Hotels for the Midwest Clinic 2026 at McCormick Place

By Matt Spaulding · October 21, 2026

Photo: DimiTalen, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The 80th Midwest Clinic, the band and orchestra conference, runs Wednesday 16 to Friday 18 December 2026 at McCormick Place West, 2301 S King Drive. On 21 October 2026 we read each hotel's own booking screen for Wednesday 16 December, and for nine of them Thursday 17 too. The hotels are most of the ones in our South Loop and McCormick Place area, plus some farther north. None of the five within a 7-minute walk of the hall showed a room for Wednesday. The ones that did are 21 minutes or more away on foot, and three of them are stops on the Clinic's free shuttle. Any of it can change.

Walk times are street routes on foot, measured from each hotel to the King Drive entrance of McCormick Place West.

The five nearest hotels had no Wednesday room

Marriott Marquis Chicago is the closest, 5 minutes from McCormick Place West, and Marriott lists skybridge access to McCormick Place. Its screen came back sold out for both Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 December. Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, 7 minutes out, answered "Hotel Not Available" for Wednesday, and the Clinic's own housing page lists it as sold out. Neither would show a Clinic night, so we read their fees for later dates. Hyatt's screen for 10 March 2027 has a $20 destination fee, marked subject to change. The Marquis charges $30, read for 13 January 2027. Both list $40 for overnight self-parking. At the Hyatt that buys a space in a covered 600-space garage, in and out included, and valet starts at $60. At the Marquis, Marriott's what-to-expect page puts valet at $60 for 24 hours, and another Marriott listing says $39 to self-park and $54 for valet.

The three hotels at 123 East Cermak Road are also 7 minutes out: Hampton Inn Chicago McCormick Place, Hilton Garden Inn Chicago McCormick Place and Home2 Suites by Hilton Chicago McCormick Place. Hilton's site sold none of them for 16 or 17 December, or for 13 January or 10 March, so the empty December screens may have nothing to do with the Clinic. It did sell all three for 2 November, with no mandatory charge. Hilton's page for the Hampton lists valet only, at $62 a day, though the hotel's own site names paid self-parking in the lot behind it, with limited spaces. The Garden Inn is $52 a day to self-park and $62 for valet, with no in and out, and Hilton's Park & Stay offer there includes parking for one vehicle per room, subject to availability. Hilton's own pages disagree about the Home2: $52 a day to self-park with no valet, or no self-park and $59 valet. The Marquis and these three are all on the Clinic's housing page, which links the Marquis to Passkey and the Cermak Road hotels to Hilton's booking pages. Try those links before you give up on them.

The nearest hotel with a Wednesday room

SpringHill Suites by Marriott Chicago Chinatown is 21 minutes on foot from McCormick Place West (0.98 miles), and it sold Wednesday 16 December. Marriott's screen showed no destination fee, and the Clinic's housing page doesn't list it. Drivers park off-site. Marriott sends them to the Wentworth Parking Garage next door and warns that spots are limited and not guaranteed.

Hotels on the Clinic's free shuttle

The Clinic runs a free shuttle for anyone with an attendee badge, from the covered Shuttle Center on Level 1 of McCormick Place West to the hotels it stars on its conference hotel map. It comes about every 25 minutes. Wednesday's buses start at 6:30am. The last one leaves the hotels at 8pm, and the last from McCormick Place goes at 9:30pm. Thursday starts at 7am, with last departures at 6:30pm from the hotels and 9pm from McCormick Place. Friday also starts at 7am but ends early: 4pm from the hotels, 7pm from McCormick Place. The Clinic says service typically begins an hour before the first scheduled clinic and ends an hour after the last event.

Hilton Chicago is the nearest stop, 39 minutes on foot (1.8 miles), and Hilton's screen had both nights. Its price includes a $25 mandatory charge a night. Self-parking is $72 a night and valet $88.00. The Clinic's listing for Hilton Chicago & Towers prints a lower overnight self-parking price, so ask which one applies. It also says the indoor pool and whirlpool are closed for renovation.

Across the street is The Blackstone, Autograph Collection, and the Clinic's listing says attendees staying there can catch the free shuttle at Hilton Chicago & Towers. At 38 minutes on foot (1.76 miles), it's the nearest hotel on the Clinic's housing page that had a Wednesday room. Wednesday was the only night we read. Marriott's screen carries a $25 destination fee inside the price. Self-parking is $72 a night in the Hilton Chicago garage at 99 East Balbo Avenue, in and out, with the ticket validated at the Blackstone's front desk. Tickets from other garages aren't validated. The Blackstone's own valet is $82 a night, and on Wednesday and Thursday it runs 6am to midnight with no overnight attendant.

Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel has its own $25 charge a night inside Hilton's price, and the garage across the street at 55 East Monroe is $57 to self-park, so $82 a night goes on things that aren't the room. It's 51 minutes from the hall on foot (2.38 miles), and both nights were for sale. Valet is $85 for overnight guests, with unlimited in and out.

Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk is 79 minutes on foot (3.67 miles) and Embassy Suites by Hilton Chicago Downtown Magnificent Mile is 80 (3.73 miles), the longest walks in this guide. Nobody walks that, so the shuttle is the point of staying at either. The Sheraton had Wednesday, with a $30 destination fee and $75 a day to self-park. Through the Clinic's block, breakfast there is a free buffet. The Embassy Suites was sold out Wednesday and showed one room type left for Thursday 17 December. Every room is a two-room suite, and breakfast and an evening reception are free. Hilton's price includes a $25 mandatory charge a night. Self-parking is $65 a day, and there's no valet.

Longer walks with no shuttle stop

Hilton Garden Inn Chicago Downtown South Loop is at 55 East 11th Street, 33 minutes away (1.52 miles), and it isn't the Garden Inn on Cermak Road. Hilton sold both nights with no mandatory charge. There is no self-parking, and valet is $70 a day.

The Congress Plaza Hotel & Convention Center says "No Resort Fees" on its home page, and its screen agrees: taxes and fees come to 18.9% of the rate, with no mandatory charge. The hotel had a room on Wednesday and is 41 minutes away on foot (1.9 miles). Parking is $62 a night, uncovered, with no in and out.

Don't mix up the Hampton Inn Majestic Chicago Theatre District, on West Monroe Street, with the Hampton on Cermak Road. Hilton's screen showed both nights with no mandatory charge, and the walk is 53 minutes (2.46 miles). Valet only, $76 a night. The farthest of these is JW Marriott Chicago, 55 minutes on foot (2.57 miles). It had a Wednesday room, and Marriott's screen includes a $30 destination fee. Valet is off-site, $88 a day with in and out. The hotel's page points to independent parking across the street but gives no rate.

The Clinic's block terms and the tax on your bill

The housing page gives every hotel on it the same cut-off, 15 November. Cancellation is "72 hours prior" at most of them and "7 days prior" at Palmer House and Embassy Suites. Cancel late and you're charged one night's room and tax. Congress Plaza, SpringHill Suites, the Hilton Garden Inn on East 11th Street, Hampton Inn Majestic and JW Marriott aren't on that page, so their terms are whatever each hotel's own screen says when you book.

To book, the page says to call the property or click the hotel name. Apart from the links above, the hotel names go to Passkey (Hilton Chicago & Towers, Palmer House, Embassy Suites and the Sheraton), to Hyatt's group page or to Marriott event pages. It also prints group rates. We don't repeat them here. It warns that outside companies claiming an association "will be issued a cease and desist letter", and that the official hotels "will only contact you if there is a question about an existing reservation or in response to an inquiry made by you." So if someone you didn't contact calls offering Clinic rooms, it isn't one of the official hotels.

The housing page prints a tax of 17.4%. The hotel screens we read on 21 October showed 18.9%: City 4.5%, County 1%, State 11.9% and a 1.5% Tourism Improvement District charge that began on 1 May 2026. Budget for 18.9%. Marriott's screen puts it on the destination fee too, so the Marquis's $30 comes to $35.67 a night.