We went as visitors from UK to a wedding. There were approximately 20 people staying in the hotel for the wedding and most had problems with their rooms on account of hotel negligence or stupidity.
Good points: Beautiful hotel and well-situated.The Housekeeping staff are very competent. That's it.
Bad points: Where do I start?
Regular staff competence generally poor. We were moved 4 times in 5 nights due to hotel negligence - planned works which meant we should never have been put in room x to start with. It ruined our trip completely. They gave us one free breakfast as a sorry which was offensive enough which they then tried to bill me for at the end of the trip.
The standard of food in room service was very poor indeed - shocking for a hotel boasting 4 stars. We used BB's around the corner every day for Breakfast along with the rest of the 20 or so people in our wedding party. I even overheard a couple of businessmen in the Exec bar say that if the Palmer House actually offered a level of competence and catering that was fitting such a beautiful environment, they would pay extra for it, as they were so cheesed off with the inconvenience of it all. The PH is missing out on a chunk of business from both executive and tourist classes and they seem to not care. They're trading on the Hilton name and architectural majesty of the place. Go for coffee and soak up the beauty but stay elsewhere, like the Silversmith Hotel, which another more Chicago-savvy member of the group spoke highly of.