Chicago is one of the most traveled-to and cultured cities in the USA. With iconic cultural landmarks, a famous history of sports, and incredible job opportunities, the broader Chicago area offers a plethora of reasons to visit.

However, whether you’re looking to attend the United Center for a Bulls game, visit one of the many famous college campuses (such as the University of Chicago), or explore a new job opportunity, one of the most important parts of your travel journey to your trip to Chicago is your choice of hotel. As many can attest to from personal experience, selecting the wrong hotel can make a disaster out of even the best-planned trip.

Conveniently, Chicago has many impressive property choices within the Hyatt hotel catalog. Hyatt is one of our favorite Hotel chains for using hotel/credit card points (specifically, World of Hyatt points) to book stays, and offers a wide variety of properties across the globe. Due to Hyatt’s static rewards chart, booking your redemptions can often return 2+ cents per point! Chase Bank also enables you to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points directly to Hyatt, further increasing the total point pool for bookings.

To help you decide which Chicago Hyatt hotel makes the most sense for your next trip, we’ve compiled a list of our top recommendations based on both copious personal experiences with these Hyatt properties and popular online sentiments. While everyone’s preference varies and many of the Hyatt hotels not on this list are still excellent, these are our three favorite options based on important factors such as price, location within Chicago, range of amenities, overall service, and room quality.

We hope this guide helps you plan your next hotel stay in Chicago! Let’s dive into our top 3 recommendations:

The 3 Best Hyatt Properties in Chicago

Best Overall — Park Hyatt Chicago

If you’re hoping for the best possible stay at a Hyatt in Chicago, look no further than the Park Hyatt Chicago. The Park Hyatt is iconic—from the minute you see the property's stunning entrance, you’ll get an idea of the type of experience you’re in for. The Park Hyatt Chicago has stunning restaurants (with both inside and outside seating), an impressive pool on the 7th floor, and some of the most spectacular rooms of any property in the city (we find that the bathrooms at the Park Hyatt are some of the largest we’ve ever seen), which is especially impressive considering the convenient downtown location.

The entire property screams luxury—including the prices. With the Park Hyatt Chicago being a Category 6 property, an average night in a standard room will typically cost $500+ a night, and often as high as $650+ for average times. While the suites are stunning, an average night will run ~$700 minimum. If you want to stay at the Park Hyatt Chicago for as cheap as possible, we recommend booking at least 3 months in advance for all stays; otherwise, you’re likely going to be stuck paying the higher rates.

However, if you’re looking for luxury at a Hyatt property in the Greater Chicago area, the Park Hyatt is easily the best choice. While it is by no means cheap, you’re still getting immense value for your money.

Best for Points Bookings — Chicago Athletic Association

This spot used to go to the Thompson Chicago; however, the property’s category was increased from 4 to 5, resulting in a pretty substantial decrease in point value. Therefore, the new leader for World of Hyatt points value in Chicago is the Chicago Athletic Association by Hyatt. This unique concept hotel is one of the more distinct Hyatt property options in the Chicago area, offering a boutique feel with a stunning visual style in an excellent location (right near Millennium Park). While the property is not as luxurious as the aforementioned Park Hyatt, it still offers a quality experience at a discount compared to many of the most expensive hotels in the city.

However, the main reason that we recommend the Chicago Athletic Association is due to the impressive points redemption value. Of all the Hyatt properties in the Greater Chicago area, CAA boasts the best value for World of Hyatt points. Take the following example: for a random date, the cash price of a standard king bed is $402 at the cheapest, and if you aren’t a WOH member, a more realistic $420-$450. However, on the same day, with the same room type, you can book for just 17,000 points, yielding a cent-per-point ratio of 2.4 cents per point! This is an exceptional redemption and only becomes more valuable if you’re booking at a peak time (e.g., a major sports game, college graduation) where cash prices can skyrocket to $500+ and yet the point-per-night value stays relatively similar (shoutout to the amazing World of Hyatt category system).

Plus, booking reward nights at this hotel is relatively easy compared to many of the other options on this list, with award availability fairly good up to a few weeks out. However, as always, booking as far out as you can is always a safer approach to getting good point redemptions.

Overall, if your goal is to get the best possible value out of your World of Hyatt points in Chicago, the Chicago Athletics Association hotel is likely to be your best bet.

Best for Value & Budget — Thompson Chicago

If you’re hoping to stay at a Hyatt property in Chicago without breaking the bank, one of the best options is the Thompson Chicago. Now, while the Thompson may be more expensive than the various Hyatt Place and Hyatt Centric properties scattered across the Greater Chicago area, the Thompson is a clear level above them in quality without being as astronomically costly as the fanciest hotels in the city.

At the Thompson, you get a stunning midcentury-modern property with a great location within the city, plus all the amenities you’d expect from the Thompson brand (top-tier restaurant, great service, etc.). The Thompson has stunning views of the city, with large rooms even for non-suites. Plus, the Thompson is one of the more quiet Hyatt properties in Chicago, largely due to the slightly quieter area—this makes it an excellent option for anyone travelling for work, or for anyone who prefers a quieter environment during their travel.

However, as we alluded to earlier, the best part of the Thompson Chicago is the price. If you book far enough in advance, you can frequently get prices as low as $250-$300 per night, roughly half the price of Park Hyatt. However, it’s important to note that the price for this property can vary wildly—while it’s still our favorite option for consistent value, be sure to check the price for a variety of dates in order to get the best deal.

See below for some example prices across room types at the Thompson Chicago:

Summary

Chicago is an incredible city and one of the most interesting places in the USA. Luckily, Hyatt has a great variety of properties that you can book for your next stay, regardless of whether you’re traveling for vacation or business! We hope our list of the best Hyatt properties in Chicago is helpful, and we’re happy to answer any questions based on our stays at these properties.

If you’re interested in other Hyatt properties, make sure to check out our list of the best Hyatt properties to stay in London, the best Hyatt hotels in NYC, the best Hyatts in Paris, our review of our favorite Hyatt property Alila Kothaifaru Maldives, our review of Carmel Valley Ranch, and our review of Great Scotland Yard. And if you’re interested in booking your next stay at a Hyatt property with points, we have guides on both how to transfer Chase points to Hyatt and how to book Hyatt hotels with points!

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