from the resort.

We are driving because we want to stop at the Halls of Fame in Ohio, R&R and Football, and then on to Sundara at Wisconsin Dells.

I would love to hear if anyone has come up with anything better.

ilenekm said:

We are headed there in August and are seriously considering parking at O'Hare and taking the train in. From what I can find on-line, it will be $8/day instead of $60 and the train stops 0.3 miles from the resort.

We are driving because we want to stop at the Halls of Fame in Ohio, R&R and Football, and then on to Sundara at Wisconsin Dells.

I would love to hear if anyone has come up with anything better.

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My brother parked at Midway Airport after driving in from NE. He loves Chicago and knows the transit system well. We stayed at a Hyatt (I think, as I got it as an exchange using RCI Platinum) on Wacker (I know it was right on the river and on Wacker).

I think it would be easier to take a train from O'Hare than transport from Midway. There are lots of trains from the south side too, that could get you into the Randolph street station or union station.

We park at the Michigan City Carroll St. station (free), and take the South Shore Line train into Millenium Station (seniors pay 1/2 fare which is $4.25 each way). It would be about 3 - 4 blocks to Michigan/Wacker. We just did this trip 2 weeks ago, but stayed at the Radisson Blu Aqua. Enjoy!

Does your son live in Chicago? If so, you can park your car with him. It's pretty easy to be a tourist without a car but if you are visiting someone who lives here, it might be a bit more tricky.

SherryS said:

We park at the Michigan City Carroll St. station (free), and take the South Shore Line train into Millenium Station (seniors pay 1/2 fare which is $4.25 each way). It would be about 3 - 4 blocks to Michigan/Wacker. We just did this trip 2 weeks ago, but stayed at the Radisson Blu Aqua. Enjoy!

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Interesting. Can we park there for 5 days?

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Does your son live in Chicago? If so, you can park your car with him. It's pretty easy to be a tourist without a car but if you are visiting someone who lives here, it might be a bit more tricky.

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Yes he does. We're flying in, and he'll pick us up and take us to his apartment, where we can easily take the train and/or a cab to Wyndham. No way am I paying $60 a day to park. That is ridiculous, but from what I've seen everything in Chicago is ridiculously expensive.

I'll report back after we return.

And yes, it was a lot of points to get in there, but this was our big trip this year, and it will be our last time, as he's getting transferred to Omaha. No timeshare there, I'm pretty sure.

Your son can drop you off at the Wyndham too if he is not near a train station. I hope you have a fun time in the city. We've had a great summer so far.

I have a son who lives in Whitefish, MT, and one in Sedona, AZ. I'm always glad that they are in great places for vacations!

Deb

MelBay said:

.., and it will be our last time, as he's getting transferred to Omaha. No timeshare there, I'm pretty sure.

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HA, HA, HA ... the motels are less than $60 a night in Omaha.

My brother very recently MOVE out of that area - he still owns a house in the Lincoln, NE. I even been to the YMCA in Omaha - to attend a big regional racquetball tournament.

Chicago is THE big Midwest city; Omaha is THE big city in NE. They ain't nothing alike.

Enjoy Chicago and the food and the entertainment and the baseball. And enjoy the visit with your son. And as I discovered with my brother and wife, it is over a 475 mile drive between those 2 cities (Chicago is due east of Omaha) ... seems much further in the space/time continuum.

MelBay said:

We're headed to Chicago on Friday to spend a week with our son. Has anyone exchanged into the Chicago Wyndham resort? Anything to share? What was bad, what was good?



If I'm the first one, I'll be glad to report back and answer all the above.

Click to expand...

My wife and I have stayed there twice in the past 3 month.

The Wyndam Grand Chicago riverfront is a newly renovated old hotel in downtown Chicago nearby the south end of the magnificent mile. It was known before as Hotel 17 and has some of the features of a hotel. We knew that parking was going to be a bit of an issue. The website told us to anticipate a $60 per day parking fee with in and out privileges. There is a lot on the same street where you can park for $34 a day. As we are accustomed to staying at Wyndhams with free parking this was quite an unwelcome change. If we stay here in the future we may elect to come via Amtrak as the Union station is less than a mile away from the new Wyndham. We stayed on the 22nd floor which is entirely renovated. Our room was nicely appointed and renovated as well. We had hardwood floors, granite countertops, tile in the stall shower and bath. Televisions were newer flat screens with one in the second bedroom being a very small flatscreen.

There were some puzzling choices made in the renovation. As an example the kitchen is small but has a full-size dishwasher but no stove and no range. The only way to heat food was a small size microwave. Once again perhaps we are spoiled but we are used to the full kitchens that Wyndham properties, especially the presidential reserve units. As is the case with some urban locations sirens run through the night. The windows do a good, but not great job of blocking out some of the sound.

The elevators were so-so, sometimes slow, sometimes okay. There is an on-site pub that serves specialty drinks and beer at premium prices. There's a wide variety of food choices within walking distance of the hotel. The magnificent mile is in close proximity to the hotel as well. The hotel is within 2 miles of Soldier Field for Chicago Bear fans. Similar distance to the Shed aquarium.

Enjoy!



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my son got married in downtown Chicago. I put the thousand dollar hotel bill on my visa, then the parking garage bill, when i went to pay for the rehearsal dinner, Visa figured someone was going wild with my card really embarrassing to have your credit card turned down in front of the inlaws.

Here is an interesting ways to beat the $60 per day parking fee. :ignore:

Park your car anywhere on the street and do not pay parking. Have it towed. It will land at the city pound at Wacker/Lakeshore and you would be paying $170 + 25*6(150) = 320 for parking. Beats paying $420 for a week.. a 25% discount. :hysterical:

On a serious note, bring the car over to Lakeshore East(the residential oasis between Wacker/Columbus/Lakeshore Dr)about 2-3 blocks from where Wyndham is located. You can find multiple garages that charge around $12-14 per day.

ilenekm said:

Interesting. Can we park there for 5 days?

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Yes! We just parked there Wednesday through Sunday evening.

We are here! We're in a 1 bedroom, and it is really nice. Yes, it was a LOT of points, but we have a view of the Chicago River, and Trump Tower is right across the street. We're waiting on the fireworks to start.

We're "invited" to the owner update breakfast tomorrow, but are just going to forget to show up. Has anyone see the massive DREAM BOOK they are giving away as your gift for attending? It appears to be a glorified Wyndham directory with all the new planned urban resorts in it. I can live without it.

I'll try to post some pictures.

I was at the Smokie Mtn resort this week. I was offered the DREAM BOOK and 25.00 to attend the owners update. I Kinda laughed and said no thankyou. Sales person said book was valued at 75.00. I then asked her for 150.00 to attend, she said she just couldent do it.
Next am the knock on my door came had a nice meeting with a sales person got a cooler (which we will use). O yea the book I told her I would just keep using the web site.