thanksgiving short term apartment rental chicago

When my family visits me in Chicago they like to rent a condo for the weekend. We've had nothing but good experiences renting through http://vacationrentchicago.com/. There are a variety of sizes available up to 3 bed/3 bath (the large 2/2 unit we rented had an additional sleeping nook, so you can save a little money if someone doesn't mind sleeping in the "living" area). The condos are at 30 E Huron, which is right off the best part of Michigan Ave., so you are right by Water Tower and the red line at Chicago Ave. The kitchens in both units my family rented were really nice and open to the main living area. Cooking a large meal in one would be no problem at all. We've also rented a condo for the weekend from Stan Properties, but had a pretty bad experience with them. We tried to rent in one building but they switched us to another building, and we ordered parking but when we got to the apartment they had left parking off the reservation, so we were in downtown Chicago with nowhere to park. Getting a refund for the parking they didn't provide was a total pain as well. So I would avoid them, if at all possible.

I just had luck with http://www.athomeinnchicago.com/. Minimum stay for most places is 3 nights, some are 2. The Old Town apartment that we got was small but in great shape and had a good kitchen, was in a good neighborhood and about a block from a brown line El stop.

http://www.chinadollguesthouse.com/ have some good spaces.

Whenever people visit me in NYC, they find apartments via the http://chicago.craigslist.org/vac/. It's mostly people who will be out of town and are renting out their places - furnished, w/ dishes, sheets, etc.

Ok, just re-read the post and saw that you tried craigslist. One of the downfalls of it is that you're not sure if the place is nice/legit. My parents/friends have done this in NYC probably 9-10 times, without any issues. If you email the listings, they'll usually send you more/better pics. If they ask for a huge deposit or 100% of the rental fee upfront to hold the reservation, then it might be a scam.

Thank you all for your answers! I will check them out.

We ended up finding an apartment at this http://www.vacationhomerentals.com/vacation-rentals/Chicago-Chicagoland-Illinois.htm--which I thought I had found via the askme, but now I'm not sure how I came across it in my mad clicking. Anyway, thanks for holding my hand a bit after my initial panic about sorting through all of the listings.