Cheaper Downtown Chicago Hotels, Counted With Parking and the Fee

By Matt Spaulding · November 12, 2026

Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Of the 50 downtown Chicago hotels we've finished checking, we mark nine $, and eight of those add no resort or destination fee. If you drive, parking is what costs you. Seven of those eight post a price, from $57 a day at the Crowne Plaza Chicago West Loop to $76 a night for valet at the Hampton Inn Majestic Chicago Theatre District, and we found nothing saying tax is included in any of them. The ninth, the Holiday Inn Chicago Downtown - The Mart, charges a $25 destination fee, less than half the Crowne Plaza's parking price. Its own parking is $63 a day, so a car there adds $88 a night to the room.

The $ is our rough read of where a hotel usually sits against the rest of downtown. It isn't a price, and rates move every day. Which months cost less is in Chicago Hotels Are Cheapest in January, Except the Weeks McCormick Place Fills, and What Chicago Hotels Charge to Park has parking for all 50.

The one hotel marked $ with a destination fee

IHG's search list leaves the Holiday Inn's $25 out of its room-plus-fees figure. It shows up only when you open Rate details on a room. Parking is in an on-site garage, and booking listings flag a height limit on it. It's a 4-minute walk to the Merchandise Mart.

Hotels marked $ with no resort fee, and what the car costs

The Hampton Inn Majestic, in the Loop, is 9 minutes from Cloud Gate and has no self-parking; valet is $76 a night. The Congress Plaza Hotel & Convention Center is at 520 South Michigan Avenue. Grant Park is across the street, and Cloud Gate is a 14-minute walk. Self-parking is $62 a night at garage PARK 1, with no in-and-out. Another page on the hotel's own site says independent operators run the garages around the hotel and set their own rates, $25 to $80.

In River North, self-parking for the Aloft Chicago Downtown River North is in the Greenway garage on Kinzie Street, which is separate from the hotel, at $60 a night. Valet is $74 a day. The Moxy Chicago Downtown sends its guests to an off-site garage at 401 North Wells Street, $59 a day. It doesn't list valet.

In the West Loop, the Hampton Inn Chicago West Loop Fulton Market Area charges $65 a day to self-park, and there's no valet. Ogilvie Transportation Center is about a block away. The Crowne Plaza is near the UIC-Halsted Blue Line and charges its $57 a day to park on site, without saying whether that's valet or self-park. Randolph and Morgan, in Fulton Market, is a 12-minute walk from the Hampton and 10 from the Crowne Plaza.

Breakfast is free at the Hampton Inn Chicago McCormick Place, in South Loop and McCormick Place, and valet is $62 a day. The hotel's own site also points to a paid lot out back, with limited spaces, and to McCormick Place's lots.

The Best Western Grant Park Hotel, at 1100 South Michigan Avenue, is the only one of the nine with no parking on offer at a stated price. Its own services page lists valet at $58 a day, marked Unavailable, and says nothing about self-parking. There's a $75 Guest Incidental Fee too, and the hotel doesn't say whether that's a hold. Once you pick a room, a 1.5% Tourism Improvement District Fee shows up with the taxes.

Marked $$ with no resort fee, and sometimes cheaper to park

Self-parking at The Drake Hotel is $58 a day, $7 less than at the West Loop Hampton Inn, and valet is $82. The Drake is in Magnificent Mile and Streeterville, a 5-minute walk from the Water Tower.

The Hyatt Place Chicago/River North charges from $60 a night to self-park and from $74 for valet, with unlimited in-and-out either way. An older hotel page shows $55 and $64.

You can't park your own car at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Chicago Downtown River North. Valet is $79 a night in a covered garage with in-and-out, and nothing over 6 ft 8 in can park on site. Breakfast is made to order and free. The Homewood Suites by Hilton Chicago West Loop Fulton Market Area shares a building with the West Loop Hampton Inn, and the same $65-a-day self-parking. Its suites have full kitchens.

Leaving the car at home

A 3-Day CTA/Pace Pass is $15. The cheapest parking any of these hotels sells itself is $57 a day, at the Crowne Plaza. A 1-Day pass is $5. With Ventra or contactless, one L ride is $2.50 and one bus ride is $2.25. The L costs $5 from O'Hare, the one station that charges extra, unless you board on a 1-Day or 3-Day pass.

Fees come from booking screens read October 21, 2026, except the Best Western's, read November 4, and its $75 incidental fee, from its services page read November 12. Parking comes from hotel and chain pages read October 21, except the Congress Plaza's two parking pages, read November 11 and 12, and the Best Western's services page, read November 12. Fares come from CTA's chart in effect since February 20, 2023, read November 12.