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.

 

[Daver6]

Property: DoubleTree Northbridge, Perth
Nights: 1
Status: Gold
Room booked: base king
Room received: upgraded king on 9th floor? Views to the west.
Rate: $243 - $100
Date: last night

Had an expiring $100 QF hotels voucher. Needed to do a one night Accor mattress run so making a weekend of it. Wasn't expecting any HH benefits due to indirect booking. At check-in I provided my HH number which was added. Was told the room had been upgraded and given two free drink vouchers for the bar downstairs. Unclear if this is actually a room upgrade. I think they're all the same (there are larger rooms). No gold breakfast but not expecting or wanting. Plan is to go for dim sum.

All up not a bad hotel. Noise isolation is excellent. A million places at every price point to eat within a stones throw. Extremely close to the main train station and bus port. Room is a similar size to the rooms at the SYD Hilton. Pool is heated.

 

[mel-world]

Quick comments on various Hilton properties during a month in Canada - I'm Gold, but probably not for long. On a budget so only looked for properties I could afford.

Saturday 3rd September to Thursday 8th - 5 nights
Property: Hilton Vancouver Airport
Room booked: King Room
Rate: 5th night free award booking - 200k points
Received: Upgrade to King Corner Room with seperate lounge
Comments: Out of City but near Canada Line and local Richmond shops and restaurants - nothing special and 'free' breakfast just terrible but probably standard for NA Hilton properties.

Saturday 11th September to Thursday 15th September - 5 nights
Property: Homewood Suites - Montreal Downtown (co-located with Hampton Inn)
Room booked: King Room
Received: King Room - water offered (but did not need).
Comments: Brand new property near old town - everything clean and worked - breakfast basic but okay. Bar on 6th level was noisy but pleasant. Room next to freeway so could also be noisy but we walked a lot so really did not notice. On-site restaurant not worth the money. Would recommend because of location.

Thursday 15th September - 1 night
Property: Doubletree - Montreal Airport
Room booked: King Room
Received: King Room - water offered (tap water fine). Hot cookies offered and enjoyed.
Comments: Moved for one night due to 0800 flight the next morning. Easy access to/from airport and shuttle started at 0400. Bar busy in evening but a standard airport hotel with not much else around.

and, finally:

Friday 16th September - 2 nights
Property: Doubletree - St. John's Newfoundland
Room booked: King Room
Received: King Corner Harbourview Room - water offered (but again refused). Hot cookies offered and quickly eaten. Free hot breakfast - no buffet so a good choice of menu items.
Comments: Quite a new property near centre of town - everything clean but room quite dark and air conditioner very noisy. Quite adequate being so close to town if walking.

 

[bits]

Property: Hilton Surfers Paradise hotel and residences
Nights: 5
Status: Diamond
Room booked: King Guest
Room received: Upgraded to King Executive high floor (top hotel level 15)
Rate: $155 govt
Date: 11-16 Sep

Room and bathroom were large and comfortable, though no bath. Location is central, with light rail stop right downstairs.

Buffet breakfast in the main restaurant offered as +$15pp surcharge on the information slip at check in, but happy to report it wasn't enforced on check out, so nil additional charges. Buffet breakfast includes fully automated coffee machine using ground beans.

Executive lounge staffed, with breakfast, afternoon tea and even drinks all offered (two sittings for evening drinks 5-6.30pm, 6.30-800pm, bookings recommended). Daily rotation for coughtail drink of the day.

 

[Anna]

Property: Canopy by Hilton Portland Pearl District, Portland Oregon USA
Status: Diamond
Received: $15 per day credit
Stayed: 4 nights in September 2022
Upgrade: no idea sorry. My room was on level 10 with a nice view towards Union Station.

Cool hotel with an eco friendly vibe. No plastic water bottles, instead there are refilling stations on each floor to refill your own bottle with filtered water. No fridge in room - instead there is a 'chiller drawer' which is ok for water and maybe fruit but I wouldn't use it to store dairy products. (Ideal opportunity for the vegan-curious ). A mini fridge is available on request by the terminally uncool.

No breakfast buffet - instead it is à la carte from a short but decent menu, except on days when too many staff call in sick in which case breakfast is limited to coffee and tea, juice, yogurt, oatmeal and bakery items. And don't expect the stressed out staff to remember your order . Staff permitting, the restaurant is also open for lunch and dinner, mainly pizzas.

The bed was really comfortable. One great feature of the room was the sliding door between the bedroom and the entry and wardrobe area, which minimised corridor noise to negligible.

The shower was completely baffling until the maintenance guy admitted to me that the taps had been fitted backwards so cold was hot and off was on Not so great when you're just off 20 hours travelling, with jet lag!

The staff are all young and enthusiastic. Gen X or boomer grumpiness doesn't fit the vibe

Housekeeping is on request by 24 hours notice only. Each floor has a central bin where you could empty your own trash. If the carts were on my floor, the housekeepers were happy to hand me any items I'd run low on (ability to speak Spanish an advantage). I found it quite relaxing that I didn't need to be concerned about a knock on the door from housekeeping at an inconvenient moment.

There's a rooftop terrace with tables and chairs. I ate a take-out bagged lunch up there one day, which was nice. It would also be nice to take a glass of wine up there.

The Pearl District location was great. Close to Powell's Books, to a Safeway supermarket and to NW 23rd Ave for unusual shopping, cafes etc. I was also able to walk to Voodoo Donuts, but the unnecessary line-up theatre was really annoying and the donuts weren't so great that I'd put up with that nonsense again (grumpy gen X possibly not the target demographic ).

Portland is quite changed since the pandemic. It's still quirky but there is an increased homeless population living on the streets. It's now a city to be 'alert but not alarmed' when walking around. I wouldn't walk at night.

I would definitely consider staying here again.

 

[mini2]

Property: Hilton Sydney
Nights: 1
Status: Diamond
Room booked: Executive Suite
Room received: Ambassador Suite
Rate: $666
Date: Oct 2022
Comments: No card from GM, but I got the two complimentary bottled water. Late checkout was requested but only extended by an hour to 1200. They also accepted a whole stack of NSW Stay vouchers for our stay.

Property: Hilton Sydney
Nights: 1
Status: Gold
Room booked: Deluxe Twin
Room received: Deluxe Twin (got offered Exec King room, but I need the twin bed)
Rate: $411
Date: Oct 2022

 

[bits]

Property: Hilton Sydney
Nights: 1
Status: Diamond
Room booked: King Guest
Room received: King Executive
Rate: $174 govt
Date: 2 Oct 22
Comments: Long weekend/school holiday period so hotel was fully booked, so no suite upgrade, just upgrade to executive room. Late check out to 12pm only. Staff in the executive lounge clued onto fact that my wife and I were there doing a staycay celebrating our anniversary, and arranged a surprise complimentary gift of plated dessert and bottle of sparkling delivered to our room prior to our return from dinner, that was appreciated.

 

[Steady]

does online vs physical check in make any difference to possible room upgrades ? Won’t arrive at the hotel until about 7.45pm (diamond)

 

[dairyfloss]

does online vs physical check in make any difference to possible room upgrades ? Won’t arrive at the hotel until about 7.45pm (diamond)

In your case I would probably check-in online to have a better chance of preserving a known upgrade, as you're arriving later than most would on the day, and so most of the playing about with room inventories and upgrades has already happened by then. Better to know you have an upgraded room type (presuming it is upgraded (?), and you are ok with it), then to chance getting nothing if occupancy is up, and there's lots of status guests in house.

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[Steady]

In your case I would probably check-in online to have a better chance of preserving a known upgrade, as you're arriving later than most would on the day, and so most of the playing about with room inventories and upgrades has already happened by then. Better to know you have an upgraded room type (presuming it is upgraded (?), and you are ok with it), then to chance getting nothing if occupancy is up, and there's lots of status guests in house.

Cheers,
Matt.

Thanks Matt

 

[eric2011]

My experience is the upgraded room shows on the morning of your stay usually inputted by the night manager the night B4. If you like the upgrade check-in otherwise send message to the hotel requesting it

 

[hydrabyss]

does online vs physical check in make any difference to possible room upgrades ? Won’t arrive at the hotel until about 7.45pm (diamond)

There are so many theories on what is better and most times it varies from hotel to hotel. Some front desk people will tell you if you checkin online and select a room they won't move you from that room. So if they need to upgrade someone again to make room you are likely to miss out unless the hotel knows you.

My only advice would be to ask when you do arrive as chances of them selling a room that time of night is greatly reduced. It just depends on the hotel and length of stay.

 

[Steady]

I ended up checking in this morning, made it to the Hotel at 8.10pm (ADL)

only available rooms were the standard executive ones on 16, 17, & 18, no suites. I couldn’t be bothered trying for something better when I arrived

 

[liamsal]

Been smashing out stays recently to maintain Diamond - a few highlights/most recent stays:

Hilton Sydney
1 night
Early September, Sunday night
Booked King Corner Room
Received City Suite
$255 Govt. rate
Even the receptionist commented on what a fantastic upgrade that was for such a low rate. Overall excellent service around the board

Hilton Sydney
3 nights
Early February, Mon-Thurs
Booked King Corner Room
Received Junior Suite
$188-194 per night Govt. rate
Another great upgrade for a 3 night stay

West Hotel Sydney - Curio
1 night
Early September, Saturday night
Booked King Banksia Deluxe
Received King Banksia Deluxe Plus
$338 Govt. rate
Pretty average upgrade, and when factoring in additional $10 pp for full breakfast and no exec. lounge, seems like a no brainer to stay at the Hilton. I emailed them some feedback about how Diamonds are treated much better at the Hilton and whether they'd consider some additional benefits like drink vouchers, waiving breakfast fee etc and heard nothing back.

Hilton Brisbane
Multiple stays over the last few months, normally 1-2 nights
Always book the King Guest and receive a King Executive Room
Anytime I've asked for an early check in or late check out it's been granted
Haven't paid for a coffee at breakfast since late last year - not sure if they'e started waiving that for Diamonds?
Ladies in the executive lounge are fantastic, often placing additional water/treats, amenities etc in our room for when we return to our room that night

Hilton Surfers Paradise
1 night
Mid October, Monday
Booked King Guestroom
Received King Executive, high floor
Late checkout granted
Bottle of wine and coughtail voucher provided in room upon check in
It had been well over 12 months since I stayed here and one of the ladies in the restaurant remembered me by name and really looked after us for breakfast. Great service, renovations in lobby look great too.

 

[Flashback]

Just in time so that you can participate in a push towards paid upgrades........ I've got about 15 nights to go to renew HHD but likely will just let it lapse.

 

[jase05]

Just in time so that you can participate in a push towards paid upgrades........ I've got about 15 nights to go to renew HHD but likely will just let it lapse.

With the double nights I’m doing a bit of a mattress run in Thailand with the cheap prices so I can retain Diamond and will do the same in the UAE

 

[kyle]

My mattress run to maintain diamond will be over soon. Got 3 more stays, 1 in Nov and 2 in Dec.

So my 4th one was spent at DD Melbourne...

Nights: 1
Status: Diamond
Room booked: Queen Guest
Room received: Skyline River View with Balcony
Rate: $202 + $111
Date: mid-Oct 2022

So I snagged a paid upgrade to a room which normally sells for $500+. This room is on the top floor. While everything about the room is pretty much the same, including the noise from Flinders Street well into the night. As the weather is getting warmer, the number of randoms yelling on the street seems to have increased. The noise might be worse because it's a sliding door to the balcony. I can see why the room sells for $500+. That view from the balcony is stunning. Wifi was cough that night (max 4 or 5 megabits download), even after trying another wifi channel after messaging the front desk. Not sure if it's the 13th floor, or just congested, so was using my own mobile's 4G/5G.

 

[Nathant123]

I’m currently a Hilton diamond member and just returned from a quick 2 week trip to India. Spent one night at Hilton Mumbai airport as flight with Singapore airlines arrives late evening. Perfect service. Spent a couple of nights at Taj Mahal palace after that. I had 3 nights in Delhi where I booked the the double tree in Gurugram. Huge mistake. The check in process was smooth but a long list of issues had me check out early and head for the roseate house in aerocity which was amazing in comparison. I’ve written a lengthy complaint to Hilton which has been replied to twice promptly and I’ve been promised a refund. Will see if it comes through.

 

[Flashback]

I’m currently a Hilton diamond member and just returned from a quick 2 week trip to India. Spent one night at Hilton Mumbai airport as flight with Singapore airlines arrives late evening. Perfect service. Spent a couple of nights at Taj Mahal palace after that. I had 3 nights in Delhi where I booked the the double tree in Gurugram. Huge mistake. The check in process was smooth but a long list of issues had me check out early and head for the roseate house in aerocity which was amazing in comparison. I’ve written a lengthy complaint to Hilton which has been replied to twice promptly and I’ve been promised a refund. Will see if it comes through.

Ahh, I spent many a night at that DT when I worked there. The suites were nice but there was always 1 light I could just never find the light switch for!

 

[Nathant123]

I’ve been reimbursed my points so at least Hilton follow up on their complains.

 

[Berlin]

Property: Waldorf Astoria Berlin, Germany
Nights: 2
Status: Diamond
Room booked: Standard King
Room received: Proactively upgraded on the app to a King Junior Suite
Rate: 80,000 HH points/ night

We had stayed here before and always loved the grandeur of this hotel so we decided to splurge for our first two days in Europe and use HH points for our stay (standard rate would have started somewhere above 600 Euro that weekend so definitely way too much). To our surprise, the app proactively upgraded us to a Junior suite when we switched on our phones on arrival into BER (as a side, after all the hick hack and ridiculous reports on this airport and its comical delays, it looks super disappointing in real life- much smaller than I had expected from all those renderings and distinctly boring- especially for a "hip and happening" city like Berlin). We did the app check in for 3pm and voila.

After taking the never-ending stuffed to the brim train from BER, we arrived at the property around quarter past 3. We both felt super buggered, were both slightly sick from the travel and really really only wanted to fall into that King bed until breakfast the next day. On arrival, then the big shock, our room (that we had been assigned about 2 and a half hour earlier on the Hilton app) wasn't ready. we were offered drinks in the bar which was the last thing we wanted or another room "which would be much worse than the one you have assigned so I would strongly recommend against it). We asked how long it's going to be the the front office lady lied and said (about an hour). We in the end agreed to spend that hour in the spa, having packed two swimmers in our hand luggage, just in case (not the first time this has happened!). I was a bit surprised how they would find us there to "bring us the keys once it's ready) so I asked three times how it's going to work and apparently this would be no problem whatsoever.

Guess what: Nothing happened of course and when I went up to the spa reception after over an hour in the pool, the lady there of course had absolutely no idea. She was pretty helpful at least and promised to follow up. Another half hour wait, nothing. My partner's cold really getting worse now down in the spa and it was around 4:30pm when the spa attendant finally arrived. Guess what: No keys. a big dumb apology about them only now finding out that the guest before us had requested a late check out (how can they not find this out on check in, let alone when the app itself assignees this room???) and how they will "speed things up now. We also got two useless drink vouchers which we found was really not good enough for all this mishap. Needless to say, it was around 6pm when we finally got to the room and our arrival into Berlin was pretty much ruined.

The room itself was lovely and big, a strange length-wise design of a narrow but long stretched room with the bed in the very end. Very unusual but we didn't mind and appreciated the upgrade. We noticed that for its price, the property is showing its age now and could do with a soft refurb throughout (scratched furniture, marks on the table tops, scratches on the walls etc.- just that little stuff that needs a bit of TLC over time). Breakfast was the highlight and we appreciated getting all this for free as Hilton Diamonds (you had a big buffet and a la carte items too, a very generous selection of juices and even some surely headache inducing bubbles) and we particularly enjoyed the typical German items on the buffet (like the beamed from Bavaria white sausages and pretzels, the crunchy German buns, the sausage salad and so on). Staff overly polite and helpful throughout though for some the atmosphere might come across as a bit too "stuffy". All in all we were happy though the initial mess on checkin is unforgivable and kind of spoilt the entire stay for us.