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.

 

[kermatu]

The whole lounge issue at the Conrad Singapore is ridiculous. I checked in last week and was told I had been upgraded by 1 category "as I was entitled" and access to the level 4 lounge. Having played this game before I asked what happened to the lounge on level 31 and was told this was the Club lounge. After pointing out that the information in their app specifically mentions access to Level 31 I was given access to both.

Anyhow, I didn't even have time to make it to either lounge so that's not the issue. Provide the right information when booking so people know what to expect and don't have to argue on arrival. I overheard another Diamond with the same issue at the front desk so clearly they are upsetting a lot of people. Best part is that Club rooms aren't even bookable last time I checked...

So who is currently entitled to L31?
Just those who book Exec?

Good question, I don't know. Guess they will eventually create a new room category that includes lvl31 and use lvl4 for Diamonds and upgrades but that's just my impression.

I still like the place, location is good and the refurbed rooms are nice. Breakfast is good as well and no silly games trying to limit you to a continental selection.

So some good news I think on the lounge debacle. Floor 31 should be open to all diamonds, not just those who book an executive room or Suite. They’ve converted one of the centennial suites (on floor 30) to a spillover lounge for evenings which the main lounge gets full. There’s also a separate area where anyone with young, noisy kids are compelled to go.

Floor 4 is being refurbed but floor 5 has an arrivals / departures lounge. Not sure what that’s about.

Staff say last few months have been very difficult. Will post more later and if I find out more.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Ha! So having confidently stated I’d never been charged, I was asked for my card for a pre-charge. To be fair, was after midnight and not a front desk staffer I knew. When I indicated I’d never been charged before and am a Diamond, she agreed to leave it.

Newbie? Peter is the regular night shift guy and I doubt he'd be asking a regular for it. So it's possibly a case of "not what you know, but who you know"?

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Floor 31 should be open to all diamonds,
They’ve converted one of the centennial suites (on floor 30) to a spillover lounge
There’s also a separate area where anyone with young, noisy kids are compelled to go.
Floor 4 is being refurbed
Floor 5 has an arrivals / departures lounge.

Err, any floors for accommodation left, or do we just drink all night?

 

[kermatu]

Newbie? Peter is the regular night shift guy and I doubt he'd be asking a regular for it. So it's possibly a case of "not what you know, but who you know"?

Yep. A Japanese lady I hadn’t seen before.

 

[kermatu]

Err, any floors for accommodation left, or do we just drink all night?

Floors 4 and 5 don’t have accommodation rooms.

And I meant only the lounge on floor 31. Not the whole floor.

 

[SponsorSFC]

Property: Conrad Koh Samui
Date: August 2018
Status: Diamond
Booked: One Bedroom Ocean View Pool Villa (200s)
Rate: Hilton Premium Club Beach Escape 11,500 THB ++ per night.
Received: One Bedroom Ocean View Retreat Pool Villa (300s)

Was pre upgraded and allocated the same room we had last year which was great with check in done at the Villa. 4 free drink vouchers but these are now limited to Azure & Zest.

Some fruit was delivered as well, the check in agent accidental left his run down sheet in the room which said we were to receive wine and the bath filled as well on our anniversary (our 2nd last night) which did not eventuate. I didn't follow it up but that was a disappointment (as a comparison we received a bottle in the room on our first night and another on our anniversary which was much more than we expected).

Invitation to GM drinks on the Monday which was nice.

While individual staff were friendly and happy to assist the overall service experience was very hit and miss with many requests needing to be repeated. it certainly felt a drop from our trip last year.

The food was fantastic as always and the menu is soon to be refreshed (it was identical to last year) and at 50% discount the HPC offer continued to pay for itself here. Jahn and The Cellar remain excellent and cannot be recommended highly enough.

With the changes to the HPC offer I don't think we will book again next year, last year our points & Macquarie free night certificate booking the trip as a whole felt like an absolute steal this year it just felt OK value.

EDIT: One thing I should have mentioned is the hotel was at 100% capacity while we were there which may have contributed to the service issues.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

DT-CNS
Nice treatment by the DT team today.
So thanks to all those who have made today a very enjoyable stay and you certainly surprised me with my favourite G&T in my room (along with that huge antipasto plate) and then later, a text to say you'd arranged for my favourite bar snack (pork belly) to be available for me as well. Oh, and I did love the room!

Thanks team!

 

[boomy]

Property: Conrad Koh Samui
Date: August 2018
Status: Diamond
Booked: One Bedroom Ocean View Pool Villa (200s)
Rate: Hilton Premium Club Beach Escape 11,500 THB ++ per night.
Received: One Bedroom Ocean View Retreat Pool Villa (300s)

EDIT: One thing I should have mentioned is the hotel was at 100% capacity while we were there which may have contributed to the service issues.

Still popular with Koreans on honeymoon?
This was the case when we were there, hotel was at capacity but restaurants (especially Jahn) were not full.

 

[SponsorSFC]

There were a couple but not a huge amount. Not as noticeable as last time when we saw a few in matching outfits wander about.

Seemed to be a mostly couples and a few families with one large group of about 14. I would say the ratio of Asian to European/American etc was about 50:50.

Zest was actually booked out one night, previously we had always just walk in after happy hour but were told that afternoon they were full. We went to Azure instead which was about 50% full.

Jahn was about 75% full the nights we were there, it was fully booked the night of the manager's reception.

 

[drross]

Hilton Terminal 5 London

Last night

Rate - not very much

No upgrade but nice bottle of Chilean red wine in our room( arrived late from Hong Kong after drinks in the lounge had finished)

 

[hydrabyss]

I’ve been sharing my stays with West who have been treating me really well with suites upgrades as well and I actually like their made to order breakfast much better than HSYD’s. Having said that HSYD staff are almost like family now and they have always tried their best to allocate my preferred room which I’m very grateful for.

Not sure what changed but the last few months at HSYD I have been upgraded to a relax suite every stay with one relax room to be different which I think was due to being a 2 night stay. Not looking forward to when the hotel starts to get busy again.

 

[Aeolus]

Not sure what changed but the last few months at HSYD I have been upgraded to a relax suite every stay with one relax room to be different which I think was due to being a 2 night stay. Not looking forward to when the hotel starts to get busy again.

I’ve been living in HSYD more than my own home recently and they’ve been great as always with upgrades and service. If you are game, they have a newly renovated concept Guestroom that they allocate to regular guests then request for feedback. Oh and before anyone asks, no, they can’t make the room any bigger (I’ve already asked that on behalf of the AFF community) Should be interesting but I’m only keen for the tour, not spending the night there.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I’ve been living in HSYD more than my own home recently and they’ve been great as always with upgrades and service. If you are game, they have a newly renovated concept Guestroom that they allocate to regular guests then request for feedback. Oh and before anyone asks, no, they can’t make the room any bigger (I’ve already asked that on behalf of the AFF community) Should be interesting but I’m only keen for the tour, not spending the night there.

Now this all took me by surprise. For a start, I thought H-SYD was your own home and in those oft overused words, "please explain" about the "concept" room. Are you saying it is smaller than their normal dogboxes?

 

[hydrabyss]

I’ve been living in HSYD more than my own home recently and they’ve been great as always with upgrades and service. If you are game, they have a newly renovated concept Guestroom that they allocate to regular guests then request for feedback. Oh and before anyone asks, no, they can’t make the room any bigger (I’ve already asked that on behalf of the AFF community) Should be interesting but I’m only keen for the tour, not spending the night there.

If they removed the oversize desk I feel that would be a huge difference but apart from a colour change not sure what else they could.

My next stay is number 75 although I am not sure what else they could do to make it special. Plus to be honest I have felt slightly overwhelmed lately with the room upgrades and the breakfast service in glass considering I always book last minute cheap rates.

 

[Aeolus]

Now this all took me by surprise. For a start, I thought H-SYD was your own home and in those oft overused words, "please explain" about the "concept" room. Are you saying it is smaller than their normal dogboxes?

Same revamped dog box but a special one-off, newly renovated with new interior design. Concept room done up to get feedback before full rollout. So far, only a one-of for the king Guestroom but the concept rooms will soon be rolled out to all room types. I told them one of the biggest gripe is the inability to tell the difference between king Guestroom/Plus/Deluxe. The blue couch (if it’s still there) is just a waste of space. Somehow West’s room size is about the same if not smaller but it felt more spacious. Hope to actually see it this week (they had guests in the room when I was available last week).

 

[moa999]

Any photos of the concept room?

 

[kermatu]

Any photos of the concept room?

Exactly the question I wanted to ask!

 

[QF WP]

I think regardless of how they re-design it, the small feeling of the room, coupled with the (small goldfish) windows will always mean I stay with IHG. But willing to see what the West is like, but most of my stays include a night out at Parramatta.

 

[kermatu]

Property: Hilton Cairns
Date: August 2018 -- 4 nights
Status: Diamond
Booked: Spa Executive Suite
Received: First night regular spa room; next three nights Spa Executive Suite room 922.
Benefits: Several waters, replenished twice a day, standard block of (ordinary) chocolate handed to me on check-in, turndown service, newspaper. Full breakfast, but with coffee charge applicable. Lounge access. First night free. And one night free room service.

So, an interesting stay. About two weeks prior to stay received an email from the front office saying a system error had allowed the room I booked (corner spa suite) to be booked by someone else on the first night of my 4 night stay. The email asked (didn't direct) if I would help, by staying the first night in an Exec king room free of charge, after which I could move to my preferred room (guaranteed 922) the next day.

Was quite annoyed as this stay was some relaxation in between short overseas work trips, and I had plans for my first full day in Cairns which would be disrupted by hassle of moving rooms. But, I was very appreciative of being told in advance (would have been very upset if only advised on check-in) and the offer of a free night was nice. Plus only flying in to Cairns after 11pm so not exactly missing out on the better room for long.

Took the opportunity in my response to explain my frustration and give feedback on a poor aspect of my previous stay (room service). Also asked for a regular spa room rather than exec room (as I prefer the walk-in shower you get in the spa rooms). Response back a day or two later was positive and agreed to a free meal or night of room service, and the spa room (a downgrade but not to me). Also promised my temp room would be available all day so I could switch whenever it suited me. I agreed, once again happy this was settled several days before my stay.

On arrival (late night) the agent knew nothing of the deal but we agreed I'd sort with the front office next morning. $100 pre-charge on my card was waived when I complained.

Next morning came out of the lifts and Kim and Sayhl recognised and greeted me. Kim knew of all the arrangements and put my mind at ease. A bit of frustration as I did wait around between 1pm and 2pm for the move, but it was fine.

Rest of stay was good. Staff great throughout. Lounge good but hours have been cutback to 17:30 to 19:30 for canapes (for as long as I remember it was 5pm to 8pm), and it's now self-serve.

Had room service one night. OK but not great. Really has gone downhill. But it was free so... On my last afternoon when asking for a wake-up call and taxi booking for an awful early start next day, Kim took care of my room service charge then and there so I wouldn't have an issue the next morning. That was very nice.

All up - good stay. Not sure if the advance warning and free night offer was because of status and loyalty to this hotel in particular. I'd like to think it was.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Property: Hilton Cairns
Date: August 2018 -- 4 nights
Status: Diamond
Booked: Spa Executive Suite
Received: First night regular spa room; next three nights Spa Executive Suite room 922.

Disappointing as service recovery should not be needed, but at least the recovery was good.

I have been told that they have a (relatively) new F&B manager. He ordered the coffee machine to be removed to "force" people to buy a coffee and I agree that the room menu is, well ... ordinary. If I eat at night, I usually go to one of the nearby restaurants.

H-CNS seems to be under quite a lot of pressure due to the large number of hotel refurbs going on in CNS, which appears to have a negative impact on us as travellers as the rates have gone up well above what the properties are actually worth (IMHO) and service is occasionally faltering. Into the future, when all these new rooms become available, we may see things returning to a more expected level (but who knows, it may force the like of Hilton into a refurb as well, just to keep pace).

On the plus side, I've been told there is a new micro-brewery not far from Hilton! That interests me a great deal. apparently a good number of decent brews and decent meals as well! I only heard of it last night and I'm not back in CNS for about 6 weeks, so a tad disappointed.