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.

 

[NT2010]

Agree, Asian hotels mostly provide better services and better upgrades for Gold and Diamond.

 

[Aeolus]

Are you sure it was being renovated? I'm not sure about KL, but it seemed to be the Australian thing at some hotels a few years back to close the EL over the Christmas time and claim a reno.

Most definitely closed for renovation as the staff told me and won't be opened until after Feb. Jan/Feb is a busy time there due to local festivities.

 

[Aeolus]

Conrad Macau
Booked: Deluxe Room
Received: Deluxe Suite
Rate: points and pay
Great service, attentive staff and classy overall ambience. The EL- good spread, there's even a whole leg of jamon that were sliced and served when requested during the evening canapés. Had their signature coughtail which tasted a bit like mojito-yum! And the bathrobe is ultra comfy. Pic of their exec lounge, definitely one of the poshest Conrad EL!
.
Tip: book your return ferry at EL, they'll do everything for you at no extra cost plus charge it to the room.
For those that keep a zoo of Conrad toys, this hotel run special editions during Christmas, Chinese new year, etc and they are different every year.

 

[Danger]

Property: DoubleTree Lisbon Fontana Park
Status: Diamond
Room booked: king superior room with Juliett balcony
Rate: EUR77 per night plus tax for three nights
Received: king deluxe city view (one level upgrade), two bottles of water per day, full breakfast in restaurant (no lounge).

 

[nonpop]

Property: Hilton Munich City
Date: Early Jan 3 nights
Status: Gold (via status match)
Booked: king base room for 2 pax (was same price as single pax)
Received: king base room for 2 pax on a non executive floor but with executive lounge access
Price: E90 per night (booked late)

Received:
Exec lounge access
2 x water
Fruit plate

Location is excellent and so far so good.

 

[nonpop]

Property: Hilton Frankfurt
Date: Early Jan 3 nights
Status: Gold (via status match)
Booked: king guest room inc breakfast (base room) for 2 pax (was same price as single pax) and inc breakfast was cheaper than without
Received: king deluxe with park view (1 level upgrade) without lounge access
Price: E139 per night (booked late) inc breakfast

Received:
2 x water (told to take it from the minibar)
Nothing else

Location is excellent.

 

[drross]

Conrad Macau
Booked: Deluxe Room
Received: Deluxe Suite
Rate: points and pay
Great service, attentive staff and classy overall ambience. The EL- good spread, there's even a whole leg of jamon that were sliced and served when requested during the evening canapés. Had their signature coughtail which tasted a bit like mojito-yum! And the bathrobe is ultra comfy. Pic of their exec lounge, definitely one of the poshest Conrad EL!
.
Tip: book your return ferry at EL, they'll do everything for you at no extra cost plus charge it to the room.
For those that keep a zoo of Conrad toys, this hotel run special editions during Christmas, Chinese new year, etc and they are different every year.

Aeolus. You really need to get your flight map up and running

 

[jackthomas]

Bit of a DYKWIA moment at Hilton Sydney today.
Status: Diamond
Stay: 9-11 Jan.
Room Booked: King Hilton Deluxe Plus
Room Received: King Suite

My reservation wasn't in the system at check in, which was very strange, as I confirmed everything with the hotel over the phone last night. No mention of Diamond benefits at check in, nor was I given the normal print out of benefits ( not needed for a regular but does have the WIFI code on it) was given the room I booked, and wasn't too happy as I knew better rooms were available. Had a New Years catch up with some of girls in the lounge and mentioned room type, then was told they'd see what they could do... A few minutes later was upgraded to the King Suite... Never had this room type before so super happy. It's gorgeous. Might need to host a dinner party here now....

Breakfast is is in the boardroom temporarily until the 12th so interested to see how that is in the morning.

 

[Danger]

Property: Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona
Status: Diamond
Room booked: king Hilton guestroom
Rate: EUR132.30 for two nights plus 30k HHonors point for a third night
Received: king executive room, two bottles of water

 

[Freq Flier 2013]

Property: Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona
Status: Diamond
Room booked: king Hilton guestroom
Rate: EUR132.30 for two nights plus 30k HHonors point for a third night
Received: king executive room, two bottles of water

How was your stay? Is the hotel worth staying in? We will be in Spain towards the end of the year.

Did you stay at any other Hilton properties in Spain?

 

[nonpop]

How was your stay? Is the hotel worth staying in? We will be in Spain towards the end of the year.

Did you stay at any other Hilton properties in Spain?

To add to that ... we stayed there early 2015 ... got exec lounge as a Gold + water etc.
Location is a bit out of town, but easy enough to get to metro station (3 or 4 mins walk). There is also a hop on/off tour bus out front.
A couple of pics of the hotel
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....trip-photos/syd-bkk-xhel-bcn-vlc-65491-3.html

In short it was good value for money we thought and they treated us well.

 

[Cynicor]

Hilton Shinjuku
5 nights, 2 rooms
Booked base room type
Diamond
Received 2 X King exec with lounge and breakfast for all.
Nice place, decent location. Lounge has views of Fuji-San.

Big queue at checkin, asked a bell boy if I could go to exec lounge and he said no, queue here. Not sure if he understood me. So asked someone else and she ushered us to the elevators.
Still had a queue but at least we got food and drinks whilst waiting.

Currently pre-upgraded via online checkin to Mt Yotei view deluxe for Hilton Niseko. Will see if this holds.

 

[Danger]

How was your stay? Is the hotel worth staying in? We will be in Spain towards the end of the year.

Did you stay at any other Hilton properties in Spain?

Very pleasing. It's a genuine Hilton property - the look, the feel, the service etc. The location is good and bad. The upside is it is directly across the road from the massive Diagonal Mar shopping complex and about a six minute walk to the metro (nonpop must walk faster than me!). From the metro it is EUR2.15 per ride (I got a two day unlimited pass for EUR9.90) ride to downtown which takes between 14 and 17 minutes. Then you're in the thick of it.

I will post a full review in the FlyerTalk thread for this hotel in the coming days (I tend not to do full reviews here as the thread are only about how Hilton treats you but happy to answer any questions).

No, I did not stay at any other properties in Spain.

 

[nonpop]

Property: Hilton Frankfurt Airport
Date: Mid Jan 1 night
Status: Gold (via status match)
Booked: king base room for 1 pax (added the 2nd guest via partner stays free)
Received: king executive room
Price: E99 via a winter promo

Received:
Exec lounge access, 2 bottles water.

The lounge puts on a reasonable spread for 'dinner' from 6pm to 8:30pm. It is a big lounge.

 

[turtlemichael]

Property: Hilton Cape Town
Date: 2 stays 5 nights mid-December and 7 nights over New Year
Status: Diamond
Booked: King guest room
Received: 1st stay - upgraded to a one bedroom suite, 2nd stay - as booked
Price: P+P - 20k plus R853.00 (around AUD $75) per night

First stay we got a nice upgrade as the hotel was quite empty. Second stay, it was very full for NYE activities and the cricket in Cape Town. Rooms are well furnished and comfortable. Major disappointment was the executive lounge which, on both stays, was crowded, uncleaned with plenty of booze but very poor food. Many took up residence when it opened at 6pm and left (when the booze ended) at 10.00pm so really quite unpleasant atmosphere even if you could find somewhere to sit. Breakfast was also a mess so we ate in the coffee lounge. There is no restaurant which serves alcohol (the hotel is in the Muslim area of town) except the Pool Terrace where, on the wine list they of around 20 reds they had the grand total of 1 available.

Location looks a bit sketchy but we had no issues.

The rooms were good but beyond that this was the worst Hilton we had stayed in anywhere (until we got to Durban!). We would have cancelled the second stay if there had been anything available over NY elsewhere.

 

[turtlemichael]

Property: Hilton Durban
Date: 8 nights over Christmas
Status: Diamond
Booked: king guest room
Received: upgraded to a king corner room.
Price: 1675R as booked 12 months ago. The going rate at the time of staying was over 5500R 0r around $500 because of the cricket (SA v Eng) at Kingsmead next door.That is why we were there. The hotel was very full of English cricket fans.

The upgrade room was spacious but with filthy carpet, dirty windows, and moldy shower. We complained but no other rooms were available nor other hotels anywhere near. The pool area is dire. The executive lounge though was pleasant with decent food and alcohol and uncrowded. The hotel has a new steak restaurant, under an Ernie Els franchise, which was generally good but with very chaotic service. I wouldn't go back until it is renovated which the manager promised was starting in January.

I have to wonder what standards Hilton requires to maintain its brand. Apparently there is little supervision.

 

[turtlemichael]

Property: Hilton Sandton (Johannesburg)
Date: Early January 5 nights
Status: Diamond
Booked: king guest room
Received: Two room king suite.
Price:R1680 per night (around AUD150)

Far and away the best of the 3 South African Hiltons. Excellent and well serviced lounge with chef in residence. It has long alcohol hours as do the others. Food in the lounge was as good as any Australian Hilton. The room was dated but well maintained and comfortable. The pool area was very well furnished and maintained. Service, outside the lounge, was a bit hit and miss and there is a taxi racket in operation. Unless you call Uber you pay the top prices (in one instance 4 times what the return taxi ride in a non-Hilton taxi cost us) and there is little alternative to using their services. Overall though, a good Hilton.

 

[boomy]

Very pleasing. It's a genuine Hilton property - the look, the feel, the service etc. The location is good and bad. The upside is it is directly across the road from the massive Diagonal Mar shopping complex and about a six minute walk to the metro (nonpop must walk faster than me!). From the metro it is EUR2.15 per ride (I got a two day unlimited pass for EUR9.90) ride to downtown which takes between 14 and 17 minutes. Then you're in the thick of it.

I will post a full review in the FlyerTalk thread for this hotel in the coming days (I tend not to do full reviews here as the thread are only about how Hilton treats you but happy to answer any questions).

No, I did not stay at any other properties in Spain.

Actually you can also post you TR as separate thread in the AFF Hilton forum.

I'd like to see more detailed hotel TRs with lots of photos rather than just short report.

I have 4 nights stay at Hilton Barcelona coming in March. Wondering what's the difference between both properties.

 

[Buzzard]

HSW
5 nights recently
Diamond
Booked a Guestroom Plus, received a City View.
My understanding is that there isn't a lot of difference between the 2 rooms as the Plus face the city. Could be wrong.
No water unless I asked.
Coffee tax waived each morning.
I understand that the hotel was fully booked some days and the longer your stay, the less chance of a nice upgrade.

 

[puppysparkes]

Update, it seems it is not all smooth sailing after my stay. My cc was debited for $245 above the rate listed on the express check out invoice. Nil points appeared on my account and the stay no longer appears on the HH app. I phoned Darwin Hilton and spoke to a person who did their best within their level of experience. The person offered to follow up and call back. That was at 6:36 DRW time, 7:06 BNE time. Stupidly on my part I failed to ask when the call back would occur. I assumed it would be tonight, my error I know. I'll keep you posted.

This matter was resolved recently; albeit at my initiation. Despite advice manager would contact me I had to follow up after 4 days since my initial contact.

The helpful duty manager advised that it may be a pre-authority charge which will expire. Despite signing the cc receipt I didn't debate the discrepancy. I was asked if my colleagues put anything in my account. *Internal monologue* What does that have to do with the price of eggs.

14 days later I have been refunded the $240 overcharge.

With thanks to a recent status match I am HH Diamond. Is this an unusual experience. As mentioned up thread it was my first and last time using express check out with any program; any comments not expressed previously are appreciated.