by Scott Laird
Last updated: 9:00 PM ET, Sat May 25, 2019
Summer is a great time to visit Chicago. The weather is fine and cooled by lake breezes even when on the hot side. The city's residents maximize their outdoor time at food festivals, sporting events, and recreation during the region's brilliant warm months and visitor numbers peak, so the city is quite literally brimming with energy all summer.
Several hotels in the area offer packages designed for leisure travelers during the summer months, often with inventive twists that speak to specific segments like families, shoppers, or cocktail fans, while other hotels have recently updated outlets worth noting.
Summer Scavenger Hunt at Intercontinental Chicago Magnificent Mile
For families not satisfied to spend their time "lion" around their hotel room, the Intercontinental Chicago Magnificent Mile promises a roaring good time with the Summer Scavenger Hunt Package. In addition to overnight accommodations and daily breakfast for two children with paying adults, the package includes an Intercontinental Chicago Adventure Backpack stuffed with a plush Lincoln The Lion, a Lincoln The Lion coloring book, coloring pencils, and travel journal, plus a scratch-off scavenger hunt kit with 30 Chicago destinations to check off the list.
After what promises to be an exhausting day, families can retire for the evening with a milk and cookie amenity that's also included in the package. Families with more than one child can purchase additional backpacks at the front desk.
Scavenger Hunt destinations include The Chicago Theatre, The Rookery, John Hancock Center, Millennium Park, but those are just a small sample. Package rates start at $199 per night
Millennium Knickerbocker Chicago's Refreshed Martini Bar
History buffs will revel in the history of this hotel-there's a lot of it. The penthouse was the site of a speakeasy and casino operated by Al Capone and his brother during Prohibition, and in the 1970s the hotel purchased by Hugh Hefner and operated as Playboy Towers.
Today, Martini Bar is just off a refresh, offering light bites, including Tipsy Tea in the afternoons, where guests can add a glass of champagne to their traditional afternoon tea, or choose Asian Afternoon Tea, inspired by the Millennium Brand's Singapore heritage. Of course, there are also over 50 martini varieties on offer into the evening.
Family Fun in the City at Four Seasons Chicago
Also on Chicago's Magnificent Mile is the Four Seasons, which already offers a standard set of amenities for families such as choice of a toy from the treasure chest at check-in, welcome amenity in the room including stuffed animal, a kid's clubroom, and kid's shoe shine service, where tennis shoes are returned with a Four Seasons charm and new shoelaces.
Parents opting for the Family Fun in the City Package will also receive overnight accommodations, daily full American breakfast for two guests, complimentary meals for children ages five and under from the children's menu, a visit from the Ice Cream Man once per stay, and in-room popcorn and soda delivery once per stay.
Your Kind of Town at Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park
Sinatra famously crooned Chicago was "My Kind of Town", and guests at the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park can make it theirs, too. The Your Kind of Town Package includes discounted overnight accommodations and passes for two to a popular Chicago excursion. Guests can choose from the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, or Art Institute, all conveniently located to the hotel.
Package Rates start at $203 per night.
Glamping at The Gwen
Guests who can't make it to the great outdoors to sleep under the stars can take their campout to Michigan Avenue, courtesy of the thousand square foot private terrace in the Lux Suite at The Gwen Hotel.
The hotel already has a Lotus Belle tent pitched on the 16th-floor terrace of the two bed/two bath Lux Suite. Guests booking the Glamping Package will also receive a s'mores turndown service with Mexican chocolate, cayenne marshmallows and gold leaf garnish, roundtrip airport transfers, and access to the hotel's Elite Ambassador Service.
The Glamping Package is available through September and can be booked by contacting the hotel directly. Package rates start at $5,500 per night.
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