NOT what I expected...disappponted.
My daughter's and I just returned from our stay @ the Palmer House and although this is a 4 star hotel with a FABULOUS lobby, I have nothing else positive to say. 
I book online, last minute through a discount travel site. When I arrived, upon check in, I was given a king bedroom on the smoking floor! YUCK! I was told the hotel was sold out and nothing could be changed. Instead of making a scene, I figured that a 4 star hotel probably takes just as much care of the smoking rooms as they do the regular rooms, therefore the room shouldn’t be that bad. I was WRONG!!
When I went to my room it was NOTHING as the room appears in the photos. The room was soooo small that the dresser drawers at the foot of the bed could barely open because there was NO room. We just left our clothes in the suitcase. The wall paper was peeling in several spots!!! The room smelled like old, stale cigarettes! Overall, the room looked dingy, warn, and dirty. The desk in the room had a broken drawer (when we opened it, the whole front fell off); the frame around the mirror on the wall was broken. The bathroom was beyond small. The counter around the sink was barely wide enough to accommodate my curling iron. 
The elevators were SUPER slow...there was always a wait!! Furthermore, no free wi-fi. :(
We have been to Chicago MANY times and this was our first and probably our last stay at The Palmer House. At the end of the day, I wish I could say that I looked forward to returning to our room to relax, but that was DEFINITELY not the case. Considering the money that I paid for our room, I expected so much more and i left feeling disappointed.