Surgery in Chicago. Where should I stay? (Des Plaines, Westmont: to rent, hotels)

[Chicago_Josh]

Have you Priceline bidded on a room?

I imagine you could get a 3-4 star hotel for average price of around 100-120 a night or so after tax

Maybe the 2 weeks complicates matters

I still think you can probably stay somewhere within the city, near your site, a decent place, maybe "settling" for 2.5-3 stars, for around 100 a night. Even if it means moving to a different hotel after a week or so

If not just schedule your appointments between 10a-1p thusly avoiding much of the rush i.e. bigger cab fares/longer travel times and stay near Ohare or something

[It'sAutomatic]

Priceline or Ohio House Motel (particularly cheap lodging downtown). I'd ask the hospital for ideas. You could try the Olympia building SRO and ask to stay for 2 weeks, they normally do monthly for ~$400.

[marothisu]

Hotwire and Priceline have good deals if you are staying when something major isn't happening in town. I have seen hotels in the Loop (not a far train/cab ride from NWern Medical) for $75-$90/month. If that fails, then check airbnb.com. People rent their apartments, condos, houses, etc to people. There is a rating system and it's a very professional business. Last time I used it was in Istanbul about two months ago. I rented an entire flat right near a bunch of stuff (well that's everywhere in that city but that's another story) with my girlfriend at the time and a few others for like $90/night total. It was pretty spacious and we got some free drinks/food out of it too because the host was awesome. We ended up paying less than $25/night per person for that and all the hotels in the area were at least $150-$200+/night.

I have some friends in Chicago who do this and I believe one of our posters also does it.
http://www.airbnb.com

Some examples, I don't know what your budget is though and you have to check availability:
* https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/769958
* https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/583050
* https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1219630
* https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/775211 (I actually know this building as my ex used to live here - older but great area..quiet but near stuff. Lincoln Park)
* https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/257880
* https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/508473

If you don't need to be within a few miles of Northwestern, then there's other areas like Logan Square, Lakeview, Avondale, etc where you could get places for even cheaper probably. If you are interested and find others, ask us about the area. Also, you probably want to look for "Entire Apartment/House" on the search filters. Sometimes people with 3 bedroom places may rent out 3 to separate people and you probably don't want that.

[MikefromEu]

Thank you guys. Your posts have been really helpful. I think I may actually try airbnb as marothisu suggested. I will keep you updated how it goes on Monday :-)

[Drover]

Originally Posted by marothisu

If you don't need to be within a few miles of Northwestern, then there's other areas like Logan Square, Lakeview, Avondale, etc where you could get places for even cheaper probably . . .

If you're gonna do the airbnb thing as morothisu suggests then it would probably be best to concentrate your search in neighborhoods around the CTA Brown Line or the north branch of the Red Line for ease of commute to the Northwestern campus. The issue with Blue Line neighborhoods like Logan Square/Avondale is the commute involves either going all the way into the Loop and then back-tracking up toward the Northwestern campus, or transferring to the infuriatingly slow Chicago Avenue bus. If you get a deal you can't refuse, it may be worth the while; otherwise try to focus on areas near the campus, or Lincoln Park/Lakeview/Uptown or Roscoe Village/St. Ben's/North Center/Lincoln Square.

[marothisu]

^ True. I suggest it though only if you have to go to the Dr's once or twice during that two week. Otherwise, I agree that you should either get something within walking distance or something on the north branch of the red line, or the brown line (not too far north though unless you don't care about a 30-45 minute "commute")

[MikefromEu]

Ok guys so I have decided. It is going to be one of those suburbs. It is really much cheaper. So the last question is:

Skokie, Des Plaines, Hillside or Bedford Park? Which one from those 4 would the best? I will be commuting to Gold Cost area. As I said some restaurants around would be good, maybe some park, clean and safe. But the commute is no. 1 factor.

For example bedford park is 10.5 mi from Chicago. Des Plaines 16 mi. But since I will be commuting to Goldcoast it may actually be better to stay in Des Plaines right? As Bedfork park is down the south while Des plaines is northwest

[Drover]

I presume you mean they're 10 and 16 miles from downtown. Both Bedford Park and Des Plaines (and Skokie too) border Chicago.

Where in Skokie and where in Des Plaines are you considering staying?

It may not be better to stay in Des Plaines because, as mentioned earlier, you can actually take public transportation from the Bedford Park location to the hospital and save yourself a crapload in cab fares. It may be posible in Skokie or Des Plaines too, but probably not as conveniently as the Bedford Park location. Even if you take cabs, depending on where in Des Plaines or Skokie it may or may not be any closer to Streeterville (the neighborhood where the Northwestern medical complex is).

I'll say it again: just scratch Hillside off your list.

[MikefromEu]

Originally Posted by Drover

I presume you mean they're 10 and 16 miles from downtown. Both Bedford Park and Des Plaines (and Skokie too) border Chicago.

Where in Skokie and where in Des Plaines are you considering staying?

It may not be better to stay in Des Plaines because, as mentioned earlier, you can actually take public transportation from the Bedford Park location to the hospital and save yourself a crapload in cab fares. It may be posible in Skokie or Des Plaines too, but probably not as conveniently as the Bedford Park location. Even if you take cabs, depending on where in Des Plaines or Skokie it may or may not be any closer to Streeterville (the neighborhood where the Northwestern medical complex is).

I'll say it again: just scratch Hillside off your list.

here is the list I am thinking about (everything is Extended Stay America):

7524 State Rd.Bedford Park, IL 60638

4575 Frontage Rd. Hillside, IL 60162 (crossing off from the list as you suggested)

5211 Old Orchard Rd. Skokie, IL 60077

1207 E. Touhy Ave. Des Plaines, IL 60018

1201 E. Touhy Ave. Des Plaines, IL 60018

855 Pasquinelli Dr. Westmont, IL 60559

For some reason I think: 5211 Old Orchard Rd. Skokie, IL 60077 would be the best. Seems like nice area, closer to the lake and probably closest to Gold coast. 1207 E. Touhy Ave. Des Plaines, IL 60018 seems nice as well. Plus it is immediately next to airport so I would save on cab ride. What do you think?

[nana053]

I have stayed at the extended stay in Skokie and it's nice, but access to restaurants is not good there. If you plan to grocery shop and cook, you cannot walk to a grocery store because the location is on major streets.

The cab ride to down town would be pretty expensive, but you *could* cab only to the metra in Evanston or the Skokie *el* I am not sure about the time to travel though.

Where exactly is the surgery center?