At publication time, it seemed everyone in the Chicago area was rooting for the Bears in their first playoff run in the last five years. It’s hard not to get behind a team that registered an 11-win season and playoff berth this year after notching only five victories the year before.
Head coach Ben Johnson leads the NFL team in chants of “good, better, best” to ensure his players know what they’re capable of. That mentality reaches beyond Soldier Field and out into the Chicago suburbs, where destinations like Visit Chicago Southland and Chicago’s North Shore work to ensure groups get the “good, better, best” meeting experience—including the price they pay for it.
For groups who want to meet in the Greater Chicago area but avoid the downtown costs, Chicago’s suburbs offer cost-effective alternatives.
The average rate for a double room in Chicago is $265 per night. Five-star properties in Chicago can cost upwards of $525 on average, according to KAYAK. For comparison, Visit Chicago Southland’s latest and greatest luxury property, Wind Creek Chicago Southland, offers room rates starting at $179.
Visit Chicago Southland
Visit Chicago Southland serves 60 communities across 400 square miles. The DMO celebrates convenience and efficiency in all of its meetings-focused spaces.
“You have less traffic, less congestion, and that in itself brings less stress,” said Jennifer Ziltz, meetings market manager at Visit Chicago Southland.
Here are some of the region’s premier destinations—hotels and offsite venues—for hosting meetings without all the hassle.
Wind Creek Chicago Southland
Wind Creek Chicago Southland stands 16-stories tall over East Hazel Crest and Homewood. During the holiday season, red and green lights spread holiday cheer across the sky of Chicago’s southern suburbs.
The addition of Wind Creek Chicago Southland in November 2024 was a “gamechanger” for the area when it comes to hosting meetings.
The full-service resort was “something the area needed,” Ziltz said. The hotel is just 25 miles south of Chicago and home to 255 rooms and 43 suites.
The 70,000-square-foot casino property also boasts resort amenities such as a fitness center, indoor pool and 11,000-square-foot spa overlooking the Chicago skyline.
From Asian delicacies to Mexican, Italian, seafood and dessert, the resort offers more than eight different dining options. Food Bazaar by Fabio Viviani is a casual dining area that functions similar to a food court, or what Wind Creek Hospitality calls “gourmet food stations.”
The food stations are all you can eat for a one-time payment. Once inside, guests can choose from dozens of desserts, mini-cheesecakes, cookies—my personal favorites being chocolate dipped madeleines. Two of the stations include Bottega and Mexican Salt and Sea. Mexican Salt and Sea’s menu features taco salad, elotes, etc. Other food items across the six stations include shrimp cocktails, chicken parmesan, fish and chips, chicken banh mi and more.
Another dining option, Alto is a rooftop restaurant located on the hotel’s 17th floor. The Italian steakhouse experience offers views of downtown Chicago.
Meeting and event offerings at the resort include nearly 12,000 square feet of space. The Halsted Ballroom, the resort’s largest space, is suitable for 500 people. Three smaller boardrooms at the hotel can accommodate 14 to 30 guests. The casino floor is also home to “hidden gems” that are customizable spaces for corporate events and social gatherings in an exciting atmosphere.
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And growth for this resort as a meetings “gamechanger” will continue for the next year or two. The facility is setting its sights on adding an entertainment venue for hosting concerts and presentations.
Wind Creek and its continued growth is changing the South Chicago suburbs’ position in the meetings market.
“It really kind of positions us as a premier meeting destination,” Ziltz said. “Wind Creek itself is the first venue in this area that really offers a resort-style setting.”
And there’s more brewing in the area. In Matteson, two new properties—The Delta by Marriott and Fairfield—are anticipated to open early this year.
“Being from the area and seeing the growth that has happened over the years, and what we’re really adding on to as a community; we take great pride in that here at Visit Chicago Southland, and just as an employee, it’s a privilege to be part of that,” she said.
Unique Offsite Meeting Venues
Chicago Southland’s offsite meeting spaces are just as described above: unique. Ziltz said the three venues—Historic Ford Hangar, Irons Oaks Environmental Learning Center and Chicago Gaelic Park—are different than what guests would typically see in a normal banquet hall or hotel meeting space.
The Historic Ford Hangar in Lansing is located on the grounds of the Lansing Municipal Airport. The venue offers 13,000 square feet of banquet meeting space.
“It’s a great spot for a larger reception or gala fundraising events, or an opening night that you might be hosting,” Ziltz said, “and obviously, with it being in an airport hangar, it offers a little bit more of a dramatic, memorable setting that you can’t really get from a hotel ballroom.”
Irons Oaks Environmental Learning Center in Olympia Fields is smaller, fit for 60 to 80 guests. The center is located in a forest, so the background of these meetings features scenic nature and trees. Irons Oaks also offers teambuilding events. The adventure center, which Ziltz said is suitable for a corporate retreat, features a variety of activities, including snowshoeing, skiing, high ropes and a climbing wall.
Lastly, Chicago Gaelic Park boasts indoor and outdoor space. Groups of up to 450 can gather in Oak Forest to meet among the venue’s multiple banquet halls.
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“Its largest banquet space is called the Emerald Room, and within that, the room is decorated with crystal chandeliers,” Ziltz said. “There’s two beautiful oak bars and handcrafted and hand-carved glass mirrors that really gives the space kind of a unique design and a unique setting.”
Like any good Irish facility, she also mentioned, the venue is home to an Irish pub: Carriage Pub. The historic spot is an iconic staple that has been serving the community for nearly 40 years. The full bar offers live music on Fridays and Saturdays.
Chicago’s North Shore
Chicago’s North Shore CVB invites attendees to 10 destinations in the Windy City’s suburbs—Glencoe, Glenview, Evanston, Lincolnwood, Northbrook, Prospect Heights, Skokie, Wheeling, Wilmette and Winnetka—mere blocks away from Lake Michigan. Across the 10 locations, Chicago’s North Shore offers a portfolio of 70 hotels. Here’s one property that brings a touch of the urban, city scene to the Chicago suburbs.
Hilton Orrington Evanston
The 269-room Hilton Orrington Evanston features 26,705 square feet of meeting space across its 25 meeting rooms. The Hilton’s largest space is 12,000 square feet. The property, located near Northwestern University, recently underwent renovations. The hotel saw a complete remodel, including updates to the ballroom, meeting space, lobby and all of its guest rooms. The renovations also included the debut of a new restaurant, Evanston Corner Bistro. The meeting venue borders the city and is accessible from downtown Chicago by train in half an hour.
Another full-service hotel for meetings, Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling, is the area’s largest property. The 412-room hotel offers 35,000 square feet of space across its 20 meeting rooms. The largest space is 14,825 square feet.
“It has ample free parking; it has the most meeting space and the largest rooms in our service area,” said Gina Speckman, executive director of Chicago’s North Shore CVB.
Museum Meetings
Chicago’s North Shore’s museum meetings portfolio caters to the Midwest’s distinct four seasons. For chilly winters, guests can meet at the Illinois Holocaust Museum beginning in the summer of 2026.
The Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie is currently closed due to renovations. Updates to the facility will welcome a new lobby to hold more guests, a new visitor welcome center, a redesigned state-of-the-art auditorium, a reflection space within the Karkomi Holocaust exhibition and more.
While the museum is closed for renovations, it’s renting a space in downtown Chicago on State Street. Experience360 is an immersive historical experience that tells the stories of Holocaust survivors through panoramic views and cutting-edge technologies.
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“They rented a really small space downtown and have a temporary museum just to accommodate,” Speckman said. “Because they get so many groups, they didn’t want to tell [groups] for a whole year ‘you can’t come here.’”
After the frost fades and spring has sprung, groups of 18 to 350 can meet at an outdoor museum, the Chicago Botanic Garden. Set the scene for your next meeting upon 385 acres of gardens, lakes and native woodlands.
For cooler weather, the Chicago Botanic Garden does offer indoor spaces and tented options, but the venue is most frequently used in the summer when groups can meet on the rose terrace or English walled garden.
No matter what space you choose, indoor or outdoor, Speckman described all the meeting offerings at the venue as “stunning.”
See It All in the Suburbs
The Chicago suburbs offer city views, urban life, greenery and lake escapes directly outside of Chicago. But the combination of these amenities provides a different experience from actually being in dense downtown.
“What I try to convey to meeting planners is just the ease of working with us and being a little bit outside of the city,” said Jennifer Ziltz, meetings market manager at Visit Chicago Southland.
Planners have “a little bit more space to work with in regard to overall costs,” she said. So, on top of easier logistics and better value, the suburbs offer amenities within walking distance of Lake Michigan and proximity to nearby airports.
Gina Speckman, executive director of Chicago’s North Shore CVB, said she feels “spoiled” to be in close proximity to the third largest city in the U.S. Between the city’s two airports—Midway and O’Hare—Speckman said she can travel anywhere in the world without having to change planes.
“I’ve gone to Seoul, South Korea; Hong Kong. I can go anywhere on a direct, nonstop flight,” she said. And to travel to O’Hare from any of the area hotels, guests don’t even have to get onto a highway.
In addition to the airlift capacity, Speckman said guests are also impressed by the state of the beaches in the suburbs. With clear water, fine sand and lifeguards, Lake Michigan’s beaches in Chicago and the suburbs offer excursion possibilities that groups could not experience in other large metro regions.
“It’s those other little hidden gems that we have within the area, such as the outdoor space, the trails that people can hike and walk on,” Ziltz said. “And it’s really just a nice balance of having a city sort of vibe, but also the calmness of the nature that we have to offer.”
