How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

[QF WP]

Just thought I'd create a thread for this - looking back over the last year, I thought I'd done a thread here as well as on Priority Club.

I'm a Gold member.

Friday, 22 May to Sunday, 31 May (yes, 9 nights)
Property: Hilton Cairns
Room booked: King Room
Rate: Travelzoo $135 package rate (included bottle of red wine)
Received: Upgrade to King Suite, card from GM and the wine, obligatory 2 free water bottles per day

Wednesday, 8 July
Property: Hilton Parmelia Perth
Room booked: King Room
Rate: Award room
Received: Upgrade to King Suite, card from GM and the obligatory 2 free water bottles

Thursday, 9 July
Property: Hilton Adelaide
Room booked: King Room
Rate: Award room
Received: Upgrade to Exec Floor, card from GM and the obligatory 2 free water bottles

Saturday, 11 July
Property: Hilton Brisbane
Room booked: King Room
Rate: Met Package (birthday present for Mrs LW, included 2 buffet breakfasts at Atrium Cafe & 2 tickets to Qld Art Gallery for Impressionists Showing from Metropolitan Museum New York - to get some culture)
Received: Upgrade to Exec Floor, card from GM and the obligatory 2 free water bottles

Got some more travel to do to Melbourne this Friday, so hoping to fly down Thursday night to sample the new Hilton.

 

[Sbv72]

Starting my run of 6 UK Hiltons over the next 2 weeks tonight in Bath. Mix of cash, points and money and points stays.

So far so good. Upgrade to Deluxe room, drink vouchers, and advised full breakfast for the family in restaurant in the morning.

They also have the best kids menu in the restaurant that I have seen.

 

[moa999]

And done.... Silver on the other two measures!

 

[moa999]

Have done a fairly lengthy European tour over the last fortnight.
All as Gold, will almost make Diamond by end of trip.
Was booking rest of trip as I went and printing train/flight tickets etc so making use of business lounges as well.

Hilton Munich Park
Booked - Base room E120
Received - Deluxe Room with Englischer Garden views, 2 waters (Has EL but no access)
Nice property, bus out front to s-bahn station or tram stop 100m away
Good breakfast with lots of choices.
Business center room with 2 PCs and printer

Hampton Inn Nuremberg
Booked - Base room E70
Received - x01 room (slightly bigger) and drink/snack voucher
Brand new property near the train station (tucked in next to Nivotel, HI, MH). Decent sized rooms, efficient service and a better than expected breakfast, including proper coffee machines.
2 PCs and printer in slightly open area just off reception

Hilton Nuremberg
Booked - Base room E70
Received - Deluxe room with forecourt views (don't believe any EL).
Decent but well out of town, in the middle of nowhere next to football club hq, walkable to grundig stadium/old naz_ parade grounds. Very dated, colored mould on bathroom ceilings, shub. Massive deluxe room with a single seat red chaisse (could fit a couch) skipped breakfast as left early. Without an upgrade can't see this staying a Hilton for much longer

Hilton Berlin
Booked - Base room E130
Received - Exec Room with Dome views
Booked base room just before the UEFA Cup final but before rates jumped. Lots of football related people at hotel. Beautiful property just inside the old East Berlin and a couple of blocks to Checkpoint Charlie. Easy access to metro. Great sized rooms but a tiny bathroom.
EL on ground floor was great. Bunch of canapes hot and cold, and good selection of beer and multiple wine choices (given brochure when I checked in)

Hilton Dusseldorf
Booked - Base room
Received - Deluxe room w/ breakfast (property has EL)
Somewhat dated conference/corporate hotel about 10min outside center. Bus from airport stops about 100m and 200m to tram/metro to old town. Full of young kids there for some convention.

Hilton Cologne
Booked - Base room
Received - Deluxe room with Cathedral views, token for pantry selection.
Lovely property a block away from famous Cologne Cathedral and main railway station, walkable to old city.
Surprisingly for a Hilton no mini-bar, instead pantry next to reception

Hilton Brussels Palaace
Booked - Base room
Received - Executive room on renovated floor
Recently converted LeMeridien directly opposite the station. Great location walkable to old city and lovely lobby.
Temporary EL (they are currently renovating final wing on top floor) is tucked in behind the bar and whilst it has a view is very poor (indeed not even manned). Had one hot pasta dish, one cold pasta dish, a basic salad (gone by 5.10 and not replaced in next 15min) and self serve red/white or soft drinks. Would only seat 15. Hopefully this improves as otherwise it is a brilliant addition to the Hilton portfolio.
Business center room with five desks but only 1 PC and printer

Hilton Edinburgh Grosvenor
Booked - Base room gbp120
Received - Double room, 2 waters, jar of nuts, drink voucher
An old English style English hotel in converted terrace houses. Single lift, spiral staircase, creaky floors, small rooms (and I got a double) and pokey bathroom -- but it just felt British. Right across from Haymarket Stn, tram and buses

Doubletree Edinburgh
Booked - Base room gbp240 (screwed up booking and rates had jumped crazily)
Received - Castle view room, 2 waters
Another old building but this has been heavily renovated and is a beautiful property. Absolutely stunning view to Edinburgh castle and what looked like a good restaurant and bar underneath. Could not beat the position. Only downside was the breakfast - small serving area with poor scrambled eggs, no dices fruit salad and only 3/4 hot dishes.
2 PCs in public reception area with no printer.

Hampton Newcastle
Booked - Base room gbp95.
Received - Suite with convertible couch
3-month old property directly opposite Newcastle Central Station. Reception and breakfast area on 2nd floor above a bar/club that is currently being renovated. Good functional rooms. Surprisingly good breakfast room (probably better than Doubletree above).
2 PCs and printer in slightly shielded area.

Doubletree Newcastle Airport
Booked - Base room gbp70
Received - HH room, plus water and five chocolates, and drink voucher
Lovely 3-floor property literally outside the front door of Newcastle Airport. Busy bar and what looked like a half decent hotel restaurant. Rooms still in good condition. OK breakfast buffet in main restaurant.
3 PCs in Business Center room with Euro keyboards

 

[moa999]

And a few more to round off

Hilton London Metropole
Booked - base room gbp110
Received - Tower Room, High Floor, 2 waters. (no EL access)
Huge property near Edgware Road tube. Surrounding area is very Arabic, but minutes from Hyde Park and Marlyebone. Some renovation going on in foyer and looks like they are installing a Pantry. Overall quite decent, well positioned and would stay again

Hilton London Olympia
Booked - Base room gbp120
Received - Executive Room
7-story property near the Trade Cente. Not great tube access but next to the Overground as well. Had the most secured mini-bar I had ever seen with no room for anything else. EL was modest in size (I missed canapes but reportedly 2-hot choices) but well designed, and breakfast in there was decent despite the small size of the kitchen room.

Hilton London Euston
Booked - Base room gbp120
Received - Top-floor Deluxe Room w/breakfast (didn't see an EL)
Well renovated terrace style property, real English feel to it. Well located close to Euston station and walkable to St.Pancreas and the British Library. Somewhat strangely breakfast room is on the LG floor, but a big space with a generous selection

Hamptopn Inn New York - La Guardia
Booked - Base room usd250
Received - High floor room
Was arriving in JFK at 10pm and flying out of LGA at 9am so just wanted somewhere to crash and nothing was particularly cheap. Older property but massive rooms and decent sized bathroom. Offered snack as amenity. Good sized breakfast room but everything (plates/ cutlery was throwaway) Free shuttle to the airport every half hour.

Hampton Inn Dallas Arlington DFW Six Flags
Booked - Base room us120
Received - Corner room
Decided to book room close to Dallas airport and was thinking of just Ubering around, but changed mind and got a car instead (you definitely need one in Dallas!). Older property, large rooms, next to an ihop with plenty of free parking. Quite a nice breakfast/lounge area near reception, but again paper plates. Probably worth spending a few $s more on something newer.

Hilton Arlington
Booked - Base room us160
Received - Mid-floor deluxe room, breakfast voucher
Modern tower hotel directly opposite Six Flags. Received a room at 11am, dropped bags and drove to Allen outlets. Bar closes early at 10pm (surprising given size of hotel). Breakfast restuarant off to side of hotel with reasonable selection at 6am - seemingly a small EL next to this (where the staff got my coffee from) but didn't look particularly nice.

Hilton LA Airport
Booked - Base room us110
Received - High Floor Exec Room
Massive property just off the airport. Email received a few days before welcoming me to skip the queues and check-in at the EL (seems standard for all Golds and Diamonds). Large rooms but plenty of airport noise if you have a view (get one on back side if light sleeper). Big Exec Lounge but it filled up and both in the evenings and breakfast people were taking food back to rooms. Modest choices including Pizza and Meatballs and a few carrot and celery sticks... As my first time in a US EL was somewhat surprised to see all alcohol being charged for - and after taxes and tip it is about US$10/drink. Hotel built around 4-courtyards, one of which has a modest pool, but does get decent sun in summer. Also somewhat surprisingly there is a coin laundry hidden on one of the lower floors.

Hilton LA Checkers
Booked - Base room us160
Received - High Floor Room with City views (no EL on property)
Lovely property in a fairly quiet area of Downtown, close to the Metro and the Silver Line bus. Good view over the top of the library and up the hill. Small rooftop area and swirlpool. Old school bar on the ground floor. Decent food options in local area, and the Standard Hotel rooftop is only a block away.

Hilton LA Airport
Booked - Base room us100
Received - High Floor Exec Room
Back again. Not much changed but food choices were Chicken Wings and Meatballs in the EL. Checking out in the morning however a massive queue for the shuttle - would estimate 50 people in front of me (some with 4+ bags each). Pretty sure this hotel only has one shuttle which would have meant multiple round trips. No cabs on rank. Instead walked to front of property and caught the next bus ($1 cash) a few stops to the Airport Transit Centre, walked 50m to the free shuttle, and crawled around LAX to T4.

Hilton Waikiki Beack
Booked Base room us220
Received - City view corner room (with wrap around could just see the beach) - staff apologised that no seaview available
Older property (ex-Radission) a block back from the strip but well renovated and quite nice. Attraction is no resort fee, although the property still has a modest pool on Level 10. Four bars that run a near continuous happy hour if you bar hop.

Some observations
- Hampton Inn, particularly the newer properties are actually quite nice, and decent value
- Seems to be an ability for Hilton's to remove mini-bars and instead install Pantry style purchase areas on the ground floor
- US Hilton's provide soap, Euro Hilton's provide bodywash (all of the newer orange style) - and all bar one of the smaller size
- As Gold, still had some EL success in Europe (was not expecting it) and certainly got much better rooms than booked.
- US Exec Lounge policy (grrr)

 

[Aeolus]

Moa999, that is some serious mattress run! Hope you signed up to the 5k per stay bonus?

 

[moa999]

Yes indeed. Sadly however only the last 6 stays got the 5000 bonus.

The continuous nights was only broken in Copenhagen as I just couldn't justify the crazy price for the airport Hilton when the city is so close by metro.

Was however getting double points and triple QF miles on everything else

 

[Deleted member 29185]

And done.... Silver on the other two measures!

I think you deserve an avatar upgrade as well!

moa999

Senior Member

---

Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: sydney
Posts: 5,557
FF Prog: QF Plat LTG, VA Gold, SPG Gold, HH Diamond
Blog Entries: 1

 

[teamhamsandwich]

And done.... Silver on the other two measures!

The way hilton do rewards really annoys me. I'm on 38 nights from 8 stays, and I would still be silver if I didn't do a gold fast track.

 

[moa999]

I agree that Gold is too high.
Should be 15/30/50k (ie. half Diamond - still a hard enough hurdle to limit numbers).

But mostly I think Hilton stuffs up their program by too many bonuses.
eg. Going from Gold to Diamond I move from 25% base point bonus to 50% bonus...
Yet I received far more points from the Double Points promotion, and the short running 5000k extra bonus
The Gold/ Diamond bonuses should be much higher.

They also devalue it by giving out Free Status too easily (including at the Diamond level)
Challenges - I can understand - this is about pulling someone over.
Hilton Credit Card - sort of understand as they would get some revenue - but the bar needs to be set fairly high - eg. the $40k spend on the Aus card for Diamond, think the US spend is a lot lower.
One off Credit Card/ Match - eg. Virgin - again understand this to attract people
however
throwing Diamond status year on year (and this year 100k points bonus) to Amex Centurion cardholders who pay say $5-10k to Amex but nothing to Hilton is stupid....
Anyone making Diamond with Hilton has spent I would say a minimum of $5k (I was a little under this) and 30 nights - and they are giving this away.

 

[Moopere]

The way hilton do rewards really annoys me. I'm on 38 nights from 8 stays, and I would still be silver if I didn't do a gold fast track.

Yeah, I agree. Its a schizophrenic system isn't it? Via challenges or partnerships or whatever one can attain pretty high status with a relatively modest effort - but actually _earning_ your status is now extremely difficult. In my view its well and truly stopped being a 'loyalty' system and has instead, over the years, morphed into a churn system - whereby new entrants to the scheme are actually more highly valued than long standing (ie; earning) participants. There are probably some stats at the backend which recognise that newly minted golds/diamonds tend to spend more during their initial months or years whereas the earning status holders are already enchained with the golden handcuffs and represent non swinging voters hehehe.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

There are probably some stats at the backend which recognise that newly minted golds/diamonds tend to spend more during their initial months or years

And the old hands know the lurks and perks too well and cost them money .

Maybe some truth in that!

 

[deka2]

Status: Diamond
Property: Hilton South Wharf
Date 01/07/2015
Booked: King Guest Room
Received: King Yarra Suite
First Stay as a Diamond. This suite is huge and whilst it was good not to have to lay on the bed to watch TV it was a bit wasted on me given I didn’t arrive until after 6.00 pm and left at 7.00 am this morning.
The lounge was very busy, but the three staff on hand did a good job keeping my G&T’s coming. No prawns on offer.
Breakfast downstairs in the restaurant offered and accepted. No charge for a cappuccino as the waiter who made it for me said he wasn’t a barista.

 

[Aeolus]

Status: Diamond
Property: Hilton South Wharf
Date 01/07/2015
Booked: King Guest Room
Received: King Yarra Suite
First Stay as a Diamond. This suite is huge and whilst it was good not to have to lay on the bed to watch TV it was a bit wasted on me given I didn’t arrive until after 6.00 pm and left at 7.00 am this morning.
The lounge was very busy, but the three staff on hand did a good job keeping my G&T’s coming. No prawns on offer.
Breakfast downstairs in the restaurant offered and accepted. No charge for a cappuccino as the waiter who made it for me said he wasn’t a barista.

I was there as well! EL was exceptionally busy last night and I left early. Based on what I gathered, they weren't expecting that many people and was caught by surprise. Saw a few groups of people and large families going into the EL. If this happens too often, I won't be surprised if HSW implement higher level of policing rather than just access card entries.

 

[deka2]

I was there as well! EL was exceptionally busy last night and I left early. Based on what I gathered, they weren't expecting that many people and was caught by surprise. Saw a few groups of people and large families going into the EL. If this happens too often, I won't be surprised if HSW implement higher level of policing rather than just access card entries.

Agree with your thoughts. It looked like they had to scramble to find more hot food.

 

[moa999]

Always a tendency for that to happen during school holidays (at all hotels).
Hard line for the hotels between actually enforcing charging for additional guests (and enraging some elites) versus letting children (who are generally far cheaper from a catering perspective -- no alcohol) slide

I remember even at the much loved Doubletree KL before New Years it was standing room only thanks to all the families.

 

[deka2]

We are staying at the London Metropole next week. I have read their lounge can be very busy, and given its July, will be interesting.

 

[openseat]

Hilton Dresden
Paid 99EUR for basic room
Received a room on the Executive floor and a fruit bowl and 'mineral' water.
The Executive Lounge was quite good - with a good breakfast spread and not bad for the evening drinks.

 

[BLK343]

Status: Gold
Property: Hilton Sydney
Booked: King Guest Room Plus
Received: King Relaxation Room
No complimentary bottles of water (had to ask). Also noticed that the 'cheap' bottle of red wine and stock standard card from GM has disappeared (not that it bothered me). Turn down service every night with chocolates. Had breaky in the EL, although cannot be compared to choice in Glass, I didn't mind it as a Continental breakfast. Enough variety. Prawngate was nowhere to be seen although a prawn salad was offered and oysters on the next night.

 

[Fifa]

Status: Gold
Property: Hilton Sydney
Booked: King Guest Room Plus
Received: King Relaxation Room
No complimentary bottles of water (had to ask). Also noticed that the 'cheap' bottle of red wine and stock standard card from GM has disappeared (not that it bothered me). Turn down service every night with chocolates. Had breaky in the EL, although cannot be compared to choice in Glass, I didn't mind it as a Continental breakfast. Enough variety. Prawngate was nowhere to be seen although a prawn salad was offered and oysters on the next night.

That's certainly an impressive upgrade for a Gold!

 

[Aussie_flyer]

That's certainly an impressive upgrade for a Gold!

Its not unheardof in Sydney