Planning your stay

Have you visited the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau website lately?

In addition to offering a ton of travel resources, including city guides and special deals for travelers, the website also features a customizable trip planner!  MyChicagoTrip asks a series of questions about your trip — such as the length of your stay, your travel style and interests, whether you are traveling solo or in a group — and makes recommendations on dining, shopping, and entertainment based on your answers.  How cool is that?

The Chicago Tourism and Convention Bureau also gives tips and travel information via Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.  For example, below is a snapshot of Chicago featuring world-class musicians playing in some of Chicago’s greatest landmarks:

Don’t forget, as always, Hotel Felix is happy to offer suggestions in planning your next visit to Chicago.  Feel free to contact us.

Bikes, Bikes, Bikes

photo credit: Bicycling magazine

Looking for an interesting, healthy, fun way to explore Chicago?

Why not grab a bike? It’s not surprising that Bicycling magazine named Chicago one of America’s Top 10 Bike-Friendly Cities.

To get started, visitors to Chicago can find a wealth of helpful information about biking in Chicago at http://www.bikechicago.us, including safety tips, a comprehensive list of bike rental companies in the city, and maps of bike paths in Chicago. For example, click here for a map of the River North bike routes near Hotel Felix.

Another great tool is Ride the City, which works much like GoogleMaps. Input start and destination locations, and Ride the City will map out a route for you.

If the do-it-yourself-thing is not exactly your style, a bike tour is a great way to see the sights of the city.

Bike and Roll Chicago and Bobby’s Bike Hike offer a variety of tour options to explore the Lakefront Trail, Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Lincoln Park Zoo and Conservatory, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, North Avenue Beach and more.

Happy riding!

360SEE Gallery and Hotel Felix Chicago Partner to Offer Sustainable Art Tour Package

Book a stay at the Hotel Felix, which recently earned the Green Seal Environmental Standard for Lodging-Silver certification, and enjoy a night out in eco-friendly style. Hotel Felix has teamed up with the 360SEE Gallery to give guests an inside look at the gallery’s sustainable art, for a truly eco-evening in Chicago.

Guests at the Hotel Felix who book the 360SEE package will be picked up from the hotel in a hybrid Going Green Limousine and drive to the 360SEE Gallery, located in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood. At the Gallery, guests will receive a private tour by owner Jordan Witkov, who will show them the gallery’s sustainable art, furniture and design object collection while they enjoy a sampling of organic wine, beer, cheese and fruit.

Photo courtesy of 360SEE

The package is available for $175 in addition to the hotel room rate.  For rates, reservations and more information, visit www.hotelfelixchicago.com or call toll-free 877-848-4040 or direct at 312-447-3440. For up-to-the-minute information on special promotions, become a fan of Hotel Felix on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Celebrate the 4th of July in Chicago

The 4th of July is right around the corner! Headed to Chicago? Or planning a staycation at Sweet Home Chicago? Chicago has countless festivities taking place, plus the Hotel Felix has a special promotion: 30% off when you book three or more nights.

So, roll up your patriotic sleeves and start planning your 4th of July fun. Here are a few ideas:

- Ditch your diet and hit up Chicago’s infamous Taste of Chicago, which kicks off today and celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Dozens of restaurants and food vendors participate in this food fest where 12 tickets costs just $8 and “Taste Portions” cost 2-4 tickets. Location: Columbus Drive from Balbo to Monroe Drive. The Taste of Chicago runs through July 4.

- Grant Park Music Festival takes place July 3 at 1:30 p.m. with the Grant Park Orchestra joining a local tap dancer, Lane Alexander, with patriotic beats. This is a free and kid-friendly event.

- Fireworks and the 4th of July are nearly synonymous. Way back in frigid January, media warned us that the fireworks shows might fizzle out this year to save the city some dough. Don’t fret - there are still plenty of fireworks happening this year with three lakefront displays on July 4. Navy Pier has a fireworks show (in addition to all the shows they do throughout the summer) and there are two additional shows at the South lakefront (viewable from 63rd to Promontory Point at 55th) and North lakefront (viewable from Foster to Montrose). All three shows start at 9 p.m.

Happy Independence Day. Enjoy a safe and happy holiday.

Saving Green on Green Travel

TravelZoo’s Gabe Saglie talked about how to $ave green, while traveling green with ABC 7 this morning.  Watch this segment to hear what Gabe has to say about the Hotel Felix - Saving Green on Green Travel | ABC-7 News (video).

The Hotel Felix is proud to be Chicago’s first hotel to be LEED silver certified, Green Seal silver, and we don’t skimp on the luxury!

Elate Nominated for Best New Hotel Restaurant in Chicago

Hotel Felix’s restaurant, Elate, offers a globally-influenced menu featuring fresh, local and organic ingredients. From the creme brulee pancakes and thick rolled oats served at breakfast to the organic salmon or whole wheat pasta prepared at lunch to the smoked spring chicken or plum and goat cheese tart served at dinner, Elate specializes in creative dishes sourced in an eco-friendly manner.

And the food is not just good for the earth, it’s just plain good. We’ve received four stars from Time Out Chicago, and we’ve been nominated as one of the best new hotel restaurants in Chicago in the magazine’s Eat Out Awards.

We’d like to thank all of our guests for dining with us and hope that you will cast your vote for Elate as the best new hotel restaurant in Chicago. Voting is open until 9am on March 15.  Thank you for the support!

Hotel Felix announced as finalist in Greater Chicago Food Depository Commerical Real Estate Awards

Every year, the Greater Chicago Food Depository Chicago Commercial Real Estate Awards Dinner recognizes the outstanding architects, designers, developers and brokers responsible for the city’s best real estate developments. This year, the developer of the Hotel Felix, Oxford Capital Group, LLC, has been honored to have been selected as a finalist in the redevelopment category.

The annual event is a benefit of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, Chicago’s food bank, and has raised more than $10 million for the cause in the last 21 years. Award nominations are reviewed by a Blue Ribbon Panel, comprised of representatives from last year’s award winners, representatives from real estate associations and members of the real estate community. The panel selects two to six finalists per category and then finalists are voted on by the Executive Committee.
The dinner is considered “the Oscars of the real estate industry.” This year’s event starts with a reception at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 11, 2010, at the Hilton Chicago.

The Hotel Felix would like to congratulate all who have contributed to this unique and distinctive project.