Chicago Hotels Are Cheapest in January, Except the Weeks McCormick Place Fills
By Matt Spaulding · November 9, 2026
Photo: Sea Cow, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
On 21 October we read the booking screens of four hotels by McCormick Place for Wednesday 13 January 2027, a week with no show we could confirm in the hall. The Hyatt Regency McCormick Place came back with "Hotel Not Available". The Hampton Inn Chicago McCormick Place and Home2 Suites by Hilton Chicago McCormick Place, two of the three hotels at 123 East Cermak Road, had no rooms either, and none of the screens said why. We didn't read the third, the Hilton Garden Inn Chicago McCormick Place, for that night. The Marriott Marquis Chicago listed rooms. It's 5 minutes on foot from McCormick Place West, and the other four are 7.
Engine, a hotel-rate aggregator and not an official source, ranks January as the cheapest month for the whole city and June as the most expensive, from 4.9 million public rate observations between May 2024 and April 2026. Choose Chicago, the city's tourism bureau, points to winter: "The most budget-friendly time to visit Chicago is during the winter months, especially January and February, when hotel rates and flight prices are typically lower."
Nobody official publishes a month-by-month series of Chicago hotel occupancy or rates, so Engine's ranking and the bureau's line about winter are as firm as it gets. Choose Chicago's weekly and monthly dashboards are for its paying partners, and its year-end results for 2025 give an annual figure: 11.9 million room nights filled, 2.3% more than in 2024. We also found no published day-of-week split for downtown, so we won't tell you which nights are cheaper.
What moves Chicago's numbers
For the week of Sunday 13 to Saturday 19 September 2026, CoStar reported Chicago's average daily rate up 28.2% and revenue per available room (RevPAR) up 41.8% on the year. Those were the largest gains among the Top 25 US markets. CoStar credited one show, the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS), 14 to 19 September at McCormick Place. We read that through Hospitality Net's repost of CoStar's release, which gives no Chicago occupancy for the week. IMTS runs in even years.
Chicago's hotel occupancy rose 6.8% to 82.7% in the week of Sunday 4 to Saturday 10 October 2026, the second-largest occupancy gain among the major markets, and RevPAR rose 21.1%. Trade-press reposts of CoStar's weekly release say that was driven mainly by the APTA TRANSform & EXPO (4 to 7 October) and the ACEP Scientific Assembly (5 to 7 October). The Chicago Marathon fell on the same weekend. CoStar didn't credit it, though the runners' Friday and Saturday nights, 9 and 10 October, were inside that week. Race day was Sunday 11 October, and CoStar's coverage of 11 to 17 October doesn't mention Chicago, so race day's own week has no published figure.
Choose Chicago says hotels in the Central Business District filled more than 3.56 million room nights from June to August 2025, a summer record. Its four biggest Friday-Saturday weekends that summer each passed 91,000 room nights. The biggest, the weekend of Saturday 19 July, came with the NIKE Tournament of Champions at McCormick Place and a BLACKPINK concert at Soldier Field.
Hilton's price calendar for the Garden Inn on Cermak Road, read on 21 October, marked 6 to 8, 14 and 16 to 18 November 2026 "Sold out" and showed 1 to 5 November open. The calendar gives no reason, but the sold-out nights line up with two meetings on Choose Chicago's partial 2026 convention calendar: the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions at McCormick Place on 6 to 9 November and IEEE SC26 on 15 to 20 November. The same evening the Hampton's screen had no rooms for Sunday 8 November. All three Cermak Road hotels sold Monday 2 November, and Hilton's screens showed 10 or 11 rooms at each.
The weeks to check in 2027
We read every date below on the organizer's own page on 9 November 2026. All are at McCormick Place unless noted, and organizers can change dates.
The American Baseball Coaches Association Convention has the hall Thursday 7 to Sunday 10 January 2027. AHR Expo, a heating and cooling show, runs Monday 25 to Wednesday 27 January, and the organizer says 50,000 attendees, with no year attached. It isn't annual in Chicago: the next one is in Orlando, 7 to 9 February 2028. Between the two, from Monday 11 to Sunday 24 January, we found no show on an organizer page. That is not the same as empty. McCormick Place's own calendar wouldn't load for us, and Choose Chicago's convention calendar lists 2026 only and calls itself partial. The empty 13 January screens at the top of this page fall inside that gap.
The 119th Chicago Auto Show takes McCormick Place for nine days and two weekends, Saturday 13 to Sunday 21 February 2027. The Chicago Dental Society Midwinter Meeting is at McCormick Place West the following Thursday to Saturday, 25 to 27 February.
Tuesday 9 to Thursday 11 March 2027 is the last Inspired Home Show in Chicago. From January 2028 it moves to AmericasMart Atlanta. On 21 October the Hyatt listed rooms for Wednesday 10 March, the show's middle day. HIMSS27, the global health conference, opens with a preconference on Monday 5 April, and the conference and exhibition run Tuesday 6 to Thursday 8 April. Its page says 24,000+ "healthcare pioneers" came "last year".
C2E2, the comic and entertainment expo, is Friday 30 April to Sunday 2 May 2027, and the National Restaurant Association Show follows on Saturday 22 to Tuesday 25 May. The Bank of America Chicago Marathon starts and finishes in Grant Park on Sunday 10 October 2027, a date the organizer marks subject to change.
Where to sleep when the hall is full
The Midwest Clinic runs Wednesday 16 to Friday 18 December 2026 at McCormick Place West. On 21 October none of the five hotels within a 7-minute walk showed a room for Wednesday 16 December. The nearest hotel with a room that night was the SpringHill Suites by Marriott Chicago Chinatown, 21 minutes away on foot (0.98 miles). Marriott's screen showed no destination fee. Marriott sends drivers to the Wentworth Parking Garage next door and warns that spots are limited and not guaranteed. Hotels for the Midwest Clinic 2026 at McCormick Place has the longer list for those nights.
The Hilton Garden Inn Chicago Downtown South Loop and the Homewood Suites by Hilton Chicago Downtown South Loop, on East 11th Street, are 33 minutes out (1.52 and 1.56 miles). That Garden Inn is not the one on Cermak Road. Hilton's screen showed 13 rooms at the Garden Inn on both Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 December, and 11 and then 12 at the Homewood. That is a long walk to make twice a day, and neither has self-parking: valet only, $70 a day. We read the SpringHill and these two for December only.
Every hotel in this guide is in our South Loop and McCormick Place area. Open it for your dates, then check each hotel's own screen, including in the weeks with no show.
