Lake County
- The Holiday Inn Gurnee Convention Center (847.336.6300; www.holidayinn.com) is currently under renovation and scheduled to reopen in May with 210 newly appointed guest rooms, 10,000 square feet of meeting space, a large pool and a fitness center.
Rosemont
- Sheraton Chicago O’Hare (847.699.6300; www.sheratonchicagoohare.com) plans to finish upgrades to its lobby, meeting space and guest rooms in March. The property offers 15,000 square feet of meeting space.
DuPage county
- Chicago Marriott Naperville (630.505.4900; www.marriott.com), formerly the Holiday Inn Naperville, is scheduled to open in March following a multimillion-dollar renovation. It will feature 378 guest rooms, 46 suites and 21 meeting rooms with 24,500 square feet of total meeting space.
- The new 60,000-square-foot College of DuPage Culinary and Hospitality Center (630.942.2380; www.cod.edu) in Glen Ellyn houses expanded kitchens, bake shops, a market for culinary arts, a fine-dining facility, large meeting rooms, a multimedia center and an amphitheater. College of DuPage’s on-campus, full-service hotel is the Inn at Water’s Edge.
Chicago Southland
- The 202-room Holiday Inn Matteson Hotel and Conference Center (708.747.3500; www.mattesonhotelcc.com) is under construction and scheduled to reopen in the first quarter of 2012 after an extensive $10 million renovation. Renovations include upgrading the meeting space and adding a restaurant and bar. Sleeping room upgrades include new flat-screen televisions and granite countertops. The hotel also has an indoor pool, free on-site parking and a fitness center.
Village of Tinley Park
- The Tinley Park Convention Center (708.342.5485; www.tinleyparkconventioncenter.net) opened its expanded facility in March 2011. The enhancements have resulted in 58,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space, 18 breakout rooms, 1,500 free parking spaces on the adjacent Holiday Inn and Convention Center grounds and 202 connected hotel rooms.
Heritage Corridor
- Starved Rock Lodge and Conference Center (815.667.4211; www.starvedrocklodge.com), in Utica recently improved its meeting space. The property also has an outdoor courtyard that’s suitable for a meeting in the woods complete with Wi-Fi.