How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

QF WP

Enthusiast
Moderator
Joined
Jun 20, 2002
Posts
17,491
Qantas
Gold
Virgin
Platinum
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 Vienna Danube Waterfront
Rate: 93.30 Euro (less taxes etc)
Date: December (4 days)
Status: Diamond
Booked: King Guest Room
Received: King Executive Waterfront Room
Elite treatment: So-so upgrade, usual water and not much else.

Nice looking hotel located a 15.00 Euro Uber fare from the city.

Room service was incorrect twice, first time staff just flat out didn't include part of the order and the second time took over an hour to bring spaghetti and a salad at which point we called them and asked where the food was to be told that "They had tried to deliver but no-one was in the room" which was a lie as we had been in the room all night.

You know it's going to be bad when there is a traffic light system in the elevator which tells you when should go down for breakfast if you want a "pleasant and relaxing meal": Green is 6:30am - 7:30am, Yellow is 7:30am - 8:30am and red is 8:30am - 10:30am. I was there at 9:45am and they weren't joking, it was shambolic, kids covering the entire waffle machine in batter, touching food and trying to cut bread unsupervised (sub primary school age kids I might add!).

Hotel staff weren't even bothering to refill the depleted bays with hot food which wasn't all that appetizing anyway. And if you think you're going to have breakfast in the exec lounge instead? Think again, continental breakfast only and it's full of the same idiots from the executive lounge described below.

This brings me to the Executive Lounge, which is actually quite nice and offers a good view of the city (when empty). I have never seen worse behavior in any lounge, parents dragging children through the service area, letting them use a huge bread knife to try and cut their own bread, touching food displays, smashing a bottle of juice all over the floor while attempting to remove from a fridge full of glass bottles amidst about 20 other adults and kids who obviously don't understand the concept of lining up. Staff just stood by and allowed the chaos to continue, we actually left the lounge and I wish I had taken a photo of the carnage.

Seriously, family holidays are a nice thing but if you're going to take little kids somewhere, don't be an inconsiderate piece of cough and let them run wild.

Pictures are of the lounge during the day.

3/10, will stay in another Hilton next time I'm in Vienna.
 

Attachments

  • 20191220_131157.jpg
    20191220_131157.jpg
    98.8 KB · Views: 5
  • 20191220_164401.jpg
    20191220_164401.jpg
    144.1 KB · Views: 6
  • 20191220_164421.jpg
    20191220_164421.jpg
    178.7 KB · Views: 5
Property: Doubletree Northbridge Perth
Booked: Standard King
When: Mid-December 2019, 1 night
Rate: Around $130
Received: King Deluxe Executive Panoramic room 15th floor. (Corner suite - best room in house)
Status: Diamond
Benefits: Lounge access, breakfast in restaurant, two 400ml (ish) waters in room, warm cookie. Two small chocolates in a box plus welcome back note as the amenity. Able to use lounge and boardroom post-checkout, with no fee.

Sadly no pre-arrival texts and Alanya has left the hotel. But didn't matter as received a fabulous upgrade anyway. Sought as late as possible a checkout plus request to use lounge and the meeting room up until about 6pm (happy to pay). Was given free 5pm checkout and advised no fee for lounge boardroom at the time, one may be required upon check-out (but it wasn't).

Pretty consistent with previous stays which is good. Lounge and breakfast services just wound back a touch but servers are all friendly and generally look after me well.

Edit: couple of poor photos to show the extra space in this room:

IMG_2151.JPG
IMG_2152.JPG
 
Last edited:
Property: Hilton Frankfurt City Centre
Booked: King Deluxe Room
Received: King Executive Room

Good location short walking distance to main shopping area and Xmas markets.

Room felt like recently renovated but the highlight was the exec lounge. The setup is a bit strange, not in a dedicated room but in the hallway speed across two floors. Nevertheless it was comfortable and the evening spread was rich with delicious cold cuts, cheese and off course selection of German sausages.

Breakfast was also rich, more than the usual Hilton standard.

Overall good hotel, can’t fault it.

C3F2EE77-113A-494B-BF85-9C1F704424D8.jpeg

16BCC267-DBAA-4758-8DB8-08F0D88D0EF5.jpeg

Property: Garden Inn Frankfurt Airport
Booked: King Room
Received: King Room

Was tossing between Hilton and GI, both located next to each other connected to T1 and close to train station. Rooms look similar online so so main advantages of Hilton is exec lounge access, better breakfast and possible upgrade.

Since I arrived late and had early departure I’ve decided to try GI this time and was happy with the room. Considering the convenient location this hotel is good value for short overnight stays in FRA.

Best feature of the room was the view to Sheraton ;)

AA6B83A6-9272-42A8-8A37-8EA1D12ECF8B.jpeg
 
Property: Hilton Vienna Danube Waterfront
Rate: 93.30 Euro (less taxes etc)
Date: December (4 days)
Status: Diamond
Booked: King Guest Room
Received: King Executive Waterfront Room
Elite treatment: So-so upgrade, usual water and not much else.

Nice looking hotel located a 15.00 Euro Uber fare from the city.

Room service was incorrect twice, first time staff just flat out didn't include part of the order and the second time took over an hour to bring spaghetti and a salad at which point we called them and asked where the food was to be told that "They had tried to deliver but no-one was in the room" which was a lie as we had been in the room all night.

You know it's going to be bad when there is a traffic light system in the elevator which tells you when should go down for breakfast if you want a "pleasant and relaxing meal": Green is 6:30am - 7:30am, Yellow is 7:30am - 8:30am and red is 8:30am - 10:30am. I was there at 9:45am and they weren't joking, it was shambolic, kids covering the entire waffle machine in batter, touching food and trying to cut bread unsupervised (sub primary school age kids I might add!).

Hotel staff weren't even bothering to refill the depleted bays with hot food which wasn't all that appetizing anyway. And if you think you're going to have breakfast in the exec lounge instead? Think again, continental breakfast only and it's full of the same idiots from the executive lounge described below.

This brings me to the Executive Lounge, which is actually quite nice and offers a good view of the city (when empty). I have never seen worse behavior in any lounge, parents dragging children through the service area, letting them use a huge bread knife to try and cut their own bread, touching food displays, smashing a bottle of juice all over the floor while attempting to remove from a fridge full of glass bottles amidst about 20 other adults and kids who obviously don't understand the concept of lining up. Staff just stood by and allowed the chaos to continue, we actually left the lounge and I wish I had taken a photo of the carnage.

Seriously, family holidays are a nice thing but if you're going to take little kids somewhere, don't be an inconsiderate piece of **** and let them run wild.

Pictures are of the lounge during the day.

3/10, will stay in another Hilton next time I'm in Vienna.


I was in Hilton Vienna for 2 days towards end of December, renovations almost done. Managed to get a nice upgrade and breakfast for Diamond is massive.
 
Sponsored Post

Struggling to use your Frequent Flyer Points?

Frequent Flyer Concierge takes the hard work out of finding award availability and redeeming your frequent flyer or credit card points for flights.

Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, the Frequent Flyer Concierge team at Frequent Flyer Concierge will help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

Property: Hilton Vienna
Rate: Hilton BPG - 125-130 Euros per night (incl. taxes)
Status: Diamond
Booked: King Park View & King Corner Room (Two Rooms under 1 Account)
Received: One Bedroom Suite with Panoramic View (Both rooms)

Checked App two days before arrival to see both rooms had been upgraded. Hotel seems to be in full capacity, maybe thats why they were happy to upgrade both rooms. Even the second room got Lounge access, though evening spread is average. Highlight was also free full breakfast extended to second room. Buffett breakfast would have costed 30 Euros per person. Breakfast was massive with large spread.

Hotel renovations underway but seems like 80% completed. Didn't feel any disruption during our stay. No noise whatsoever.
 
Yesterday I booked Hilton ADL for end-Feb for 4 nights.
- Standard King Room
- Diamond

I checked my reservation this morning, and now it says King Executive. I've never had an upgrade process this early at any Hiltons before (it's usually 24-48 hours prior to arrival). Is this standard? Do I have a chance at a suite upgrade on check in?

Just found the timing of the upgrade strange, that's all ..

Has anyone else had this before?
 
Yesterday I booked Hilton ADL for end-Feb for 4 nights.
- Standard King Room
- Diamond

I checked my reservation this morning, and now it says King Executive. I've never had an upgrade process this early at any Hiltons before (it's usually 24-48 hours prior to arrival). Is this standard? Do I have a chance at a suite upgrade on check in?

Just found the timing of the upgrade strange, that's all ..

Has anyone else had this before?
I'm there now. Never checked to see if an upgrade is processed early but you will always get an exec room there as a diamond. I have been upgraded to a suite once and that was for a one night stay. The longer the stay the less likely. Best way is to politely ask at check in. I didn't bother. Now they have digital key I check in through the app and request my digital key and never have to go to the check in counter.

Pele.
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Property: Hilton Osaka
Rate: Flash sale + amex Cash back $434 per night
Status: Diamond
Booked: Twin executive suite 9 nights
Received: twin suite 6 nights, presidential suite 3 nights

Executive lounge level 3offered higher quality breakfast compared to level 2.

We were upgraded to the presidential suite after a security issue, the story is so freaky it could have from a japanese horror movie.

My friend(1M) and his wife(1F) left our room to go to family mart to buy some snacks (fried chicken and the boiled stuff) for everyone(total of 7 kids 6 adults) They returned to our room and stayed for roughly just over an hour. When it was time for everyone to leave 1M opened the door and saw this really pale Japanese lady wearing a long blue coat, long boots and a stick umbrella standing right infront of our door. She was close enough as though she was about to knock.
Since everyone was trying to get out of the room, he had to step aside as the woman wouldnt move. He was asking her if she was looking for someone and if we were too loud but she didnt respond so he called me out to ask if i knew this lady. At this point in time we had 4 adults and 5 kids in the hallway,i was by our room door, she had moved a little to the right so no longer directly infront of my door. I asked her if we were being too loud and she did not respond and her face had no expression, i looked at my friends like "WTF??" And everyone just left and i promptly closed the door.

This cough didn't sit right with me and we were chatting in our WhatsApp group and 1M and 1F had told me they were they saw her get out of the lift when they were going down to family mart. And when they came back up she was still in the lift area, they didn't see her follow them to our room but its quite obvious she did.

TThe prompted me to immediately call downstairs and i spoke to the duty manager, asked if there were any noise complaints.. she said there wasnt any. I asked her to check her security footage for outside our door between 9.55-10.05pm ( when my friends were leaving) and to tell me who it was.. after around an hour i get a call from her and she told me the timeline.
8.37pm strange lady(SL) enters front lobby and heads directly to the 31st floor. Cant tell where she is as they only have a camera facing the hallway and not the lift area on each floor
8.39pm 1M and 1F is seen leaving our room
8.42pm 1M and 1F is seen leaving front lobby
8.46pm SL is seen at front lobby doorway
8.49pm SL returns to lobby lift area
8.57pm 1M and 1F is seen entering front lobby
8.59pm 1M and 1F is seen at our door and you can just see the SL entering into camera view of the hallway
9.01pm SL is seen infront of our door, facing it and close to it.
She is standing in the same spot until our friends leave our room.
SL stands in hallway watching my friends go to lift area
SL then walks to lift area
SL is seen leaving front lobby
I forget the timeframe of when she leaves the hotel but this whole situation was freaky. I asked The duty manager to see the footage, denied to privacy reasons, but she said she can show me printouts asked if i wanted to go down or she can come to my room.. guess which i chose?

My friends all came to our floor to see the print outs.. freaky. I wanted to keep it all but she said i can't, negotiated and said I wantd to show the kids so they know what she looked like.
I requested to move rooms so that i was closer to my friends room which was the presidential suite. Moved the next day because my kids were finally asleep as it was around midnight by that time.
Room was great. Had a spa and sauna. Also the complimentary water was VOSS water!
 

Attachments

  • 20200109_101012.jpg
    20200109_101012.jpg
    109.9 KB · Views: 32
  • 20200108_163339.jpg
    20200108_163339.jpg
    133.2 KB · Views: 39
  • 20200110_112749.jpg
    20200110_112749.jpg
    85.1 KB · Views: 39
Property: Hilton LAX
<snip>
Is there another Hilton anywhere that requires drink purchases in the Exec Lounge?

Yes, honour bar or purchases in my experience at Santa Clara (California), Seattle, Toronto and Quebec city. No lounge at Anaheim or that I can remember/was given access to in downtown Manhattan/WTC.
 
Property: Hilton Osaka
Rate: Flash sale + amex Cash back $434 per night
Status: Diamond
Booked: Twin executive suite 9 nights
Received: twin suite 6 nights, presidential suite 3 nights

Executive lounge level 3offered higher quality breakfast compared to level 2.

We were upgraded to the presidential suite after a security issue, the story is so freaky it could have from a japanese horror movie.

My friend(1M) and his wife(1F) left our room to go to family mart to buy some snacks (fried chicken and the boiled stuff) for everyone(total of 7 kids 6 adults) They returned to our room and stayed for roughly just over an hour. When it was time for everyone to leave 1M opened the door and saw this really pale Japanese lady wearing a long blue coat, long boots and a stick umbrella standing right infront of our door. She was close enough as though she was about to knock.
Since everyone was trying to get out of the room, he had to step aside as the woman wouldnt move. He was asking her if she was looking for someone and if we were too loud but she didnt respond so he called me out to ask if i knew this lady. At this point in time we had 4 adults and 5 kids in the hallway,i was by our room door, she had moved a little to the right so no longer directly infront of my door. I asked her if we were being too loud and she did not respond and her face had no expression, i looked at my friends like "WTF??" And everyone just left and i promptly closed the door.

This **** didn't sit right with me and we were chatting in our WhatsApp group and 1M and 1F had told me they were they saw her get out of the lift when they were going down to family mart. And when they came back up she was still in the lift area, they didn't see her follow them to our room but its quite obvious she did.

TThe prompted me to immediately call downstairs and i spoke to the duty manager, asked if there were any noise complaints.. she said there wasnt any. I asked her to check her security footage for outside our door between 9.55-10.05pm ( when my friends were leaving) and to tell me who it was.. after around an hour i get a call from her and she told me the timeline.
8.37pm strange lady(SL) enters front lobby and heads directly to the 31st floor. Cant tell where she is as they only have a camera facing the hallway and not the lift area on each floor
8.39pm 1M and 1F is seen leaving our room
8.42pm 1M and 1F is seen leaving front lobby
8.46pm SL is seen at front lobby doorway
8.49pm SL returns to lobby lift area
8.57pm 1M and 1F is seen entering front lobby
8.59pm 1M and 1F is seen at our door and you can just see the SL entering into camera view of the hallway
9.01pm SL is seen infront of our door, facing it and close to it.
She is standing in the same spot until our friends leave our room.
SL stands in hallway watching my friends go to lift area
SL then walks to lift area
SL is seen leaving front lobby
I forget the timeframe of when she leaves the hotel but this whole situation was freaky. I asked The duty manager to see the footage, denied to privacy reasons, but she said she can show me printouts asked if i wanted to go down or she can come to my room.. guess which i chose?

My friends all came to our floor to see the print outs.. freaky. I wanted to keep it all but she said i can't, negotiated and said I wantd to show the kids so they know what she looked like.
I requested to move rooms so that i was closer to my friends room which was the presidential suite. Moved the next day because my kids were finally asleep as it was around midnight by that time.
Room was great. Had a spa and sauna. Also the complimentary water was VOSS water!
[mod hat]
A new thread has been started to continue discussion regarding @foggy's experience:


[/mod hat]
 
Property: Conrad Macau Cotai Strip
Rate: 1714.65 MOP | 126,000 HH Points
Date: December (2 days)
Status: Diamond
Booked: King Deluxe | King Deluxe Eiffel Tower View
Received: King Deluxe Suite

Stayed during the Christmas period and was worried about not receiving a suite upgrade as there was nothing reflecting on the Hilton app. Was informed during check-in about the upgrade which was warmly received.
 
Property: Conrad Centennial Singapore
Date: January 2020 -- 2 nights
Status: Diamond
Booked: Base room
Received: Centennial Suite 27th floor.
Benefits: Several waters, bowl of fruit, chocolates, newspapers, turn down service, full breakfast in Oscars (all standard), plus a bottle of red wine and plate of layer cake (in recognition of milestone stay). Plus a lovely hand-written note from Michelle, followed up with a genuinely warm greeting when we met

Arrived around midnight - online check-in showed upgrade to Exec room but only 3 choices so left it. When handed room key saw 2701 so knew I’d received an even better upgrade. As I didn’t do online check-in my passport was required. Was advised that a pre-authorisation payment would be taken.

No concern with accessing level 31 lounge. Was well ‘policed’. All day drinks still available but only beer and wine. Sparkling still available for breakfast. Spirits and sparkling 6 to 8pm. Only one night but I felt the evening service was a fraction poorer - eg seafood salad bowl was not replenished. Better variety though, including hot items.

Oscars crowded for breakfast as usual but staff great and many recognised me from previous stays and were wonderful. Same for some of the Exec lounge team.

Spa the Refinery amenity delivered on request. Good stay. Back again soon.

3D1B41EA-1A57-4DE9-8C13-A88C96EA4BD8.jpeg
 
Property: Conrad Centennial Singapore
Date: January 2020 -- 2 nights
Status: Diamond
Booked: Base room
Received: Centennial Suite 27th floor.
Benefits: Several waters, bowl of fruit, chocolates, newspapers, turn down service, full breakfast in Oscars (all standard), plus a bottle of red wine and plate of layer cake (in recognition of milestone stay). Plus a lovely hand-written note from Michelle, followed up with a genuinely warm greeting when we met

Arrived around midnight - online check-in showed upgrade to Exec room but only 3 choices so left it. When handed room key saw 2701 so knew I’d received an even better upgrade. As I didn’t do online check-in my passport was required. Was advised that a pre-authorisation payment would be taken.

No concern with accessing level 31 lounge. Was well ‘policed’. All day drinks still available but only beer and wine. Sparkling still available for breakfast. Spirits and sparkling 6 to 8pm. Only one night but I felt the evening service was a fraction poorer - eg seafood salad bowl was not replenished. Better variety though, including hot items.

Oscars crowded for breakfast as usual but staff great and many recognised me from previous stays and were wonderful. Same for some of the Exec lounge team.

Spa the Refinery amenity delivered on request. Good stay. Back again soon.

View attachment 204335
What was the milestone???
 
Property: 100 Queen's Gate Hotel London, Curio Collection by Hilton
Rate: Hilton Sale
Date: January 2020
Status: Diamond
Booked: Mews Superior Queen
Received: Initially as booked... complicated but eventual upgrade

This is a beautiful property located in the lovely South Kensington area of London and only a few minutes walk from an underground station. There was no pre arrival upgrade when checking in using the app the night before. Received a thank you for being a diamond member upon arrival at the hotel, although, this is where the diamond recognition effectively ended as there was no proactive offer for an upgrade or any information provided on diamond benefits for the property. Asked the possibility of an upgrade to a larger room and was given a supposedly ‘deluxe’ room. This upgraded room was quite nice but very very small and didn’t seem any bigger than my originally selected room. It also felt somewhat claustrophobic for two of us being on the top floor with a low ceiling. There were also a few maintenance issues with the bathroom but to be fair these were attended to when reception was notified. Next morning I spoke again with reception about the room not being any larger than my original room and whether there was anything else available. This is where they started to redeem themselves by providing an actual room upgrade to a ‘luxury’ king room which really was an upgrade and resulted in a lovely stay for the remaining nights. It’s a pity they didn’t proactively upgrade nor explain any other diamond benefits (maybe there are none). Breakfast was included thankfully being diamond and was of reasonably good quality.

Edit. I should add that the staff were polite/professional at all times and that a morning checkin was allowed and much appreciated (maybe that counts as a diamond benefit).
 
Last edited:
Property: Hilton Sydney
Date: 24/01/2020 for two nights
Status: Gold
Booked: King guest room (Amex Hotel Collection, AUD219/nt flexible rack rate with USD100 hotel credit and space-available upgrade)
Received: King deluxe guest room (one- or maybe two-category upgrade)

Overall this was pretty good. The room was an upgrade but not hugely so, but the rooms in general are comfortable and nicely finished here. I was going to arrive late evening, so I reached out through the Message Hotel feature within the booking in the Hilton app. Response was very quick (minutes).

The Hotel Collection USD100 was converted to AUD155 (pretty generous), an amount of which I was advised on check-in.The Amex Hotel Collection page for this hotel, and the manager on check-in, confirmed that I could apply it to spa charges, and I availed of a massage in the in-house Alysium spa, where I had had a fantastic massage on a previous stay. The massage again was good, but the agent on check-out didn't believe the Hotel Collection credit could apply to it. I wasn't really in a position to charge more food and beverage to the room, so I was gonna take the folio and reach out to Amex but then she said her manager had authorised a one-off exception.

Staff were uniformly polite and accommodating. Would stay here again, but maybe plan to dine or drink in-house in order to get value from the Hotel Collection credit.

I also got an unexpectedly huge number of Honors points in my account by the next morning. It ended up being base plus 80% Gold bonus (expected) plus 2000 points for Points Unlimited promo (about which I'd forgotten) plus another 5000 points for some infrequent-stayer incentive I didn't know was still running.
 
I also got an unexpectedly huge number of Honors points in my account by the next morning. It ended up being base plus 80% Gold bonus (expected) plus 2000 points for Points Unlimited promo (about which I'd forgotten) plus another 5000 points for some infrequent-stayer incentive I didn't know was still running.

Nice, I thought that Hotel Collection is not eligible to earn hotel loyalty points?
 
Nice, I thought that Hotel Collection is not eligible to earn hotel loyalty points?
I had thought I would, since it's a rack rate paid direct to the hotel and my FHR bookings have earned points, but then I read something at PointHacks that suggested that I wouldn't (specifically, different from FHR). And that bummed me out, because part of the point of booking this at the Hilton was to refresh the expiry on my large existing point balance.

But I did get points, so: no complaints!

Also: I had activated the recent Hilton Amex Offer and spent over $400, so I expect to get the $80 cashback too. (And the preauth when I checked-in, generated the Amex Offer email, so it looks promising.)
 

Enhance your AFF viewing experience!!

From just $6 we'll remove all advertisements so that you can enjoy a cleaner and uninterupted viewing experience.

And you'll be supporting us so that we can continue to provide this valuable resource :)


Sample AFF with no advertisements? More..
Back
Top