Hotels for Meetings
DuPage County has close to 2 million square feet of combined meeting space and is ideal for groups of up to 5,000 attendees. The CVB considers DuPage County to be more of a meetings destination than a leisure destination.
The four hotels that have the largest meeting spaces in DuPage County are the Hyatt Lodge at McDonald’s Campus and the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center, which each offer 47,000 square feet of space on their properties; the Westin Chicago Northwest, which provides 45,000 square feet; and the Hilton Chicago Oak Brook Hills Resort and Conference Center, which has 42,500 square feet. All these sites have plenty of meeting rooms and breakout areas to meet most requirements.
Meeting planners should note that there are dozens of other smaller hotels in the county with meeting spaces that are also likely to fit their budgets and needs. DuPage County has about 100 hotels, with a total of 16,000 guest rooms. There are also several stunning golf and spa resorts where guests can be pampered. But meeting planners on tight budgets can also book hotel rooms for their attendees at a variety of affordable locations.
Unusual Meeting Venues
The CVB lists another category of meeting spaces it calls conference and banquet facilities and unique meeting sites. This comprises a wide selection of unusual sites, including the largest one, the College of DuPage in Glenn Ellyn, with 100,000 square feet of space. Next in size are the Odeum Expo Center in Villa Park and Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament, a dinner theater in Schaumburg that has a Middle Ages theme. Both sites boast 85,000 square feet.
There is also the Enchanted Castle Restaurant and Entertainment Complex in Lombard, with 60,000 square feet; the Brookfield Zoo/Chicago Zoological Society, with 48,000 square feet; and Bobak’s Signature Events and Conference Center, with 35,000 square feet. The DuPage Expo Center can offer 23,500 square feet of space. Again, there are many other smaller facilities in DuPage County that can host a wide variety of meetings, conferences and events.
The DuPage CVB offers meeting planners plenty of professional assistance through its complimentary Signature Services program, which helps planners book just the right facilities and hotel rooms for their gatherings.
Meet and Eat
DuPage County also has some interesting restaurants that have significant meeting and event spaces for rent. For sports-oriented planners, there is the baseball-themed Harry Carey’s Italian Steakhouse in Lombard, with 6,100 square feet of meeting space, as well as Ditka’s, a football-themed restaurant in Oak Brook Terrace, with 4,000 square feet.
Meeting planners may also consider Meson Sabika in Naperville, which offers Spanish cuisine on a gorgeous historical estate; it supplies 8,000 square feet of meeting space. Another choice is Buca di Beppo, a family-style Italian eatery in Lombard that’s a little kitschy but fun; it offers 4,000 square feet of meeting facilities.
DuPage County, Illinois
Location: 38 communities in Chicago’s western suburbs
Access: O’Hare and Midway international airports; interstates 88, 355 and 290; Metra and Amtrak rail lines
Major Meeting Spaces:
Hyatt Lodge at McDonald’s Campus, Westin Lombard Yorktown Center, Westin Chicago Northwest, Hilton Chicago Oak Brook Hills Resort and Conference Center, College of DuPage, Odeum Expo Center
Hotel Rooms: 16,000
Offsite Venues: Brookfield Zoo, Morton Arboretum
Contact Info:
DuPage County Convention and Visitors Bureau
800-232-0502
www.discoverdupage.com
