Meeting and event planners love to book events at hotels and resorts in gorgeous settings with ample lodging and meeting spaces. These five Illinois properties fit the bill, providing guests with nearby nature — sandy beaches, rugged hills and scenic bodies of water — and plenty of outdoor adventures.
Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa
Galena
Spread out over 6,800 acres of rolling hills overlooking the 225-acre Lake Galena, Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa is a perfect getaway for meeting groups wanting to escape the typical hotel ballroom.
Meeting attendees will enjoy hiking or biking along 20 miles of wilderness and paved hiking trails, taking a boat out on the lake, or going horseback riding. The resort also has a year-round pool with a retractable roof for the warmer months.
Golfers have their pick of four courses offering 63 holes. In winter, Eagle Ridge Nordic Center offers ice skating, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and sledding down the 10th hole of the golf course. The resort’s Stonedrift Spa has been reimagined and moved to its own stand-alone building adjacent to the inn, growing in size to 12,000 square feet of treatment and therapy space.
The resort has 80 guest rooms and 150 distinctive homes and villas for rent.
With 23,600 square feet of meeting and event space, the resort can accommodate groups of any size. The Eagle Ballroom can host groups of 400 for a banquet and 600 theater style. It can be subdivided into three separate rooms.
The Woodlands private dining rooms can host groups of 24 to 72 in a classroom setup. The Galena rooms offer 3,300 square feet, and there are three boardrooms for executive meetings. The property also has three conference homes where small groups can stay, dine and gather.
Point Patio is a tented venue with beautiful views of the lake and Highlands Restaurant, and Lounge 289, located at the General Golf Course, can host events overlooking the 10th tee box and the 18th green.
Illinois Beach Hotel
Zion
Illinois Beach Hotel is the only hotel in the state that is perched on the shores of Lake Michigan. The 92-room hotel is in Illinois Beach State Park, making it a perfect meeting spot for groups that want to get out into nature or out on the water as part of their events. The park, which is known for its beaches, dunes, wetlands and prairie, has 6.5 miles of undeveloped sandy shoreline and offers biking and walking trails, fishing and swimming.
The resort is a popular spot for smaller meetings and retreats, with nine meeting rooms and 10,293 square feet of meeting and event space. The largest meeting room has 2,448 square feet and can host 240 for a banquet. The 3,500-square-foot Grand Ballroom can accommodate 270 for a seated meal.
Nolan’s Restaurant is known for its locally sourced comfort food. Visitors can dine in the Pavilion or on the deck overlooking Lake Michigan.
Nearby attractions include the Genesee Theatre for concerts, plays and shows and Gurnee Mills, a shopping destination with nearly 200 stores, including a Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World. The mall is located between Chicago and Milwaukee, and both cities are within an hour’s drive of Illinois Beach Hotel. Six Flags Great America is less than 20 minutes away in Gurnee.
The Herrington Inn & Spa
Geneva
Situated on the banks of the Fox River in Geneva, The Herrington Inn & Spa is a boutique hotel with 60 rooms outfitted with gas fireplaces, whirlpool tubs and either patios or balconies. Complimentary breakfast is served daily, and the evening turndown service provides guests with cookies and cold milk before bed.
The Fox River Trail passes in front of the hotel, and many groups like to walk or bike along it during their free time. Mill Race Cyclery on the corner provides bike and kayak rentals for groups that want to get out into nature and explore.
The day spa works with groups that want to incorporate self-care into their retreats. The spa has four treatment rooms and offers massages, facials and body treatments.
The inn has more than 13,000 square feet of meeting space, the largest of which is 3,095 square feet. It also has an executive boardroom for up to 16 people and four meeting suites for two to eight people.
The adjacent Pump House is the inn’s 5,800-square-foot banquet facility, featuring exposed brick and natural light. There are three rooms in the Pump House: the River Room, Creamery Room and Rock Springs room. The River and Creamery rooms can be combined to make a larger space, featuring glass-paned French doors nearly encircling the room and an original tin ceiling that dates to the late 1800s. The doors open onto the Plaza Patio, which overlooks the Fox River.
Team-building activities include a scavenger hunt, a charcuterie-making workshop, a Geneva Winery tour, and bicycle, kayak or canoe rentals.
Grand Bear Resort at Starved Rock
North Utica
Grand Bear Resort’s proximity to Starved Rock and Matthiessen state parks, as well as the I&M Canal National Heritage Area and Visitor Center, make it a popular destination in Illinois.
The resort has 92 guest rooms, 140 vacation villas and 48 luxury cabins. It is known for its 24,000-square-foot indoor Grand Bear Falls Waterpark, which features play zones, slides, a wave pool, a lazy river and a 15-person hot tub.
Meeting planners have their pick of 11,000 square feet of flexible meeting space. The largest room is the 6,000-square-foot grand ballroom, which can accommodate groups of 325 with a dance floor. The ballroom can also be divided into more intimate spaces for breakout sessions or smaller gatherings. Seven meeting rooms range in size from 420 square feet to 2,000 square feet. The Outdoor Pavilion and Jack’s Place Restaurant & Bar, which serves American cuisine for breakfast, lunch and dinner, can also be used for events.
There are three other restaurants on property: TreeTops Casual Café, which serves coffee, breakfast, lunch and ice cream in the main lobby; J.H. Higby’s sports bar, which offers specialty cocktails, more than 30 whiskeys and bourbons, seasonal bites and trivia nights; and Bear Island Bar, a canyonside bar that serves food and drinks next to Canyon Creek Mini Golf and the Forest Castle Playground.
For fun, groups can compete against each other on the 18-hole miniature golf course or hang out at the Cave Arcade, which features carnival games, video games and kiddie rides.
Eaglewood Resort & Spa
Itasca
Eaglewood Resort & Spa is located in Itasca, just outside of Chicago, close to Chicago O’Hare International Airport. The facility has 295 guest rooms and suites that feature large walk-out balconies or patios. Groups hosting meetings or events at the resort can take advantage of its 18-hole, USGA-certified championship golf course, six-lane bowling alley, four fitness rooms, swimming pool, bocce ball, team building and more.
The resort’s spa offers massages, body treatments such as wraps and scrubs, reflexology and facials. After their treatments, spa guests can visit the tranquility room, which provides light snacks, tea and infused water. They can also use the spa’s fitness center, indoor pool, steam room, wood sauna and spacious indoor jetted hot tub.
Eaglewood offers a value-driven, one-price-per-person package that includes an overnight stay, three meals, continuous refreshment breaks, meeting space rental, audiovisual packages and dedicated meeting managers.
The resort has 37,000 square feet of function space, including 37 meeting rooms and two ballrooms. Red Oak Ballroom is 7,031 square feet and can accommodate 490 guests at rounds or 792 theater style. The Linden Ballroom can host 180 at rounds or 252 theater style. The Trillium Amphitheatre offers tiered seating for 75.
For team building, the resort partners with WCF Events to provide fun challenges that get groups to work together and communicate better as they solve various problems, such as the Mousetrap Race Car Challenge, Scavenger Hunt or Mobile Escape Room.
