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.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

So overall Rabbits5, as a gold, you stayed in UK, US and AU and only a marginal upgrade in BNE. Add to that, the bumping you received at the Curio, it would appear that Hilton Gold is not worth a great deal except maybe a continental breakfast and slow wifi.

 

[Daver6]

So overall Rabbits5, as a gold, you stayed in UK, US and AU and only a marginal upgrade in BNE. Add to that, the bumping you received at the Curio, it would appear that Hilton Gold is not worth a great deal except maybe a continental breakfast and slow wifi.

Not even that. Slow wifi is free to anyone who books direct with the hotel.

 

[straitman]

So overall Rabbits5, as a gold, you stayed in UK, US and AU and only a marginal upgrade in BNE. Add to that, the bumping you received at the Curio, it would appear that Hilton Gold is not worth a great deal except maybe a continental breakfast and slow wifi.

Remember that BNE doesn't have much they can UG you to other than maybe a slightly nicer room on a higher floor. They only have a handful of suites.

 

[Buzzard]

Seems to be a theme here with US Hiltons

 

[k_sheep]

Does anyone have any pointers about dealing with Hiltons in the USA? I've got a few coming up. I'm the type of person who will just eat the uncooked food rather than complaining about it, but I guess I might have to "man up" and ask at check in for upgrades and perks!

How do others do it? Say "any chance of an upgrade as a diamond member?" or something?

 

[kermatu]

Does anyone have any pointers about dealing with Hiltons in the USA? I've got a few coming up. I'm the type of person who will just eat the uncooked food rather than complaining about it, but I guess I might have to "man up" and ask at check in for upgrades and perks!

How do others do it? Say "any chance of an upgrade as a diamond member?" or something?

Not US-specific, but given I too tend not to cause a fuss, I've had most luck when communicating with the hotel before arrival - eg, in the comments / requests section when booking, or responding to a welcome text or email (which is not that common).

If I'm feeling pushy and want to test my luck (at a hotel I probably will only ever stay once at unless they blow me away) I will check availability in the cab / train before arrival, and if there are better rooms for sale, mention that at check-in and request an upgrade. If you start off with them having to disprove your assertion, that's better.

But I only do this where I know a room change won't see me miss out on any welcome amenity that may have been in my original room, or the benefits are simply given to you at the front desk. In my fairly limited US Hilton experience there's never been anything other than waters in my room from memory, so a low-risk strategy there I reckon.

 

[boomy]

Hilton SFO Union Square
Diamond
Booked King Bed Junior Suite
Received as booked even though HH app showed next level suite available.

Very disappointed with this 2,000 room property. No recognition for Diamonds here. Breakfast is strictly continental unless you pay an additional $10.
I always thought a suite was 2 rooms, obviously not. My suite is a single room, more what I would call King Executive. No robe or slippers provided.
2 staff told me that the property doesn't care if you are a Diamond, it's big with high occupancy.
Overall it's nice enough and in a good location, although that depends on where in SFO you want to be. Just don't expect any love.

Thanks for the review Buzz. I’m still tossing which Hilton to choose in SFO and you just helped me to narrow down the options. Now to decide between financial district or Parc 55...

 

[Cynicor]

Does anyone have any pointers about dealing with Hiltons in the USA? I've got a few coming up. I'm the type of person who will just eat the uncooked food rather than complaining about it, but I guess I might have to "man up" and ask at check in for upgrades and perks!

How do others do it? Say "any chance of an upgrade as a diamond member?" or something?

Mostly it's just suck it up, unfortunately. They are just holes compared to hotels in Asia, and upgrades are often not even 1 category. They do everything to the T+Cs but it's terrible. And I would mostly not bother with breakfast- check out what's on offer and make your decision then, but its normally pretty meagre.

 

[boomy]

Property: Hilton Garden Inn Hong Kong
Booked: King Guest Room - Garden View
Received: King Deluxe Room - Harbour View

Hotel was fully booked for my stay so an upgrade was appreciated. Although the property was full I was still offered late checkout which didn’t need but was still impressed by the gesture. In Australia it’s exactly the opposite, not only hotels rarely offer late checkout but I also find myself often bargaining with front desk about it.

Anyway, back to HGI HK, the location is bit awkward, terrible for business and out of the way for tourists. The room was quite small, ok for one person but would be uncomfortable for a couple.

Bathroom was small but had large shower and was fully stocked with amenities, more than one will find in Aussie Hilton suites!

Diamond amenities included printed welcome letter, two bottles of water in the room and one complementary drink at the bar. Choices were between warm beer, cheap Aussie wine and juice. Complementary canapé was also offered but declined as I had dinner already.

My room was on second highest floor (20th) with allegedly harbour views although it required some imagination to actually view the harbour as shown in the photo I took from the room.



Overall this property is ok but location is bad for me. Can’t see myself going back unless price significantly low and even then there are better options, like Hyatt Sha Tin, if one is willing to compromise on the location.

 

[boomy]

Property: Conrad Hong Kong
Booked: King Deluxe Room
Received: King Executive Peak Suite

Upon arrival was greeted by the GM which knew exactly how many nights I spent at Conrad properties so far. Must say I was impressed, can only remember one more time I was greeted by the GM at check in, it was at Conrad Sanya few years ago when that property just opened.

After check in another lady, the executive floor manager, came over and offered to escort me up to the suite where she explained all the features (common customer service in Asian hotels). She asked if I need late checkout and offered 4pm which surprised me as the hotel was almost fully booked.

The suite was spacious with separate living room and work desk, two toilets, double-sink bathroom stocked with Shanghai Tang amenities and large bedroom.

Diamond amenities included hand written welcome letter, big bowl of fruit, in-room Chinese tea service, plate of macaroons, various Belgian chocolates, bottle of Grant Burge Shiraz, 6 bottles of water, a duck and two bears.

 

[Daver6]

Does anyone have any pointers about dealing with Hiltons in the USA? I've got a few coming up. I'm the type of person who will just eat the uncooked food rather than complaining about it, but I guess I might have to "man up" and ask at check in for upgrades and perks!

How do others do it? Say "any chance of an upgrade as a diamond member?" or something?

I'll check before I arrive at the hotel if there are better rooms available for the period of my stay. Then during the check-in process, if nothing is mentioned about an upgrade and they start to hand me the keys, I'll ask what time of room I've been given. If its what I've booked and I know there are better rooms available I'll say something along the lines of "oh...no upgrades". If the response is there are no better rooms I'll challenge it and stand my ground but always being polite.

 

[mini2]

Property: Conrad Hong Kong
Booked: King Deluxe Room
Received: King Deluxe Room on higher floor (58th)

All Diamond benefits received even though the stay was booked through Expedia. Got a generic welcome letter with names scribbled on it, plate of fruit, in-room Chinese tea service (pretty decent), 3 ducks and 5 bears. No idea how that happened. Impressed by the housekeeping folks and we'll be back next year.

 

[k_sheep]

Sounds like the Conrad HKG does Diamonds well! I can't justify the $$ for our stopover stay though, since we don't get in until 11pm at night. Sounds like the Garden Inn isn't much chop either. Oh well, back to the old fashioned Agoda lottery!

 

[serfty]

2 night stay became one after I got walked. Checked in late on a Saturday night after arriving from the UK and was disappointed to not be given a room. Was sent to The Gregory and told it was their sister hotel (its not a Hilton, but assume it might be same owners). The Gregory is pretty ordinary, air conditioner straight out of the early 1990s, for example. Service recovery was pretty poor in general. Was promised compensation however it was like pulling teeth to get them to honour it. It is such a shame, I loved the physical hotel itself as it was my style. Might give it one more chance before giving up on it for good...

What compensation did you get?

There are Hilton policies in relation to being and at the very least, walked guests get transport to/from the new hotel, a complimentary night as well as stay/night credit(s). Also, Diamonds get $200 cash.

Of course, not all staff know of this (lack of training?) or an individual Hotel's management may try to avoid it.

 

[DAC1]

What compensation did you get?

There are Hilton policies in relation to being and at the very least, walked guests get transport to/from the new hotel, a complimentary night as well as stay/night credit(s). Also, Diamonds get $200 cash.

Of course, not all staff know of this (lack of training?) or an individual Hotel's management may try to avoid it.

It was my first experience being walked but I was given cash for a taxi to the new property, a complimentary night and promised 20,000 points and I wasn't in the mood to push for anything further (was in the middle of a 4 week around the world trip and given how chaotic trips like this are, I'll let small things like this slide as they're usually not worth the time). It became difficult to actually get the 20,000 points though and this took an escalation to someone at Honors when they followed up on my experience a few days later.

And per swanning_it's comment, I'd say thats accurate. I've been Honors Gold every year since 2013 (except 2016 where I was Diamond) and the benefits for me aren't worth it anymore (especially as someone who doesn't really eat much/if anything at all for breakfast). Even as a Gold before 2016, I frequently went out of my way to book Hilton (and spent a lot of extra money doing so).

I have about a dozen nights booked for the next 8 weeks and they're all split between IHG (because even if its going to be mediocre, I'd at least rather save money) and Starwood properties.

 

[moa999]

Property: Hilton Sydney
Status: Diamond
Date: January 2018
Booked: Guestroom Plus, $195
Received: Relaxation Room

My first ever decent upgrade in this hotel (never previously got one as Diamond a couple of years ago, only ever Deluxe or Exec).

Lovely sized double room and a great spa bath, to be honest could be called a Suite (think it's only a few sqm shy of the Relaxation Suites). The purple couch was a bit different and the material not exactly premium.

Glass is closed for 6 weeks for a full kitchen refit and renovation.
Currently and to mid-January they are using the stateroom on Level 2 for breakfast - big space, lots of room
Then for the next 4 wks breakfast will be at Zeta which I expect will be much more cramped.

 

[foggy]

Has anyone done an e-upgrade before?going to stay at niseko hilton and the room that I wanted to e-upgrade to is available for online check-in.. Not sure if this is a free upgrade or a paid one?
(Panorama room)

 

[moa999]

If they want to charge they will tell you.
If it's available I'd take it

 

[pjm99au]

Property: Hilton Fiji

Booked: 2 Bedroom Penthouse

Received: 2 Bedroom Penthouse

Status: Diamond

The resort was showing fully booked over the new year period so no upgrade but there isn’t much to upgrade to other than a similar 3 bedroom or 2 bedroom with shared pool.

Bowl of fruit in the room and a welcome letter with an offer of a 30% discount to the spa. Free full breakfast for 5 each day which was questioned by staff on three occasions and confirmed by reception each time. Coffee tax enforced

This was a quick 4 day break over New Years. Great room and a really nice resort for a quick break

 

[kermatu]

Has anyone done an e-upgrade before?going to stay at niseko hilton and the room that I wanted to e-upgrade to is available for online check-in.. Not sure if this is a free upgrade or a paid one?
(Panorama room)

Did you actually request the e-upgrade? Either way, sounds like a free upgade to me as they should have informed you if your request - and associated cost - had come through. So take the room now.