The Hilton family would be outraged after hearing about a recent stay (i.e. nightmare) at the Palmer House Hilton. I arrived 3 days before the National Restaurant Association tade show hoping to beat the crowds and settle in for a long week of trade show business. When I arrived I was greeted or really snarled at by the Clerk. This lady (if one can really call this beast that) was aggressive and rude from the get go. She made a snide comment on the number of bags I had and it was downhill from there. My guaranteed and confirmed reservation had been mysteriously cancelled and she indicated that I had been the one to contact their call center seeking a cancellation. I informed "Brenda" that I had never cancelled my reservation. We had originally booked 2 rooms (one for me and one for colleague) and my colleague changed their reservation to come in one day later. She huffed and puffed and finally said, oh okay, I read it wrong but we don't have a room for you. My room had been given away to someone else that had arrived earlier that day. As a Hilton Honors member and someone that drops lots of money on this chain, I was furious. She said that perhaps someone else had found me a room at another hotel and to wait while she checked. She left the front desk and was gone for almost 20 minutes, coming back with a smirk on her face. She informed me that I had to make a decision and that both would not be satisfactory 100%. The first option was to stay at a hotel outside of the Chicago downtown, closer to the airport or that I could go with another room they had, a smaller smoking one with the potential but promise of an upgrade in 3 or 4 days. I was outraged. No, I'm sorry and certainly the options were horrible. I ended up taking the smoking room where I barely spent any time in it due to the strong cigarette smells. Additionally, there was no upgrade at all during my stay there. I was not offered anything to make up for my troubles, their screw-up nor did the hotel manager bother to return my call. The net outcome: I will NEVER stay at this hotel again and I'm thinking of shredding my Hilton Honors card. Don't make the mistake of dealing with this property. You will be very, very sorry. Thanks for reading all this. Hopefully it will help someone out there before booking at this joke of a hotel.
