City of Chicago and Choose Chicago, the City’s official destination marketing organization, to celebrate Chicago’s record-setting summer travel season which broke from national trends, a testament to the resilience of the City’s economy and world-renowned cultural and culinary scene. Metrics from June, July, and August 2025 show hotels in Chicago’s Central Business District filled over 3.56 million room nights, a 4.3% gain over 2024, surpassing the previous record set pre-pandemic in the summer of 2019. It was a particularly strong summer for leisure travelers, who occupied 2.5 million hotel rooms, up 11.2% compared to 2024. Revenue generated from summer hotel bookings totaled $949 million, a record and 0.8% higher than last summer’s total. The four strongest weekends for local hotels on record all took place this summer:  

• Weekend of July 19 | 92,643 room nights driven by NIKE Tournament of Champions at McCormick Place, BLACKPINK at Soldier Field, other events  

• Weekend of August 30 | 91,559 room nights driven by Labor Day leisure travel, multiple major concerts

• Weekend of June 21 | 91,384 room nights driven by Pride Fest, American Diabetes Association conference at McCormick Place, other events  

• Weekend of August 2 | 91,049 room nights driven by Lollapalooza, other events