Destinations

Last Minute Chicago Marathon Hotels And Why You May Want To Change

a room with chairs and a fireplace
Written by Charlie

The Chicago Marathon is taking place next Sunday and about 40,000 runners will be toeing the line. I have several friends that will be running the fast course, some of whom are traveling there for it. As many of the 40,000 runners will be traveling to Chicago for the race, hotels are in high demand. Hotels nearest the marathon are always the quickest to sell out and rooms that become available can go at a high premium.

Last Minute Chicago Hotels

But, there are some fantastic deals to be had, even one week away from Chicago Marathon weekend! Obviously, the best of the deals are available through points, so if you don’t have points this time, let this be a lesson to you to get miles and points before your next race!

Why You Might Want To Change

You may already have a hotel, and if so – congrats on getting one! But, there are some great hotels on this list available with points with the best potential is the Hilton Chicago. As the official host hotel that is within walking distance of the starting and finish lines, it will be a perfect place to base yourself! Unless you paid a pre-paid rate, you most likely can cancel your current reservation. Before you do that, lock in one of the fine hotels below!

The hotels on this list may open up more rooms as the race gets closer, so if they sell out now, keep checking back.

Note: All of these hotels showed availability at the time of this post (Friday 10/3), but the availability will change so book fast. Most hotels have generous cancelation policies, so you may be able to book now and cancel later if it does not work out.

Hilton Hotels

To visit the website of the hotel, click on the name. 

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As you can see, there are some very expensive hotels (in points and cash) on the list. The reason I listed the ones that are expensive with points is that there still may be standard rooms at those hotels that open up instead of just the higher priced rooms (or people may upgrade to them in advance and leave their room open again). Probably the best deal on that list is for the Hilton Chicago. I am shocked that there is availability at this point since it is the host hotel for the Chicago Marathon. It is .8 miles from the start and .4 miles from the finish so it would be a great place to nab.

 Hyatt Hotels

There are a currently only 2 Hyatt Hotels in the Chicago area (close to center) with point availability on that weekend. Here is the breakdown:

To visit the website of the hotel, click on the name. 

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For Hyatt, the best bet would be the Hyatt Place Chicago North as it is only 1.2 miles from the start and 1.7 miles from the finish. However, either hotel would give you a tremendous value for your points at the current prices.

Marriott

There is a current total of 2 Marriott Hotels in the (near) Chicago center with point availability on that weekend. Here is the breakdown:

To visit the website of the hotel, click on the name. Also, you can sort the list by clicking the arrows next to the headers.

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There are actually several other Marriott properties available in the Chicago region, some as cheap $80, but their is a drive of 25-30 miles. If you are interested in those properties, check out Marriott’s website for all the options.

Summary

Make sure you check your hotel of interest on the list to see if they allow for any type of point/cash mixture. Some of the hotels allow that and they may be available on your dates. If you are interested in knowing how to get points for your stays, please visit this page to view the hotel credit cards. While you will not get any of the point bonuses in time for next weekend, you can certainly start planning ahead!

Also, there are many hotels available between 21 – 35 miles from the center of the city. I have left those off the list because there are simply too many to list. The hotels on this list are within 10 miles, most of them much closer to that. To see a list of hotels and their distances to various points of the race, check out this page.

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About the author

Charlie

Charlie has been an avid traveler and runner for many years. He has run in marathons around the world for less than it would cost to travel to the next town - all as a result of collecting and using miles and points. Over the years, he has flown hundreds of thousands of miles and collected millions of miles and points.
Now he uses this experience and knowledge to help others through Running with Miles.

2 Comments

  • Sadly I’m not running Chicago this year but in the past we have stayed at the IHG Crown Plaza Metro over in Greek town. It’s a good mile or so to the start line but not a bad warm up / cool down walk and it’s next to a grocery store and Walgreens plus a ton of good restaurants. You can get a taxi with other runners fairly cheap from there also. It’s near the midway mark of the marathon as well so that can help for family or spectators.