<p>I second runnersmom’s suggestion. For our October 3 day visit in 2008 we stayed in the Midway area with a rental car. Since we arrived very late at night and flew out on an early morning flight it was convenient. We just drove into downtown for a bit of sightseeing when we were finished with tours, interviews and the like. We were hardly in the room at all except to sleep.</p>
<p>For move in weekend we also stayed at the Midway complex which was hugely helpful for the purchases that couldn’t fit in the luggage. Many stores for dorm room supplies are within a mile - Target, Walmart, Office Depot, Best Buy. The only thing missing was Bed Bath & Beyond. Again, this trip we spent little time in the hotel, most of our time was shopping or on campus helping settle in. Free internet helped us track down the stores and supplies we had to buy.</p>
<p>For Family Weekend, we stayed on the Magnificent Mile and enjoyed being in a luxury hotel downtown. However, the daily parking rate was more than the car rental fee per day ($50 daily to park!!). Won’t be doing that again. Out by Midway parking was perhaps $10 a day or less. The rooms out by the airport are also much less expensive, many include a continental breakfast, and free internet. Downtown each of those is a separate charge for many hotels.</p>
<p>Sometimes its worth a splurge for a nice hotel experience. Sometimes you just want a clean, quiet, safe, convenient, less expensive room out by the airport.</p>
<p>The Midway Hotel Center has a webpage with all the hotels in the complex listed:
<a href=“http://www.midwayhotelcenter.com/[/url]”>http://www.midwayhotelcenter.com/</a></p>