If it were always summer in Chicago, the population would be an order of magnitude larger than it is. Summer is the city’s seasonal sweet spot, when Chicago looks — and feels — its best. No wonder it’s when tourism is at its peak.
But why should out-of-towners have all the fun? We’re the suckers who had to stick it out through the polar vortex. This summer, be a tourist in your own backyard. Take a Chicago vacation, and add a jolt of novelty by staying at one of the city’s newest hotels.
Check out these five summer staycations at properties that opened less than a year ago. They’re spread across the city, from a baseball-centric escape in Wrigleyville to a deep dive into the South Side at Hyde Park’s first boutique hotel.
Want to bring the kids? Keep reading for a couple of summer staycations tailored to families and to find out when hotel rates in Chicago are at their lowest (hint: a holiday with fireworks).
The Hoxton
Fulton Market district
Kick back with a cocktail and ceviche and soak up the sun at this hip hotel’s rooftop pool — a first for Hoxton properties. The London-based brand burst onto the scene in April with this Midwest outpost, the third Hoxton in the U.S. after Brooklyn, New York, and Portland, Ore.
The Hoxton hews to an “open house” philosophy. Locals and guests are encouraged to mix and mingle in its high-ceilinged, living room-like lobby (the reception desk is tucked away discreetly to the side) and a more intimate upstairs area dubbed The Apartment, where occasional cultural events and parties (mostly free) take place.
The 12-story structure is a new build, but its industrial facade was designed to blend in with the warehouses that once dominated this longtime meatpacking district. These days, this part of the West Loop is where you’ll find some of the city’s hottest restaurants. The Hoxton has thrown gas on that fire with three new drinking and dining venues, all from the James Beard Award-winning Boka Restaurant Group. On the rooftop, Cabra is chef Stephanie Izard’s Peruvian-inspired eatery, boasting a botanic garden’s worth of plants and a brightly tiled ceviche bar. On the lobby level, chef Chris Pandel oversees Cira, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner under the broad umbrella of Mediterranean cuisine. Burrowed below is the subterranean, speakeasy-style Lazy Bird, a watering hole and music lounge featuring 52 classic cocktails.
The 182 guest rooms start at roughly $200 a night in the summer. Use the code “DIVEIN” when booking online to shave 20 percent off the price, subject to availability. Rooms come in three sizes: Snug (the smallest), Cosy (that’s how the Brits spell it) and Roomy. At an average of 300 square feet, even the Roomy isn’t overly roomy. But this isn’t the kind of place you go to stay holed away in your hotel room. Hang out in the public areas or get out and explore, maybe on one of The Hoxton’s complimentary bikes. Sightseeing tips from locals — 182 of them — can be found in each room, along with a curated selection of their favorite books.
Pick up a souvenir at the small “Best of Chicago” gift shop near the reception desk. It’s stocked with ceramics, candles and other doodads custom-made by area artisans.
St. Jane
Michigan Avenue, Chicago Cultural Mile
In a city world renowned for its architecture, one of the most striking skyscrapers is this 1929 Art Deco darling. It’s also a convenient base to explore other blue-chip buildings, given its proximity to the new Chicago Architecture Center headquarters and the dock for the organization’s popular river cruises.
Designed by Burnham Brothers, the 37-story Michigan Avenue landmark capped with 24-karat gold leaf had until recently been home to a Hard Rock Hotel. A revamp transformed it into its latest iteration, a hotel named for a rock star in her own right: Nobel Peace Prize-winning social activist Jane Addams. Read all about this pioneering reformer in a biography by Louise W. Knight; every St. Jane guest room has a copy. It might inspire a visit to the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum on the University of Illinois at Chicago campus.
Architecture fans will find lots to love in the hotel lobby, with its ornate elevator doors and original slabs of brown slate mixed with more modern granite. This old-meets-new aesthetic carries through into the hotel’s 364 contemporary guest rooms with Art Deco accents.
A little less than 10 percent of the rooms are in what’s called The Tower at St. Jane, a premium perch on the building’s uppermost floors. Each level of The Tower has only three rooms — a king and two suites with killer views — making it ideal for larger families or groups of friends wanting an entire level to themselves, with private elevator access to boot. Tower rooms, typically priced about $100 more than the rest of the inventory, start around $305 in the summer.
Play a game of pool on the clubby, ground-level room that separates the lobby from Free Rein, an eatery that just got a new chef, Kristine Subido, who used to own a Filipino fried chicken joint in Uptown. The restaurant is fronted by an airy, light-filled cafe with giant windows — great for people-watching on Michigan Avenue while you linger over an artful cup of coffee (try the white chocolate mocha) and a house-made pastry.
Construction is underway on an indoor/outdoor rooftop lounge called The Nobel. Slated to open in the next few months, it will be on the 24th floor between the regular hotel rooms and the Tower.
Sophy
Hyde Park
The South Side got a major hotel upgrade last fall with the debut of this 98-room boutique property that offers a “48 Hours in Hyde Park” package designed to get people out and about in this rapidly transforming neighborhood.
The brick building sits directly across the street from the Obama Kissing Rock, a boulder marking the spot where future POTUS first smooched future FLOTUS in 1989. The Sophy recently got some love of its own from Travel + Leisure, landing a coveted spot on the magazine’s 14th annual “It List” of the best new and renovated hotels in the world.
Both inside and out, the Sophy’s look is a nod to the area’s rich history and reputation as a hotbed for artists and intellectuals, many with ties to nearby University of Chicago. Themes of music, literature and science are woven throughout the lobby and bar, an inviting area anchored by an eye-catching, dual-sided fireplace and peppered with abstract paintings by local artists.
Works by University of Chicago professors and homegrown authors line the bookshelves in the hotel’s cozy Mesler Kitchen, serving chicken and waffles, shrimp and grits and a very Chicago-named 5th ward burger. Mesler also has a large outdoor seating area along Dorchester Avenue, nicely tucked away from the traffic on 53rd Street.
Guest rooms are meant to feel like mini apartments, outfitted with doorbells, light dimmers and windows that can be cracked open to let in fresh air. There’s nothing mini about the largest accommodations; the presidential suites — there are two of them — each command a spacious 1,200 square feet.
Starting at $354 a night for a minimum two-night stay, the “48 Hours in Hyde Park” package is long on perks, such as a $25 credit at Mesler, a $25 gift card at 57th Street Books and a welcome basket stocked with goodies like Kilwins chocolate and Jolly Pumpkin beer.
Just because it’s a staycation doesn’t mean you have to stay in your room. The package comes with a pair of tickets to several Museum Campus South attractions, including the Museum of Science & Industry, DuSable Museum of African American History, Oriental Institute Museum and Robie House, a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece that recently wrapped up an $11 million restoration.
The Wheelhouse
Wrigleyville
For baseball fans, this intimate hotel that opened last summer is a winner. The 21-room, four-story renovated greystone sits just a block south of Wrigley Field, and it’s loaded with references to America’s favorite pastime.
A vintage green scoreboard serves as the focal point of the lobby, where hundreds of Louisville Slugger bats dangle from the ceiling and packages of Cracker Jack are for sale, along with baseball bobbleheads and sterling-silver cuff links made out of teams’ pin-back buttons. You can’t go far in the property without hitting a baseball-related quote or picture.
The basement cocktail lounge, Tinker to Evers, is a shout out to one of the most famous double-play combinations in the history of the sport. The lounge is operated by the same folks behind Union Full Board, the hotel’s restaurant specializing in Detroit-style, square-cut pizza. Plans call for opening a sprawling patio with outdoor seating facing Clark Street in June.
Around the same time, the hotel’s rooftop deck is slated to open. From this vantage point, you can see the downtown skyline in the distance and get a partial peek at Wrigley’s lights. You also have a clear shot of The Wheelhouse’s closest competitor, the 173-room Hotel Zachary, also a fine choice for a Wrigleyville staycation.
Although all of The Wheelhouse’s guest rooms have an earthy, urban loft feel, no two rooms look exactly alike. Color schemes differ — peach, yellow, orange and blue — and so do configurations.
The Queen’s Terrace, measuring a snug 230 square feet, is a good bet for families; like the name implies, it comes with a queen bed and terrace as well as two bunks. Other rooms are bigger, with a king bed and sofa lounge. Rooms on the top level have soaring, 12-foot ceilings. The Bullpen Terrace, ideal for groups of friends, can sleep up to four guests in two sets of bunk beds and has its own outdoor space.
While baseball dictates the decor, it also wields quite a bit of influence on the price of the rooms. A recent online search found that when the Cubs play the San Diego Padres at home in mid-July, a two-night stay in the Bullpen Terrace goes for $860. The following weekend, when the Cubs take on the Brewers in Milwaukee, the prices drops nearly $200 to $665.
Hotel Essex
South Loop
Midcentury modern furniture, geometric designs and a 1961 steel-and-glass skeleton give a retro vibe to this newly renovated property overlooking Grant Park, the namesake of the French-inspired bistro on the ground floor.
Originally built as the Essex Inn, the 14-story hotel was basically ripped down to the studs to make way for a contemporary, sleek space with high-tech touches throughout its 274 guest rooms. “Smart” fridges mean you can quickly cool a bottle of bubbly or six-pack of beer. Bluetooth-enabled bathroom mirrors let you stream your own music. Bedside clocks double as wireless cellphone chargers.
What hasn’t changed from the old Essex Inn days are the floor-to-ceiling windows, which, if you’re in one of the higher-up, east-facing rooms, look onto expansive vistas of the lake.
The development comes from the same folks behind hot hotel nightlife spots like LH at LondonHouse and I|O at The Godfrey. Hotel Essex’s version is SX Sky Bar, spread out on the fifth and sixth floors of the adjacent Essex on the Park apartment building.
The sexy lounge is tricked out with colorful velvet booths, whimsical decor and huge, retractable windows that peer down on South Michigan Avenue. A staircase behind a door marked “VIP” leads to the dance floor below. You can drink, dance and dine on duck confit carnitas and Sky Bar sliders until the wee hours, knowing your hotel bed is just a short stumble away.
The Essex also makes it easy to access the museum campus and the new Hamilton exhibit at Northerly Island, a 20-or-so-minute walk away. Even closer are the Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium and Field Museum, less than a 15-minute stroll from the hotel lobby, which links to a small outpost of Vanille Patisserie for all of your caffeine and sweet-tooth cravings.
The hotel’s Shedd Aquarium package includes a discounted room rate, two tickets to the Shedd and late check out at noon. A recent online search turned up package prices just shy of $200 for much of July.
For families
The InterContinental Chicago Magnificent Mile isn’t a new hotel, but it is offering a new deal that’s perfect for families with younger kids in tow. The “Summer Scavenger Hunt” package has the tools you’ll need to explore the city with the young ones. Children get a backpack with a travel journal, coloring book, crayons, a cuddly stuffed lion and — here’s the best part — a scratch-off map of 30 Chicago attractions, so you can turn sightseeing into a game. Scratch off the Field Museum, for example, to find out how Sue the T. rex got its name. The package includes breakfast for up to two kids and an in-room milk and cookies amenity. Don’t forget to pack your swimsuits; you’ll want to spend some time splashing around in the huge indoor pool. Starting at $199, the package is available through September.
Maybe the kids want to go camping this summer. And maybe the adults don’t. Great Wolf Resorts has a compromise: Summer Camp-In. From May 24 through Labor Day weekend, all 16 Great Wolf Lodge resorts — including the one that opened last year in Gurnee — have turned into de facto summer camps. A few of the suites are decked out like mini camp sites, complete with tents and campfire lamps. Book online using the code CAMPIN to get one; they’re given on a first-come, first-served basis at no extra charge. Rates start at $169 a night. Resort staff, dressed like camp counselors, preside over campfire singalongs, story time and s’mores stations. Kids can collect badges for doing crafts and playing corn hole. You definitely don’t want to forget your swimsuits for this one. The waterpark resorts are throwing pool parties that can be held indoors or out, depending on the weather.
Save money this summer
Chicago Tribune Sports
Some real bargains can be had at Chicago hotels around the Fourth of July, which falls on a Thursday this year. Corporate travel slows down around the holiday, and locals are often out of town on summer vacations.
“There is simply not enough demand in the market to command the rates hotels usually get during the summer,” said Stephen Blackford, managing director at St. Jane. “We always see hotels posting their lowest rates of the summer during, prior and post this week.”
A recent online search showed rooms for $159 at St. Jane during the first week in July. Compare that to early August, when Lollapalooza can drive the cost of lodging through the roof. Overnight rates at the same hotel began as high as $609 that weekend.
Fourth of July translated into low rates at The Hoxton, too, where rooms started at $119 in early July.
At Hotel Essex, prices sank to $95 in the first few days of July and climbed to a modest $147 a night for the weekends that bookend the holiday — lower than any other summer weekend.
Twitter @lorirackl
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