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Champaign · Hotel shortlist

The best hotels near University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Sofia Marchetti

Sofia Marchetti Italy

Updated 1 September 2026 · 14 Champaign hotels assessed

These are my five favourites in Champaign, out of the 14 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.6 down to 4.3.

All five are within 2.9 km of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

I Hotel & Illinois Conference Center

Highest rated of the five

I Hotel & Illinois Conference Center

★★★★★4.6 from 1,704 reviews

I Hotel & Illinois Conference Center comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.6 from 1,704 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.

It is a 4 star property, found under poi and around $169 a night on the dates we checked.

14 hotels in Champaign qualified for this list and five made it. Hilton Garden Inn Champaign/ Urbana is the one I would book if the first is full.

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All five, ranked

  1. I Hotel & Illinois Conference Center1

    I Hotel & Illinois Conference Center

    ★★★★★4.6 from 1,704 reviews

    900 m from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, about a 11 minute walk

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    • Hilton Garden Inn Champaign/ Urbana2

      Hilton Garden Inn Champaign/ Urbana

      ★★★★★4.4 from 1,042 reviews

      1.5 km from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, about a 19 minute walk

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      • The Den3

        The Den

        ★★★★★4.9 from 61 reviews

        2.3 km from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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        • Cozy Comfort in Central Champaign.4

          Cozy Comfort in Central Champaign.

          ★★★★★4.98871 from 93 reviews

          2.9 km from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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          • Holiday Inn Champaign by IHG5

            Holiday Inn Champaign by IHG

            ★★★★★4.3 from 636 reviews

            1.4 km from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, about a 18 minute walk

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            How this list was put together

            14 Champaign hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating first and on how close they are to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign second, then took the top five.

            Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.

            The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.

            What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.

            Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.

            Sofia Marchetti

            Sofia Marchetti Italy

            Refuses to fly anywhere reachable by rail. Four sleeper-train crossings of Europe, a collection of old transit maps, and building sketches drawn from carriage windows.

            Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.