The 12 best hotels in Chicago

Alyssa Powell/Business Insider

• Chicago's booming tourism, attractions, and business opportunities attract millions of travelers to the city every year.
• As the city has surged in popularity, hundreds of hotels have opened across the city. From boutique stays to cheap minimal hotels and huge luxury towers, there's a wide range of accommodations for every taste and budget. Most feature historic architecture and stunning rooftops.
• We chose our top 12 hotels based on a myriad of factors including our own experience staying at these properties. We coupled our research with reviews and rankings from sites such as Trip Advisor and Booking.com, as well as local intel, and affordable price points starting at around $100 per night in low season.
• Read all Insider Picks Hotel Reviews here.

As you might expect from one of the world's greatest cities, Chicago is home to architectural marvels, an award-winning dining scene, innovative museums, and stunning lakefront scenery. Since I moved here more than 20 years ago, I'm constantly impressed by the rich cultural offerings the city provides, and the deep pride my fellow residents and I have for this city.

With a record-breaking 57.6 million visitors in 2018, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, the largest city in the Midwest has grown to include numerous compelling hotel choices. From intimate boutiques to world-renowned opulence, Chicago offers an enormous selection of accommodations for business travelers, luxury seekers, families, and tourists of all sorts. In fact, the central business district alone has approximately 145 hotel properties with 45,039 rooms - and counting.

As a self-proclaimed ambassador for Chicago who's always encouraging friends to visit, I'm always asked for recommendations on where to stay. My answers typically depend on the person's style preferences, location requirements, reasons for visiting, and of course, budget. These factors similarly fueled the following list, to highlight the hotels that best tick all those boxes: stylish, centrally located, near business and leisure, and are reasonably priced.

On the latter, hotel prices in Chicago run the gamut. In low season such as winter, some of the best hotels can start around $100 per night (excluding the holidays). Of course, they go up from there. Be prepared for many hotels to jump up a couple hundred dollars in summer.

Whenever you visit, consult our list of the 12 best hotels in Chicago, selected based on actual stays and previous Insider Picks hotel reviews, as well as criteria such as hotels that are highly rated (mostly four or five stars), well-reviewed on Trip Advisor and Booking.com, and typically available at an affordable price point (think under $300, nightly).

Our picks are found in prime locations and have special amenities you'll love with elevated design. In Chicago, that routinely means historic architecture and excellent rooftops. Prefer Airbnb? Here are some of our favorites in Chicago.

Mostly, they're worthy of your hard-earned cash - or reward points.

Keep reading to see why we were so impressed by these 12 Chicago hotels, sorted by price from low to high.

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Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Insider Picks team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. We frequently receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising sales team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at insiderpicks@businessinsider.com.