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.

 

[moa999]

Note there are only 4 suites on the property (2 Barrangaroo and 2 Sussex) so if the hotel is getting a high number of elites the chances aren't great

 

[eric2011]

Property Booked: H-SYD
Room Booked: Hilton Deluxe Room
Room Received: Hilton Deluxe Plus Room, ( 1 level upgrade if you could consider it an upgrade )
Status: Diamond.

You've got to love Sydney, sit around for a while watching the seagulls circling some food and then suddenly the crows swoop in a take off with the last little morsel of food. Ahhh its great, and thats in the Executive Lounge.

H-SYD, nothing special just what I've come to expect

 

[Jacques Vert]

Rem

Property Booked: H-SYD
Room Booked: Hilton Deluxe Room
Room Received: Hilton Deluxe Plus Room, ( 1 level upgrade if you could consider it an upgrade )
Status: Diamond.

You've got to love Sydney, sit around for a while watching the seagulls circling some food and then suddenly the crows swoop in a take off with the last little morsel of food. Ahhh its great, and thats in the Executive Lounge.

Very funny. You reminded me of the Hilton in Odaiba (Tokyo) when a tour group arrived. Actually was more like a cross between the Wildebeest migration and a plague of locusts.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

DT-CNS
Booked - Base room
Received - King suite

Haven't stayed here for a while as I was sick of the Tour Group feel of this hotel. Receiving the only suite as an upgrade is a nice welcome back.

 

[eric2011]

Property Booked: C-SYD
Room Booked: King Banksia
Room Received: King Waratah. ( 1 level upgrade )
Status: Diamond

Nice enough. All room are apparently the same in size etc, only thing that makes up an upgrade is the floor level you receive. As someone else said they only have four suites so unlikely to receive one of those. Considering it is only a 8 floor hotel you are still located within other buildings in the area so despite being on the top floor you still only get a glimpse of darling harbour on one side or city buildings on the other.

Would I return, IMO no at the current rates. There is better quality to price ratio hotels

 

[nowmedia]

Lounge access is great especially at South Wharf which has sadly gone.

 

[boomy]

Property: Conrad Osaka

Stay #1 as HH Gold (booked under my +1 account)
Booked: King Deluxe Room
Received: King Deluxe Room

Upgrade - No
Lounge access - No
Free use of spa - Yes
Free full breakfast - Yes


Stay #2 as HH Diamond
Booked: King Deluxe Room
Received: King Exec Corner Room

Upgrade - Yes (three levels)
Lounge access - Yes
Free use of spa - Yes
Free full breakfast - Yes

This very impressive hotel opened just 7 months ago, located about 5 min drive or 10-15 min easy walk from Osaka station in the top floors of an office building, offering amazing views of the city from the huge windows in the lobby on level 40.

Base rooms are 50sqm open space design that will easily qualify as Junior Suite in many hotels. Huge bed, sofa and working desk. In the bathroom two sinks, huge round bath, rain shower and separate toilet. In the bar there is Nespresso machine with milk frother and TWG tea selection.

Breakfast in the restaurant included buffet and a-la-carte egg selection. It was ok but not as impressive as in other Conrads and disappointingly no traditional Japanese breakfast which is our favourite when staying in Tokyo.

Executive lounge looks impressive with stylish furnishings and skyline views but the F&B wasn’t anything to write about. No canapés offered as in Tokyo and alcohol selection was too basic for this kind of property.

The spa had separate men/women sauna and typical Conrad swimming pool which is always nice.

Staff were generally very nice but some didn’t seem to be very professional and didn’t have the required level of English to make basic conversation. It wasn’t a major issue because everyone were so nice and smiling all the time. We stayed there total 3 nights and all that time didn’t see any other Westerners. Seems like they prefer to stay at Hilton (which will be reviewed next), most likely has to do with company accom budget.

 

[boomy]

Status: Diamond
Property: Hilton Osaka
Booked: King Deluxe Room
Received: King Executive Room

The best tip I can offer is - Do Not stay at this property after you’ve been to Conrad up the road, it looks and feels like 3* hotel in comparison. Well I’m exaggerating, it’s perfectly acceptable property with fantastic location directly connected to the Osaka train/metro station.

Rooms are quite small, good enough for solo traveler but we had two large bags and felt bit cramped. I’ve stayed here 3 times before and always got suite upgrades which were huge. No luck this time but thankfully it was just one night stay.

Executive lounge is being refurbished so they use one of the high floor suites as temporary lounge. It was cramped, seats very close to each other, not comfortable. Luckily plenty good food in Osaka so it wasn’t major issue. We spent 20 min there for drinks and left. Interestingly the wines were exactly the same as in Conrad.

The restaurant downstairs is also being refurbished so breakfast was at the top level restaurant Windows on The World. Food was ok, choices bit limited but adequate for Hilton.

In conclusion, I’d avoid this property until they finish renovations due to limited benefits for diamonds but will definitely go back again, mostly because of the off-season attractive rates and convenient location which allows using Hilton as base while doing daily trips to nearby towns.

 

[kyle]

Status: Diamond

Property: Conrad Hong Kong
Booked: King Deluxe Peak View 4 nights in late January 2018
Received: King Executive Ocean View Room
Choice of breakfast at lounge or full buffet at Garden Cafe

Property: Conrad Macao
Booked: Two Queens Deluxe 1 night in late January 2018
Received: Two Queens Deluxe Suite
Choice of breakfast at lounge (ok'ed for 3 of us), or full buffet at Grand Orbit (but only for 2)

Property: Conrad Hong Kong
Booked: King Bed Deluxe Peak View 1 night in late January 2018
Received: King Executive Peak Suite (my first ever suite upgrade since becoming diamond a year ago!)
Choice of breakfast at lounge or full buffet at Garden Cafe

Excellent service at both Conrads as usual. Very surprised that one of the senior staff at the Macao lounge recognised me from a previous stay 1.5 years ago. And another surprise that the doorman at Hong Kong remembered my name when I stepped out of a car despite his very brief encounter with me when he picked up my luggage at check in two days earlier.

 

[hydrabyss]

Receiving the only suite as an upgrade is a nice welcome back.

View attachment 117868

It helps if you are only one of a few repeat Diamonds I would imagine.

Did you stay on a night when they had the HH night in the bar with drinks and canapes. I am hoping it is still going as I will be there end of the month.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Did you stay on a night when they had the HH night in the bar with drinks and canapes.

I always get the vouchers for canapes and drinks but never had a "HH" special. You may be out of luck too, as the last GM was let go recently.

 

[Notyourbag]

Status: Gold

Property: Hilton Metropole London
Booked: King Deluxe Room - 4 nights
Received: King Executive Room with lounge access
Choice of breakfast at lounge or full buffet at Flamma Restaurant
Free Mandarin and Chocolates

 

[ALH]

Property: Hilton Cairns
Date: 18th, 2018
Status: Diamond
Booked: King Deluxe
Rate: $ 224
Received: King Spa Suite with
Executive Lounge and Breakfast
4 bottles water, chocolates.
Late check-out 2pm
The staff are extremely friendly and helpful

 

[boomy]

Status: Gold (booked under my +1 account)
Property: Conrad Seoul
Booked: King Deluxe City View
Received: King Deluxe City View

Upgrade: No
Lounge access: No
Free use of spa: No
Free full breakfast: Yes

What can I say, it sucks to stay at Conrad properties as gold. No benefits apart from full breakfast and the general attitude from staff wasn’t very welcoming. My +1 is quite a regular at this property and says this is the norm here. Apparently Hilton Millennium treats Golds much better but anyway, we had short stay so it didn’t really matter and Deluxe room at Conrad still nicer than executive room at Millennium.

We spent less than 10 min at breakfast in the restaurant eating in a rush so can’t comment much about the food. Selection looked decent.

I will go back to this hotel, next time staying under my account so we can properly enjoy the perks.

 

[boomy]

Status: Diamond
Property: Hilton Busan
Booked: King Deluxe Room X2
Received: King One Bedroom Ocean View Suite X2

New hotel opened just 6 months ago. The design is very impressive, done in the spirit of Alexander McQueen with great attention to style and details.

I’ve booked two base rooms on el-cheapo rate and both were upgraded to top suites! Anyone who stays regularly with HH knows how rare it is to get top suite upgrade but two top upgrades in one stay is almost unheard of so I was blown away by the gesture (this property has just 8 ocean view suites).

We stayed two nights and I didn’t see any Westerners, in fact didn’t see any foreign tourists. There were plenty of guests but all seemed to be Korean couples and families. I’m also suspecting this property is not used to host many Diamond members so being Western + Diamond was most likely the reason for our VIP treatment.

The suite was huge, 120sqm devided into 3 separate areas - living room with balcony, bedroom with another balcony and bathroom with large bath overlooking the ocean. Wooden floors in living room and bedroom, stone in bathroom, all heated (common in Korea). I’ve stayed at Hilton suites before but this one was easily the most impressive one so far.

The property has 4 pools. The main outdoor pool was closed but there was one more, smaller which was heated. There is also spa club, free entry for Diamonds. In the spa there are separate men/women saunas, indoor pool on the top floor and heated rooftop pool. All facilities looked very fancy, in fact they were nicer than most Conrads I’ve visited.

Executive lounge served decent canapés and alcohol. It wasn never too busy thanks to the lack of status guests.

The restaurant was large, resort like, overlooking the outdoor main pool. Food selection was extensive with various Asian and Western options. It was quite funny to receive a “special” amenity - freshly squeezed carrot juice. They had at least 5 different juices to choose from but for some reason only Diamonds are offered carrot juice.

It’s well known that service in this part of the world is exceptionally good but here they took it to another level, it was phenomenal.

In conclusion, this is the best Hilton I’ve seen so far. I reckon all they need to do is update the bathroom amenities and it can be easily rebranded as Conrad or even WA.

Since it’s new property and haven’t seen any other reviews I’ll post some photos:

The entrance


View from the lounge


The way to lobby


Suite living room


Bedroom


Bathroom

 

[JessicaTam]

Double-plus-like, @boomy!

 

[serfty]

Double-plus-like, @boomy!

Me too ...

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Status: Gold (booked under my +1 account) ...
What can I say, it sucks to stay at Conrad properties as gold.

May I ask why you do this boomy? If you are just maintaining +1's status, wouldn't it be easier to get gold via a CC and book the stays where you both stay, under your diamond membership?

I do like the look of H-Busan, though!

 

[boomy]

May I ask why you do this boomy? If you are just maintaining +1's status, wouldn't it be easier to get gold via a CC and book the stays where you both stay, under your diamond membership?

I do like the look of H-Busan, though!

Occasionally my +1 gets access to cheaper rates so it makes more sense booking under her account for short stays. In the past I could use my Diamond status (as the second guest) to get all the benefits but the system became more strict these days.

 

[Pele]

Gday

Well i know where i will be staying if i go to Busan......

Status: Gold
Property: Doubletree Melaka, Malaysia
Booked: King Deluxe Room x2
Rate: One room all points, one combo points and pay. Rate on paid nights was RM450 per night which is $AUD150.
Received: As per booked.

Hotel only opened in December 2017 so was in good nick. Service was good. There is no lounge but the barman told me Golds and Diamonds get 50% discount on food and drink purchases at the Axis bar. It was a solid deal.

Pros:
- still new so stuff is in good order.
- breakfast buffet (free for Gold member) was excellent. All the Indian, Malay, Chinese and Western options you could want.
- good gym, not in that it is large but in that it there was hardly anyone using it.
- Barman remembered me and gave me a free beer one night.

Cons:
- like all new buildings in South East Asia it is good when new but they go downhill fast especially if they dont maintain it properly. Stuff like cleaning the mould in the shower recess grout was not good enough and in humid environments this needs to be done every day.
- tried to get an early check in but it involved alot of emails back and forth and in the end just checked in at the usual time.
- the lifts are slow and if one is not working it is painfully slow.
- pool water is too cold.


Overall it is a decent hotel and i would go back on points for sure. 20,000 for 5 nights is super(5th night free deal). At a cash rate of RM450 i would not pay it. It was CNY and full but i wouldnt pay more than ~RM200 to stay there. Melaka is cheap. Real cheap.

Pele.