Conference Hotels in Chicago

If you need 9 or more guest rooms, Engine Groups handles the room-block booking for you. For 8 rooms or fewer, you can search, compare, and book self-serve on Engine. Either way, you get access to pre-negotiated rates and no membership fee.

Meeting space is the first priority. Hotels like the Palmer House a Hilton Hotel offer about 130,000 square feet of event space and 77 meeting rooms, while the Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk has about 125,000 square feet and 43 meeting rooms. You'll also want enough guest rooms to accommodate your group and on-site facilities like catering and AV, which vary by property.

Engine books the guest-room block for your attendees. The meeting space, ballrooms, and event facilities are arranged directly with the hotel. That lets you coordinate your conference program with the property while Engine handles the sleeping-room logistics.

Engine offers consolidated invoicing, so you can settle one bill for the entire group instead of tracking individual traveler charges. You also get multiple payment options and no membership fee, which simplifies accounting for corporate events and multi-day meetings.

Start with total event square footage and the number of meeting rooms. The Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile, for example, has about 65,000 square feet of event space and 42 meeting rooms. Then consider guest-room capacity, location relative to your attendees or the airport, and on-site amenities like catering and AV support.