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: Singapore Hilton Orchard
Room booked: King Premium Room
Room received: One Bedroom Suite
Satus: Diamond
Rate: $360 SGD/night - Semi flexible rate (3 day cancellation)

We received an Exec Room upgrade via the automatic upgrade 72 hours out. The lounge manager reached out over the app message system and then whatsapp. To ask if there was anything they could do for us.

I mentioned it was our 10th wedding anniversary as part of this trip and he proactively offered us a Corner Suite 2 days out then we received another upgrade to a One Bedroom Suite on the day of (visible in the app).

We also received a nice congratulations chocolate cake.

Only Prosecco and bottom shelf spirits in the lounge but the reds were of decent quality. Beer was Carlseberg. Service was ecellent and food was reasonable enought to have a light dinner if you wanted to.

We had breakfast in Estate the first morning which had a wide selection but eneded up in the lounge for the others as it had enough for us and was much less crowded, highligts were the service peace and the custom omlette station.
 
Hotel: Hilton Perth
Booked: King Room
Received: King Deluxe
Status: Diamond
Comments: Early checkin, very large room and some nice pastries on arrival. Overall great stay.

Hotel: Hilton Queenstown
Booked: King Deluxe with Lake Views
Received: King Deluxe with Lake Views
Status: Diamond
Comments: Enough said already, come here for the location and views but don't expect anything else. We were given drink vouchers instead of the daily house keeping which we used for coffee in the morning. Of course the coffees still showed up on the bill when checking out. No argument when I asked for the charges to be removed but it fits with the overall experience.

Hotel: Doubletree Christchurch
Booked: King Room
Received: 1 Bedroom Suite
Status: Diamond
Comments: Showing the Hilton Queenstown how it's done. Wine and a cheese / fruit platter on arrival, card from the GM and an upgrade to the highest category. Had dinner in the restaurant which was decent, staff were friendly and nice small touches such as water for the windscreen at the exit to the car park (it was freezing).
 
Hotel: Hilton Perth
Booked: King Room
Received: King Deluxe
Status: Diamond
Comments: Early checkin, very large room and some nice pastries on arrival. Overall great stay.

Hotel: Hilton Queenstown
Booked: King Deluxe with Lake Views
Received: King Deluxe with Lake Views
Status: Diamond
Comments: Enough said already, come here for the location and views but don't expect anything else. We were given drink vouchers instead of the daily house keeping which we used for coffee in the morning. Of course the coffees still showed up on the bill when checking out. No argument when I asked for the charges to be removed but it fits with the overall experience.

Hotel: Doubletree Christchurch
Booked: King Room
Received: 1 Bedroom Suite
Status: Diamond
Comments: Showing the Hilton Queenstown how it's done. Wine and a cheese / fruit platter on arrival, card from the GM and an upgrade to the highest category. Had dinner in the restaurant which was decent, staff were friendly and nice small touches such as water for the windscreen at the exit to the car park (it was freezing).
I always liked the Doubletree CHC and remember some really nice stays there.

Totally agree with you- The Hilton Queenstown can learn a lesson or two (or a dozen) from there.

As a tip: The Doubletree in Wellington is also excellent- probably my favourite property in all of NZ out of Auckland.
 
I always liked the Doubletree CHC and remember some really nice stays there.

Totally agree with you- The Hilton Queenstown can learn a lesson or two (or a dozen) from there.

As a tip: The Doubletree in Wellington is also excellent- probably my favourite property in all of NZ out of Auckland.


Yes, a bit of a shame. I get that everyone is short of staff right now but we spoke to a few employees at the DT and some of them were in their first week. Still, you got the feeling they actually cared and were properly trained. Definitely punches above its weight.

Hoping to make it to Wellington in the next couple of months!
 
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Now back from my Europe trip via SIN, I'll add my bits to this thread.

Property: Conrad Singapore
Nights: 2
Status: Diamond
Room booked: deluxe king
Room received: executive king
Rate: 60,000 points per night
Date: mid July

Upgrade came through in app about 72 hours out. No chance of a suite upgrade - no availability showing in app. Excellent full buffet at Oscar's. Have noticed that they got rid of that aging dress code sign at the entrance. Yay! In the room, got a pack of dried fruit and some velvet cookies. Good stay overall.

Property: Alexandra Barcelona Hotel, Curio Collection
Nights: 3
Status: Diamond
Room booked: king superior
Room received: king superior
Rate: EUR 596 total
Date: late July

Arrived at close to midnight. First time I didn't get a diamond member recognition. Lol, not that it really mattered. Again no chance of upgrade as hotel was booked out. Turns out there were some cruise passengers staying there. No extra diamond in room amenities. Nice small bottle bathroom amenities unlike the dispenser types which most hotels are now using that I hate. Room was small, but had a balcony and comfortable. Only two complaints were that the room didn't have individually temperature controlled air con and my room was too close to the housekeeping storage room, so each morning there was constant loud closing of the door. Location wise, it's excellent. Within 100 metres walk and you'll be in the centre of good restaurants and shopping. Full buffet breakfast at restaurant. Not a huge selection but ok.

Four more coming soon - Canopy by Hilton Paris Trocadero, Conrad London, Hilton Munich and the shocker, Canopy by Hilton London City.
 
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Nice small bottle bathroom amenities unlike the dispenser types which most hotels are now using that I hate.
What do you mean- you don't like felling like staying in a cheap roadside hotel when paying Eure 500+ per night? Just think of all the polar bears you could save by having these lovely wall dispensers!

I hate them too, with a passion. And quite like with those silly re-usable supermarket bags that clog my boot: I used to snitch a few of those small bottles and that then sorted my shower needs for weeks, as I re-used those bags as rubbish bin liners. Nowadays, I have two products that I need to buy, usually nicely packed in lots or plastic: shampoo, conditioner and bin liners. It all makes lots of sense!

Luckily, Hilton often still uses proper amenities. Not so Hyatt- even in the their high end properties you end up with those Motel dispensers (and they run out after day 3 or the nozzle stops working or...). To save the planet (and a nice sum of $$$, no doubt), needless to say :rolleyes:
 
I don't mind too much about individual bottles vs the larger dispensers, though with nice products I did like to take some home as well. Conrad SG and HK were always great for this as you could call housekeeping and get 3 or 4 different great products to choose from and take with!
 
I don't mind too much about individual bottles vs the larger dispensers, though with nice products I did like to take some home as well. Conrad SG and HK were always great for this as you could call housekeeping and get 3 or 4 different great products to choose from and take with!
Doesn't Conrad SG do the individual bottles anymore ? Like you, i enjoyed collecting all the different bottles.
 
All pre-COVID but most Conrads I’ve stayed with have been pretty good at providing me my preferred amenity kits (usually Refinery) on request. May no longer be a thing but no harm in asking.
 
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Here's the shocker. Long post ahead!

Property: Canopy by Hilton London City
Nights: 3
Status: Diamond
Room booked: queen
Room received: king premium
Rate: GBP 692 total
Date: late July

So this is one of those times where nearly everything will go wrong. As I've booked a semi flexible rate, I kept updating the rate as it got cheaper and everywhere settled on the above rate. A couple of days before arrival, I saw that in the app, my room type has changed as well as the rate. It became 950 something. I thought something was up, and so I googled. Turns out it's an error caused by lack of staff training in processing upgrades.

On the day of arrival, I messaged the hotel asking what time did room service finish because we would be arriving late. They said no hot food after 10.30pm.

So we arrived at 10pm. At check in, there's diamond recognition, but that's the end of it. Didn't tell me where to have breakfast and the time. I confirmed with the agent about the room service time. On signing the registration form, I queried the 900 rate printed there and I said that's not correct. She then reviewed the booking history and saw the lower rate. Got her manager involved and in their conversation, she kind of admitted that she changed the rate when processing the upgrade. They typed away for a while and assured me that it's fixed. Immediately I saw a charge on my card for the lower amount.

Got to the room, saw a menu with a few items on a single sheet of paper. Made my selection and called to order. Call went to front desk which then transferred me to the bar or restaurant, at which time I was told that menu was for the restaurant and not room service. Told to look at the menu on the TV. Turned on the TV and didn't see any room service menus. Couldn't be that hard to find right?

Called front desk again, initially she tried to say that hot food was finished and then later said there's a technical issue and the menu wasn't available on the TV. The agent actually told my partner to go downstairs to get the menu. What the? At that time it's already 10.20pm. Got downstairs, the agent had to look for another couple of minutes before she could locate and print it. And then we had to walk over to the bar to order. If they knew the menu wasn't available on the TV, they should have given me the menu when I asked about it initially at check in. Talk about first impressions!

The redeeming features of this stay were the room and the hotel being close to the tube station. It's still quite new and comfortable. Room service was pretty average though. One day it's missing a glass, another day was having the bathroom amenities randomly dumped on the tray and not neatly arranged. One of the bathrobes was missing the tie and those robes kept pilling, so there were bits of cotton everywhere.

On checkout day, we had to leave very early to catch Eurostar. At the front desk, was told there's a balance remaining. Wtf??? I told this agent about the mistake that was made and that it should have been fixed. I even showed her the credit transaction that was actually processed and no longer pending. She printed out the transaction history and it turned out that at check in, they did process the right amount to my card but the higher room rate was still there on the debit side! I was getting anxious and eventually the manager was involved who could see the booking history of the lower rate and he said he would fix it and we could go. The email receipt showed the right amount.

And the evening prior to check out, we asked to get a taxi as we were putting some luggage to a friend's place. Apparently the computer to order the taxi is like 20 metres away from the main desk and the guy had to walk back and forth to check on the status, and without providing any updates to us. Ended up waiting for 20 to 30 mins for a taxi. This hotel doesn't have a driveway, so there's no easy place for cars to stop.

And to top it off, one evening when we came back to the hotel, ppl were standing around the lifts. Apparently the fire alarm had gone off and the lifts had gone into fireman mode and needed to be reset. The staff there basically just walked between the lifts and the front desk with some walkie-talkies trying to work out why the lifts weren't back to normal mode. Would have preferred if one member of staff remained there to reassure the guests that things were OK.

Breakfast was full buffet. Diamond members can order an omelette. No complaints here.

Overall, this place suffers from a lack of staff training and I would not recommend staying there until things improve dramatically.
 
Ah, almost forgot where I was up to. Next up:

Property: Canopy by Hilton Paris Trocadero
Nights: 1
Status: Diamond
Room booked: king and king
Room received: king premium and king premium
Rate: EUR 263 per room
Date: late July

What a welcome change to the other Canopy by Hilton London City.

Days before check in, an upgrade has come through for my room, but nothing for the other room, then surprise at check in, they've upgraded the other room to the premium room too. While it's not too dissimilar to the normal king room, it's still a bit better. At check in, it was smiles all around, even the very young guy standing right in front of the luggage storage door was cheerful and proactive.

It's full buffet breakfast, with a small menu of items to be made by the kitchen, such as eggs and smoked salmon. Was delicious. It was mentioned at check in that the 3rd guest in the second room would get the breakfast too. Was ready to pay for it if necessary.

Room wise, seems the layouts are different between rooms. Mine had a separate toilet and walk in shower, and the other room had shower over bath. The description in the app says Apivita bath amenities, evening tasting and local extras. No idea what they are about as I didn't see them nor were they mentioned. Bath amenities were Aromatherapy Associates just like the London one. Wonder if they were the leftovers from Conrad since they switched to the bulk size lol. Room was newish and mattress was comfortable. I picked the room closest to the street and could see the Eiffel Tower when I stuck my head out on the balcony. Didn't have to pay for a higher class room for that view!

Location wise, about 20 to 25 minutes leisurely stroll to the Eiffel Tower. Metro station less than 5 mins away. Cafes were also less than 5 mins away but the one we went to, Cafe Trocadero, was average in my opinion.

Definitely a good hotel to stay in.
 

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Property: Hilton Millenium Bangkok
Nights: 3
Status: Diamond
Room booked: King Deluxe
Room received: KIng Executive River View
Rate: A$110 per night
Date: mid-July

Nice spot on the river next door to IconSiam. Buzziest hotel lobby I've seen in a while. Decent rooms, a typical Asia-Pacific Hilton. Okay executive lounge. Breakfast downstairs is outstanding. I made the inadvertent error of landing in BKK on one of their occasional alcohol-free days (so a dry lounge that evening) but A$3 Singhas/Heinekeins in the mini-bar win hugely impressed me.

Property: Doubletree Sukhumvit Bangkok
Nights: 5
Status: Diamond
Room booked: King Deluxe
Room received: King Executive
Rate: Circa A$85 per night
Date: late-July

It's a Doubletree - so solid rooms, good beds, and nice bathrooms but it's a little light on stroking the Diamonds. Got a couple of drink vouchers at check-in. Unfortunately, I also got food poisoning from some watermelon on the hotel buffet one morning. Phrom Phong BTS is a 5-minute walk away as is the Emporium shopping complex.

Property: Hilton Da Nang
Nights: 3
Status: Diamond
Room booked: King Executive
Room received: King One Bedroom Suite River View
Rate: Circa A$200 per night
Date: mid-August

Last-minute booking saw an above-average rate paid for a Da Nang hotel room but I landed a nice suite upgrade so no problems there. Great room, nice view. Good lounge up on level 27, solid breakfast down on level 2. A Garden Inn is about to open in Da Nang across the road from the beach (the Hilton is five minutes drive inland (or about two bucks in a Grab)) and all rooms feature verandahs. Going forward, the GI would be a better option location-wise than the Hilton and I'll probably give it a spin next year.

Property: Doubletree Al Sadd Doha
Nights: 1
Status: Diamond
Room booked: King Guest
Room received: King Deluxe
Rate: Circa A$103 per night
Date: mid-August

A ten-hour pitstop in Doha and the Doubletree, return Ubers, and mandatory PCR test was still substantially cheaper than 10 hours in the DOH Sleep & Go (the Oryx was booked out) and I couldn't face ten hours overnight in the AM lounge. Unremarkable hotel, but a good bed, hot showers, and a takeout breakfast at was waiting at reception at 06:00 the next morning when heading back to the airport, so no complaints.
 
Next one:

Property: Conrad London St James
Nights: 5
Status: Diamond
Room booked: King superior
Room received: King deluxe
Rate: 320K points total
Date: late July/early August

It's got the Conrad charm but it looks a little dated. Checked in late at night with only one person at the desk. After experiencing the warm French hospitality the night before, it's back to the average London attitude. Tried to get my credit card for a pre-auth. Told her the machine wasn't ready as the display was showing the provider logo but she wasn't having a bar of it. She insisted that I insert the card but it didn't do anything so she gave up after a few tries. Sigh...

On the first night, I managed to convince myself the hotel was haunted. There was a woman in the same lift as us. She kind of waltzed out at her floor but my partner didn't remember seeing her when I asked him about it after we've come back. As the lift was going up, suddenly another floor button lit up and the door opened with no one there! On subsequent days, another lift had another button lit up permanently but door didn't open. So it's probably a lift problem after all.

Room wise, shower pressure was excellent and room/bed was comfortable. Had a box of pralines on the table when we first got into the room. There was no mini bar menu so I thought I'd ask the next morning. Turned out the mini bar was complimentary and got replenished everyday! Well no one told me. But there's no alcohol. Only juice, Coke, lemonade and some waters.

It was full buffet breakfast but didn't see any cooked to order items. Had to wait 10 mins for a table as it was full. Think there was a tour or cruise group. And they ran out of plates and glasses. Not a good first breakfast. Quality was only average.

On checkout on a very early morning, we got some better service. As we were lugging our luggage from the lift to the lobby, the concierge must have heard the sound of luggage wheels and rushed to come and assist. That deserved a tip!

I would probably stay there again due to the upmarket location and it's only a 20-30 min walk to the main shopping strips around Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus.

Lastly, a few days prior to my stay, got an email from front desk asking about estimated time of arrival, any special occasion, etc. I asked about Monty, their soft toy, and they said they would get me one. Didn't see it in the room on the first night, so I messaged them on the app and I got it on the second day.
 
I'm about to embark on my first ever mattress run in the next month or so before the rates go up in Oct/Nov/Dec... booked 12 stays between DT and Hilton in MEL... Have not stayed in either as MEL is my hometown. See what I get!
 
Property: Hilton Sydney
Nights: 2
Status: Diamond
Room booked: Standard (I think they're called "Deluxe") King
Room received: Nice upgrade to a City Suite
Rate: 289.- a night

This was just a quick "holiday in our own city" as we still had to burn those two NSW stay vouchers. Having "lived" here at the Hilton for almost a month during our return from NZ, it was nice to be back and we still like this property a lot.

The day before our stay, the Hilton app told us about what great upgrade to one tiny category higher we got and quite aggressively tried to push a paid upgrade to better rooms on the app. Not sure if that's now a standard at Hilton as I had never seen it before but I didn't like it. Needless to say, we waited with the app check in until the next day and voila, the hotel then came with the goods and we've received a nice pro-active upgrade to a proper suite. Super nice room, coming of age a bit like the entire hotel but nothing to complain about. Huge bubble bath which we solidly enjoyed with a bottle of champers one night, nice rain shower head too (which you don't get in the standard rooms here in this hotel).

Housekeeping was a bit shambles on the second day as it took five phone calls and over three hours to finally get someone to clean up our room. I had an important work meeting (online) to attend at 2:30 and therefore started calling housekeeping around 10am to ensure we get that room done beforehand. In the end, after endless back and forth, the lovely lady came stomping in right in the middle of that meeting but at least she was super apologetic. Not her fault, I am sure, rather some lack of coordination/ efficiency with the housekeeping department. On the plus side, after our bubble bath and a little nap in the late afternoon, we asked for evening service through the Hilton app and received an awesome full on second service as a turndown which was impressive and certainly no expected to such an extent.

Other than that, breakfast at Glass was nice and free- we felt the hotel was certainly not at capacity. Likewise, the evening canapés and drinks at the exec lounge have been a rather subdued affair compared to the zoo this place often used to be prior to Covid. However, quality and extend of the offerings have also significantly come down and on our second night we didn't even bother to go. Finally, I was trying to get a bit of a later checkout on the Saturday and was told that 12:30 is the latest which is of course utter nonsense as it's pretty much just standard check out. I know, we got the upgrade so it's hard to argue but given how slack housekeeping was the day before, I bet no one attended our room any time before 3ish at the earliest so it felt a bit nasty to not let us stay a little longer. It's also THE biggest downer of the Hilton program compared to Hyatt where you almost always get a pro-active offer for 4pm check out as a Globalist (and never have this equally annoying coffee tax at breakfast either).
 
Property: Doubletree Sukhumvit Bangkok
Nights: 5
Status: Diamond
Room booked: King Deluxe
Room received: King Executive
Rate: Circa A$85 per night
Date: late-July

It's a Doubletree - so solid rooms, good beds, and nice bathrooms but it's a little light on stroking the Diamonds. Got a couple of drink vouchers at check-in. Unfortunately, I also got food poisoning from some watermelon on the hotel buffet one morning. Phrom Phong BTS is a 5-minute walk away as is the Emporium shopping complex.
The buffet breakfast is no longer relocated to the adjacent HH property (it was earlier this year)?

Sorry about the food poisoning.
 
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And the last Hilton for my Europe trip:

Property: Hilton Munich
Nights: 1
Status: Diamond
Room booked: King guest room
Room received: King executive (quieter apparently as they face the garden)
Rate: 154 EUR
Date: early Aug

Very warm welcome from the front desk as we checked in. Explained all the usual Diamond benefits, though there weren't any special amenities in room.

The rooms are a bit dated, but comfortable.

Had buffet breakfast downstairs at the restaurant about 30 mins before closing time. The manager was welcoming, but inside was quite chaotic. People lining up at the egg station were blocking others from reaching the hot food. Breakfast was average, nothing special.
 
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