My boyfriend and I stayed at the Palmer Hilton recently for our first trip to Chicago.
Pros:
1. The decor of the hotel is gorgeous--really opulent and old-world charming. Our floor had black and white photos of all the jazz and pop vocalists of the 50s that played there on the walls.
2. It's just around the block from the nearest subway station.
3. Contrary to what I've read some people say here, I thought the staff was super friendly. The concierges, in particular, were WONDERFUL. No question was too small or too dumb!
4. We paid a super low price ($73)
5. It's also only 2-3 blocks from Michigan Ave and everything downtown. We were pleasantly surprised to discover how centralized the location was.
6. Others have mentioned the recent renovations, but since we weren't in our rooms during the afternoons, we didn't encounter it to a large degree.
7. Super comfy bed with wonderfully comfortable down bedding and pillows--lovelovelove!
Cons:
1. Our room, while nicely furnished, was a bit on the small side. I requested a king bed, and it pretty much took up the entire room. However, there was ample closet space and the bathrooms were surprisingly big.
2. A large tv, but it only had around 10 random channels.
3. No fridge. Why?!?
4. We had the same issue someone else here had. The first real day we were there we got back into the hotel around 5:00 pm and housekeeping had still not been there! When I called the front desk, the person didn't appear to fully speak English and it was a pretty weird and frustrating conversation that ensued. We finally got our towels later that night.
5. It's an old hotel. The first nights we were there I guess there weren't many people on our floor because everything was pretty quiet. The last night, however---OH MY GOD. It was like people were actually in my room and closet. It was weird b/c there was a fire extinguisher closet on one side of us, and yet we could still here every single word and sound of a couple hooking up in the next room. Not Pleasant. Our other neighbors seemed to be speaking in normal tones, but once again, it was VERY AUDIBLE.
If you stay there, I would highly recommend getting a room far from the elevators, so that there might be less noisy traffic.
Overall, the experience was pretty good. However, I think our trip would have been ruined if we'd had neighbors throughout it all b/c there would have been no way I could have slept at all!
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