an old dowager
In its heydey the Chicago Hilton must have been magnificent. One can see by the public areas that this was a grand dame of a hotel. The entrance is breathtaking with statues, columns, elegant staircases on both sides leading up to an open second floor with vaulted ceilings where you find enormous ballroom type reception halls with crystal chandeliers and potted palms throughout. On the main floor the bar, open breakfast area, lounges and other common areas are lovely and more modern. There are fresh flowers by the 12 elevators. Although our room has two bathrooms which was wonderful, I have to say, the room was dated. The decor was old and although the wooden furnishings and curtains are updated and the bedding white and clean looking, and the carpeting that kind of design that hides dirt, there was a shabby or drab feel to the $189 room. It was more of a $125 room. The space where a fridge goes was empty so I had to fill the ice bucket with ice to have cold drinks on hand. But the hotel is in a great location... on lovely, wide and manicured Michigan boulevard opposite a green space and just the right distance from the noisy centre of the city. The hotel was fully booked and bustling with people there for a convention. 
The concierge was particularly helpful in organizing tours for me and offering me maps and advice on several occasions.
One particularly annoying down side that I experienced everywhere I went and that is ubiquitous muzak! Even in the bathrooms off the lobby of the hotel there was a droning, repetitive, new age music that wore on the nerves. At the airport there is constant music. In restaurants as well. I am a music lover but this omni-present music had no melody. It was just filler noise. 
Chicago was an amazing city with touches of Frank Lloyd Wright everywhere in the architecture. The blue-green canals that criss cross this city of immense skyscrapers were a surprise to me. There are something like 150 bridges in this windy city. But the most spectacular surprise was the gardens and sculptures everywhere! The beautiful plantings were not just in their meticulously groomed parks and squares but on major and side streets in the form of flower beds and big pots brimming with arrangements of variegated and colourful plants. The city is one big botanical gardens! 
The only sad part about this city is the number of beggars you see on street corners. I was approached at least a dozen times by vagrants and I fed several of them. 
Great city to visit but I would choose a more modern hotel.