How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

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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.
 
Property: Hilton Port Moresby
Booked: King Deluxe Room
Received: King Executive Suite (after asking for upgrade)
Status: Gold
Rate: K749.50/night

Had to request whether an upgrade was possible. Didn't receive a gift or note as previous stays. 2 bottles of water in room and was given 2 more later.
Executive Lounge for breakfast, some of the food was starting to taste dry as its all out in the open. Coffee machine was having issues and took about 15min to get eggs even though we were the only people with a request into the kitchen. All up, not our best stay at this property.
 
Property: DoubleTree Niagra Falls (NY)
Booked: Standard Guest Room
Received: Same, no upgrade
Status: Diamond ( I think I might have been gold at this point).
Rate: $97.00 USD / night.

The car park was not in use because of construction. Next morning (early) there were repeated sirens and a voice over the loudspeaker asking people to remove their cars from some of the car parks below the building which succeeded in waking up the entire hotel before 8:00am. (still got charged the parking fee of $15.00 USD)

The fridge in the room did not work and never got cold, the room was also dirty and looked like it had not been cleaned from the previous occupant.

The service in the restaurant was poor, waited 10 minutes at the "please wait to be seated" sign in full view of bar staff before I physically grabbed a waiter to seat us.

We were told that our initial drinks selection weren't available, apparently neither was our second or third due to some "tap issue" that seemed to take 25 minutes to identify (still not food or drinks at this point). We received food and a drink in the end which was as mediocre as I expected it to be.

Couldn't wait to get out of the place, trying to contact the actual hotel to speak to someone about the issues there was useless

Don't ever stay here.
 
Property: Hilton Surfers Paradise
Booked: Base King (Guest?)
Received: King Relaxation Room
Status: Diamond
EL: Closed (for relocation)
Rate: $224 for one night (this week)

I've been upgraded to this room-type previously. Quite spacious, with ocean views across from Soul.

The old EL has been closed since mid-August. Relocated EL still to be completed (Level 2? I was told).

Staff a bit unsure about where/progress. Temporary EL area set-up in a section of Salt restaurant. 5.00pm to 7.00pm drinks were self-serve. Canapes (not the variety as usually in the EL) brought to the table, with seconds offered. The EL at Surfers has progressively gone downhill over the time since opening.

Full breakfast in Salt Restaurant for Diamond and Gold. Didn't have coffee so don't know whether there's still a coffee tax. Parking fee waived.

Schoolies is fully underway, although there's an alert about this on the website. Orchid Ave has no vehicle access from 8.00pm to 2.00am this week.. I wasn't aware of this until check-in but it didn't affect me. Usual noise levels from Orchid/Cavill area

Edit: Crossed-posted to the Elite treatment at Hilton Surfers Paradise thread
 
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Property: H Curio, LAX
Booked: Deluxe King Airport View
Received: Deluxe King Airport View
Status: Diamond
Rate: $196 x 1 night

Two bottles of water in room, no upgrade as I think I booked the highest room type. Shouldn't have bothered for such a short visit, but it did provide lovely views of the LAX sign after I arrived. A bit of a struggle to find the shuttle bus at LAX (on the departures level - of course, that's where arrivals should be picked up!), my flight landed at 10pm, bags were on the carousel when I got to T5 from the Eagle's nest, and I arrived at the hotel at about 11pm. Homewood Suites is co-located in the same building.

Surprisingly spacious room, two sinks in the bathroom, separate door for the loo, and large shower (not a shub) that you turn on at one end so that you don't get wet and cold turning it on.

At 11pm, the bar is closed, but there's a variety of offerings from a snack bar setup that you can purchase from the front desk. Frozen meals, ice creams, chips, cookies, lollies, some wines and beers.
I had a breakfast credit of $15 or so as a Diamond; I was able to get an omelette with fruit for that amount. Tipped the server with a room charge.

I left my luggage there after checking out, and walked to Avis to pick up my hire car. Easy trip back. By this time, the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and Subway at the bottom of the hotel were open.
The Corner King Airport View is the upgrade there.
 
Dependsupon property
This year
Hilton Tel Aviv April as Diamond rewards + paid stay Executive Studio Sea View August 2019 Paid stay Plaza Executive Suit from always cheapest room - Hilton Doubletree Melb May 2019 cheapest room to Spencer Street View Hilton Perth Northbridhe from cheapest room to Executive Deluxe Room in Oct 2019
 
Hilton Fiji
6 night stay - rewards plus 1 night’free’..diamond member
excellent breakfasts in Koro - the adult’s only area
plenty of bottles of water everyday. Welcome platter of fruit and a birthday ‘cake’ for the boss
upgraded to 1 bedroom suite on arrival. - with shared plunge pool downstairs..didn’t have to ask for the upgrade either
 
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I just went on a rather unremarkable business combined with leisure Hilton-based two-week visit to the USA staying mostly at the most affordable Hilton chain properties.

I received suite upgrades at Hampton Inn's in San Marcos (Texas) and Reliant Park (Houston, Texas).

I didn't receive an upgrade at Hilton Concord (East Bay, San Francisco), but received two vouchers per day for the bar and a late checkout of 3:30 pm so that I could conduct an important conference call. We had a rental car, but this was an excellent location to explore the greater SF and it was only a short drive to the BART station. We saved big dollars compared to the downtown hotels which based on my research can be quite hit or miss for Hilton.

If you are ever in Austin, Texas, avoid the Homewood Suites Downtown at all costs. The rooms are large, comfortable and spacious but the noise on both sides of the hotel are unbearable. On one side you have the freeway and the other side you have Rainey St which is a popular party strip. I stayed for five nights and only slept well on the first night (of five) due to jetlag. Also, the hot water was actually lukewarm and they suggest to all guests to run the bathroom tap on hot for ten minutes before every shower. It was quite an unbelievable and wasteful situation which staff seem to have just accepted as normal.
 
Copied from the Elite treatment at Hilton SP thread:

Diamond

Booked a 2 bedroom apartment in the residences for Monday night and asked to upgrade a few weeks earlier to the 3 bedroom apartment. Was told there was a $150 upgrade fee which I was happy with. Upon checking out I found out they had waived the fee. Also got parking fee waived and 1pm checkout (was offered later but didn't need). Didn't use the temporary EL or breakfast.

Also stayed last month for 5 consecutive nights, booked the King Guest room and received a King Relaxation room for the duration of the stay. Again parking waived for the 5 nights.
 
Property: HH Park Lane London
Date: Dec 2019
Status: Diamond
Booked: Standard King
Received: Park Lane Suite
Rate: points (80k)

A magnificent upgrade to a suite. And I had time to enjoy it for once. Nice breakfast, bottles of water in the room. The exec lounge had a good spread of food and drink.

I wish they wouldn’t turn all the lights on - I had to find 18 light switches!

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Property: Hilton Milan
Date: Dec 2019
Status: Diamond
Booked: Queen Guest Room
Received: King Guest Room in a "quieter" location.
Rate: 105.00 Euro (~$169.00 AUD)

Slightly disappointed with the upgrade, was expecting a better bump given how quiet the hotel was, however, the room was pretty nice and spacious. Check in was a little long but painless (the girl who checked me in was a trainee but very good).

Interestingly the coughtail hour in the EL was 6:00 to 8:30PM followed by an hour of snacks.
Cannot fault the service or the cleanliness of the hotel, would stay here again. Perhaps I should have pressed for a better upgrade but didn't want to be "that guy"

Should also add at this point that the breakfast spread was impressive with a omelette station, mimosas for diamond members and good service.

Hotel is really well located to the train station and metro (< 5 min walk), 7.5 / 10 overall.
 
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Property: Hilton DoubleTree Edinburgh City Centre
Date: Oct 2019
Status: Diamond
Booked: King Guest Room
Received: King Guest Room with Castle View
Rate: 90.00 Pound/night (~$174.00 AUD/night)

Great location and great staff with a great view of the castle. Two drink vouchers.
 
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Property: Hilton DoubleTree Edinburgh Airport
Date: Oct 2019
Status: Diamond
Booked: King Guest Room
Received: King Guest Room
Rate: 88.00 Pound/night (~$170.00 AUD/night)

Tired and staff going through the motions. Everything was fine until you asked for anything unusual and then became a language barrier or other lame excuse. No drink vouchers as 'Management told us not to give them out any more.'
 
Property: Hilton Barcelona
Date: Nov 2019
Status: Diamond
Booked: King Guest Room
Received: King Guest Room
Rate: Not sure

Very busy hotel with the Exec Lounge overflowing each evening. Great staff who did their best in difficult circumstances.
 
Property: Hilton DoubleTree Edinburgh Airport
Date: Oct 2019
Status: Diamond
Booked: King Guest Room
Received: King Guest Room
Rate: 88.00 Pound/night (~$170.00 AUD/night)

Tired and staff going through the motions. Everything was fine until you asked for anything unusual and then became a language barrier or other lame excuse. No drink vouchers as 'Management told us not to give them out any more.'

That sucks, no upgrade and no vouchers?
Guess that's one to skip in future then.
 
Property: Hilton LAX
Date: Dec 2019
Status: Diamond
Booked: King Guest Room
Received: King Guest Room
Rate: TBA

A tired hotel living on its reputation! With one exception there was nothing specifically wrong just not to HH standards IMHO. The bar in the lounge was open for two hours to buy drinks. Food, coffee and snacks were good. One person ran the whole lounge, was run off his feet and still managed an exceptional job.

Is there another Hilton anywhere that requires drink purchases in the Exec Lounge?
 
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