6/10 Good
16 Dec 2024
Beautiful hotel, ugly servuce
As a great example of the grand hotels of the past, the Palmer House is beautiful. The lobby is wonderful, particularly when decorated for the holidays. We also felt our room was nicely appointed. Unfortunately, that is where the comparison to the formerly wonderful experiences of the past end. Under Hilton’s ownership, they have forgotten service. They have obviously cut staff to the bone. There was no visible doormen when we arrived, the bell service stays on the floor below the lobby apparently with sole responsibility being the storage of luggage for patrons who have checked out, and on Saturday afternoon, during the holiday rush, there was one single waitress trying to cover dozens of tables and hundreds of guests. Of course, they fail. Guests were waiting 25-30 minutes for elevators to or from their room. Making these failures even more painful was the $25 per day “Daily Destination Charge” Hilton arbitrarily adds to the daily rate. There are many good hotels in the downtown Chicago area. We compared rates and services when choosing our hotel. We knew the Palmer House was beautiful and the overall value seemed best for our holiday weekend. Unfortunately, we did not know the hidden issues and costs.
Richard
Richard, 2-night trip
Verified Hotels.com guest review
