simongr
Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2006
- Posts
- 14,307
Hi all
This year will see me traveling to MEL almost fortnightly for one night generally. Our preferred hotels are not pleasant and not part of a chain so I am consistently trying to find a similar rate to our preferred hotel rate (factoring in free breakfast/reduced taxi cost) by staying at the HOP. This week I was able to book HSW for a similar price to HOP (I have both hotels booked currently) and am looking for advice on where to stay this week and as part of my ongoing strategy to maintain diamond with Hilton (virtually impossible but I can at least try).
Now I expect most people would advise to stay at HSW as a "better" hotel but for I am not sure how much better it actually is so I am looking for some thoughts on the topic. But first a bit of background as to why I might stay at the HOP rather than HSW:
- Getting to know you, getting to know all about you: On the bookings I have looked at HOP is generally much cheaper than HSW so it is more likely that I can frequently stay at HOP rather than HSW. The benefit of that is that the staff at the Exec Lounge will get to know me (they already welcomed me back after only three stays and commented that I wasn't wearing my glasses the last time I came so it wasn't a generic welcome back). Bizarrely based other stuff I have posted here about not wanting staff to become too familiar - when I stay at a hotel I actually like that.
- The unknown quantity: I know what the rooms at the HOP are like. They are ok. Having only stayed at HSW once and having been upgraded to a suite I am not sure what the stand rooms are like and whether I would get the exec floor (generally get the exec floor at HOP).
- Hacking the TV: I know I can hack the TV so I can play my iPad through the TV using the composite (RCA) cable - not sure if that is possible at HSW
- Cold hard personal cash: On of the rationales for staying at HOP is that it is about $8 cheaper in a cab each way than the preferred hotel - this is a direct offset to the standard $7 per night extra that the HOP is at the moment. If I stay at HSW the cab ride will likely be about $8 more so I will either have to get a train or pay the excess myself.
So is HSW really worth it?
Any thoughts?
Am I over thinking this?
This year will see me traveling to MEL almost fortnightly for one night generally. Our preferred hotels are not pleasant and not part of a chain so I am consistently trying to find a similar rate to our preferred hotel rate (factoring in free breakfast/reduced taxi cost) by staying at the HOP. This week I was able to book HSW for a similar price to HOP (I have both hotels booked currently) and am looking for advice on where to stay this week and as part of my ongoing strategy to maintain diamond with Hilton (virtually impossible but I can at least try).
Now I expect most people would advise to stay at HSW as a "better" hotel but for I am not sure how much better it actually is so I am looking for some thoughts on the topic. But first a bit of background as to why I might stay at the HOP rather than HSW:
- Getting to know you, getting to know all about you: On the bookings I have looked at HOP is generally much cheaper than HSW so it is more likely that I can frequently stay at HOP rather than HSW. The benefit of that is that the staff at the Exec Lounge will get to know me (they already welcomed me back after only three stays and commented that I wasn't wearing my glasses the last time I came so it wasn't a generic welcome back). Bizarrely based other stuff I have posted here about not wanting staff to become too familiar - when I stay at a hotel I actually like that.
- The unknown quantity: I know what the rooms at the HOP are like. They are ok. Having only stayed at HSW once and having been upgraded to a suite I am not sure what the stand rooms are like and whether I would get the exec floor (generally get the exec floor at HOP).
- Hacking the TV: I know I can hack the TV so I can play my iPad through the TV using the composite (RCA) cable - not sure if that is possible at HSW
- Cold hard personal cash: On of the rationales for staying at HOP is that it is about $8 cheaper in a cab each way than the preferred hotel - this is a direct offset to the standard $7 per night extra that the HOP is at the moment. If I stay at HSW the cab ride will likely be about $8 more so I will either have to get a train or pay the excess myself.
So is HSW really worth it?
Any thoughts?
Am I over thinking this?