<p>Just a tip for folks who reserve rooms early for Chicago Unifieds. I booked our room for the Feb. 2011 Unifieds at the Palmer House last August 2010. It was a regular room with a king bed (this was the cheapest available at the time under the “group discounted” rate for Unifieds) on a regular floor with no extras included. Pre-payment was not necessary, and the reservation could be cancelled and fully refunded at any time. </p>
<p>Then on Jan. 11, 2011, for some reason I was on the Palmer House website, and they were offering double bed rooms including breakfast, for $10 less than my “group discount” reservation; however, the reservation had to be prepaid and was non-refundable. But I didn’t change my original reservation, and I was glad because the next day, I was on Expedia looking for something unrelated. Out of curiousity, I searched their rates for the Palmer House. Low and behold, their rate for a room with two doubles on the executive floor, including free breakfast, soft drinks and snacks all day and hors d’oeuvres in the evening was $40 less than the rate of my original reservation. However, the room had to be paid in full upon reservation and was non-refundable. Needless to say, I cancelled my original reservation and booked our room through Expedia. It was soooooo nice being on the executive floor! So if you reserve your room early for next year, it’s worth checking the rates later on, just to see if there is a price cut.</p>