I won the Palmer House for an insanely low price on Priceline but grew worried about what type of room we would get (family of four staying 4 days). I had stayed here 20 years ago and remember having a lovely room with two bathrooms and hoped we could get the same, but I doubted because of our Priceline price.
At check in I decided to just go for it and told the check in man (very nice guy) I had stayed here before and upgraded to the executive floor with two baths for $29/night more. He said no problem. This still put my average nightly price at under $100. We stayed on the 23rd floor where the executive level reception area was located and our room was absolutely beautiful and was HUGE. We had breakfast ever morning (includes coffee which is not avaialbe in room), appetizers (they were pretty awesome) every night and access to a computer in the reception area any time we wanted (my kids would go down there when bored and play until an adult needed to use the computer- oftentimes they had to to themselves for an hour). There are separate elevators for Executive level floors that only stop at the 7th, 22 and 23rd floor and we never had to wait for an elevator. The only issue we had with the room was the last night a family checked in next to us and we could hear them plain as day through the walls but since our bathroom area backed into their bathroom area it was only noticeable when we were in the bathroom.
We tried the pool (which is free contrary to many reviewers, though the fitness center has a cost) on the 7th floor and were disappointed. Was small and unwelcoming, my kids ditched it after ten minutes.
The location is great and my kids really loved Millenium Park playing in the water and we saw an open air concert the first night we were there. It is literally a two minute walk away. We walked up north of the river several times and it really only took us 15-20 minutes to get up to shopping on Mich avenue and the Hancock building. We would walk to Navy Pier and take a cab back ($7). We even walked back from Shedd's Aquarium along the waterfront (20 minutes).
Two restaurants we recommend are just south of the Palmer House- Millers Pub and Exchequer (great deep dish). Skip Pizanos around the corner, long wait and average food. Didn't eat at the hotel. Corner Bakery a good option for a quick bite.
Parking was expensive. Use self-park which is just east of the hotel on Monroe for a $15/night savings. I understand there are several other options within walking distance so you can research and if you don't mind rolling your bags a couple of blocks (we saw many people doing this) then you can save even more.
I think choosing the upgrade made our vacation more pleasant but if we had been stuck in one of the smaller rooms the whole time without access to the free beverages, food, computer and concierge of the executive level, we may have been less pleased.
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