Reservations Open for Hotel ABA at BEA 2016

The Drake Hotel on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile — Hotel ABA for next May’s BookExpo America — is offering a special rate of $199 plus 16.4 percent tax per night (single/double occupancy) that is open exclusively to ABA member booksellers until February 16, 2016.

BEA will be held from Wednesday, May 11, through Friday, May 13, at Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center, and the American Booksellers Association’s programming will begin on Wednesday morning.

The Drake’s special rate applies to stays from May 10 through May 13, 2016; additional nights at the $199 rate may be available for three nights pre- and post-BEA, based on availability.

After February 16, reservations at the $199 rate will be open to all BEA attendees until April 6 or the room block reaches capacity, whichever comes first. Booksellers are encouraged to make their reservations as soon as possible.

If the ABA block sells out for the night of Tuesday, May 10, the Drake will make available to ABA members only an additional 50 rooms at the rate of $259 plus tax. However, ABA will subsidize the $60 per night difference for booksellers reserving at the higher rate.

The upscale Drake Hotel is located at 140 E. Walton Place, just off Chicago’s Gold Coast, one block from the Lakefront Trail and a 10-minute walk to the nearest train station. A BEA shuttle bus will run May 11 – 13 from the Drake to McCormick Place.

All ABA Regular Bookstore and Provisional members are entitled to receive free BEA admission badges if they provide their ABA Membership ID number upon registration. Booksellers in need of their ID number should contact ABA Member Relationship managers Nathan Halter (for the NCIBA, SCIBA, MPIBA, PNBA, SIBA regions) at 800-637-0037, ext. 7514, or Catherine Cusick (for NAIBA, NEIBA, GLIBA, MIBA) at (800) 637-0037, ext. 7566.

Watch for news and updates about ABA programming at BEA in upcoming editions of BTW.

Register for BEA here; then reserve a room at the Drake Hotel at the ABA member rate.