In any big city you can get a hotel room regardless of there being a convention on. A city is not like a town in that regard

Hotel prices can increase dramatically if the nearby event is large enough, even in a big city. And the fact that they'd be booking right at the last minute will make their options more limited. I'm sure something will be available, but as #2 said, finding a decent hotel at a reasonable rate will probably be difficult at this point.

The group hosting the convention likely has a block of rooms at a set price for convention goers. If they weren't all taken already, OP could have done that. Also, you really should have asked them where in Chicago because most people will not actually live in Chicago and still consider it Chicago.

This was my thought exactly. One of the very first things I would have asked probably. "Hey, you said you lived in Chicago right? Where abouts? Mind if I freeload for a few days while (convention name) is on? I'll buy you a case of beer as compensation!"

That might be acceptable for an anime convention (although it really doesn't sound pleasant, and there's a chance you could get kicked out, depending on the venue). But there's a good chance that this is something work or professional related, in which case sleeping in public really isn't an option.

Who the heck thinks of Champaign - Urbana when they think of Illinois? Most people think Chicago and The Rest Of Illinois. Because there is a whole state down south of those two/three cities...

I think it's people who went to CU for school and then moved away. They're the only ones who think of Illinois at all outside of Chicago.

I don't think you understand how big Chicago (and other metros) are. You can live in an area that isn't *technically* Chicago and still say you live in Chicago because of how the greater area falls.

32, if you live the suburbs (or anywhere that's an hour or over away from Chicago or, um, not Chicago), then you don't live in Chicago and should not be saying you do. Sincerely, Someone Who Actually Lived in Actual Chicago

I think I understand that the suburbs are not Chicago. I actually moved out of Chicago for a year to highland park, and then moved back into the city, and almost everyone in highland park said they live in Chicago. And they didn't

As someone who lives in the Chicago area, I tell people I live in Chicago all the time. Why? Because I go to school in Iowa, and no one knows where my actual town is. If you live within an hour or two of Chicago, that's all considered Chicago suburbs in respect to the rest of the US. That way, you can give people a general reverence of where you live.

I think most people who live in the suburbs would say they live in the city they are by. It's not because they want to seem cool or some crap, it's because of convenience. If we said what suburb we lived in the only people who would have any clue where it is are people from the area.

51, there are some well-known suburbs that they could be closer to and should say they live in or live by, instead of Chicago. When I moved out of Chicago several years ago to a suburb an hour away, I didn't say I lived in Chicago - I said I lived in Gurnee. A Chicagoan knows that if you live in the suburbs, but say you live in Chicago, it's not really for the convenience factor.

Living two hours away from Chicago and saying you live in Chicago is not a general referenc.