D
Deleted member 29185
Guest
Below is an edited letter I sent to HSP which may be useful to AFFers thinking of this hotel. In short, I've found HSP to run hot and cold and do recommend it for a stay but only on the proviso that it is understood your expectations may or may not be met.
This is feedback for Hilton Surfers Paradise to assist with areas that do need improvement and not a complaint as such and relates to this and previous stays of ours at this hotel. With that in mind, please take these comments as constructive feedback rather than simple whinging.
We have now stayed at HSP residences a number of times in different rooms and have had the opportunity to experience some great Hilton service ......and some pretty bloody ordinary service, to be honest.
I understand that HSP was a "rescued" site to begin with and not all Hilton at initial design stage, so some compromises on the "hard" product had to be made. That said, the ambience of HSP leaves a great deal to be desired. The foyer is just awful and the tunnel that links the towers is akin to a railway underpass. The lack of a porte-cochere makes for a poor first impression and the hard timber and minimalistic furnishings of the Food Store and residences is equally unappealing. With a little bit of design thought, these shortfalls could have been overcome with a Hilton Sydney style drive through for the porte-cochere incorporated in the High Street. The High Street could easily be a combined use thoroughfare with perhaps the Food Store (which is a great idea by the way) fronting The High Street where the jeweler currently is and a foyer/lobby of classy décor behind. This could leave the area currently used by the Food Store to be seating (as we expect in a quality lobby) with plenty of room for various exhibitions (like Hilton South Wharf did with the art exhibition "The Hidden Faces of the Archibald")........a foyer to be proud of, rather than the concrete, unappealing cave that it currently is! Generally speaking, those important first impressions at HSP is "YUCK" (for me at least).
I realise that cannot be easily changed, but now on to the soft product. This can be attended to.......easily. First of all, when telephoning HSP, the phone has never answered for me without automatically being placed on "music on hold". This is not an occasional experience......it's EVERY time I've phoned. That's very poor form which reeks of budget accommodation with too few staff to deal with customers. Disturbingly, this also happens with the Magic button and at times, I've had to hang up because I'd been on hold for far too long. As mentioned previously, the timber dining seating in the residences is uncomfortable and ugly and the lack of wall dressings (art etc) makes the stay feel very sterile rather than warm, easy and enjoyable. At one stay (June 2012), our windows were so filthy that we struggled to see out. In a hotel were the view is highly regarded, clean windows are a must. I went to phone Magic to get them cleaned and the phones (neither) worked in the room. I had to use my mobile to phone the landline (wait forever on hold) before being able to request clean windows and workable phones. Those requests were remade three times before we finally got someone to look at the phones and he fixed one but not the other. The whole stay, we had only one phone (the other one might still not work for all I know) and the windows were never cleaned despite them being safely accessible from the balcony (please see photos attached). I understand there may be demarcation issues for the cleaning staff, but for a hotel the size of HSP that offers stunning views as part of the experience, a window cleaner would be imperative. That same stay (June) also saw us needing to complain multiple times about linen and RUBBISH being left in front of the elevators on our floor. Despite the complaints, this was not attended to. Toiletries seem to be on the scabby side at HSP. We do not seem to get bath salt tablets and cotton bud packs as we do at other Hiltons and the executive lounge, although offering great views, offers a very boring canapé selection. We have experienced just a cheeseboard, sopu and a Mediterranean choice only. Occasionally we've had the rice and chicken dish but there is basically no alternates. Other Hiltons offer alternating canapés like sandwich fingers and fried morsels like baby octopus, calamari, spiced lamb balls etc. At our stay just gone (Nov.2012), no choice of red wine was on offer at all and at our previous stay (June 2012) we went to the executive lounge for afternoon tea only to find nothing on offer except leftovers from breakfast (at 4.30 in the afternoon.....yuck). When asked, the lady simply said as no one was there, they hadn't had the cake sent up.........but then suggested if we wait, she'll have it brought up for happy hour......at 6.00pm! What kind of logic is that?? No wonder no one goes, but it did disappoint us. Are we "no one"? On our last stay (Nov.2012), at check in, I stood in the HHonors priority queue (the only one in the HHonors queue). Two reception ladies were attending to another guest and three others and a gentleman in a suit (manager?) simply continued to natter away between themselves behind the reception counter. Perhaps training was happening or something, but I felt I was simply being ignored. Even a simple acknowledgement that I wasn't totally invisible would have been nice! Compounding this was a long wait for elevators which seem to be used more for cleaner excursions between floors than for the guests comfort (a number of times we've been shoved to the back of the elevator so the cleaning trolley or those black tubs-on-wheels can fit in. I understand there are insufficient elevators, but surely there must be a workable solution (perhaps one elevator locked off for cleaners use only, leaving the rest for guests).
In being honest here, I have to say that the Gold Coast (I'm a Gold Coast resident BTW) has a reputation of being a bogan destination. Of all the Hiltons on the Australian eastern seaboard, HSP seems to be the one living up to that reputation. Everything seems to be done "on the cheap" or "close enough is good enough". That kind of mentality is not what we expect from a Hilton property labeled as a Category 7 hotel. Please don't misunderstand me, we've had some truly excellent service (especially from name deleted, who we cannot praise enough), but that wonderful level of service is the exception rather than the norm with HSP from our experience. We love the fact Hilton has come to the Gold Coast (as we no longer have Conrad) and as we are currently renovating our home, our short break Hilton stays (of which we have many booked) are very important to us remaining "sane" during the renos. It's very disappointing when we arrive and find things less than expected and less than we experience at other Hilton hotels. Important little things, like an in-house multi-movie deal as offered by most other Australian Hiltons and the lacking toiletries are noticed. Hopefully Hilton Surfers Paradise can haul itself out of the bogan mode and actually set itself to the same standard we like to expect from the Hilton group.
We have previously had discussions with (name deleted) about booking the sub-penthouse, but again being honest with you here, the rate is not commensurate with the sub-par level of professionalism we regularly experience at HSP. Perhaps more staff like (name deleted) and less staff recruitment from backpacker hostels may be in order.
I hope I haven't been out of order in offering you this critique and you take it in the spirit it is intended.
Hilton windows salt encrustation wrecking the view. Requested for them to be cleaned three times. They weren’t cleaned at all during our two day stay despite them being readily and safely accessible from the balcony.
Rubbish in foyers. This happened daily and remained all day despite requests to remove it.
This is feedback for Hilton Surfers Paradise to assist with areas that do need improvement and not a complaint as such and relates to this and previous stays of ours at this hotel. With that in mind, please take these comments as constructive feedback rather than simple whinging.
We have now stayed at HSP residences a number of times in different rooms and have had the opportunity to experience some great Hilton service ......and some pretty bloody ordinary service, to be honest.
I understand that HSP was a "rescued" site to begin with and not all Hilton at initial design stage, so some compromises on the "hard" product had to be made. That said, the ambience of HSP leaves a great deal to be desired. The foyer is just awful and the tunnel that links the towers is akin to a railway underpass. The lack of a porte-cochere makes for a poor first impression and the hard timber and minimalistic furnishings of the Food Store and residences is equally unappealing. With a little bit of design thought, these shortfalls could have been overcome with a Hilton Sydney style drive through for the porte-cochere incorporated in the High Street. The High Street could easily be a combined use thoroughfare with perhaps the Food Store (which is a great idea by the way) fronting The High Street where the jeweler currently is and a foyer/lobby of classy décor behind. This could leave the area currently used by the Food Store to be seating (as we expect in a quality lobby) with plenty of room for various exhibitions (like Hilton South Wharf did with the art exhibition "The Hidden Faces of the Archibald")........a foyer to be proud of, rather than the concrete, unappealing cave that it currently is! Generally speaking, those important first impressions at HSP is "YUCK" (for me at least).
I realise that cannot be easily changed, but now on to the soft product. This can be attended to.......easily. First of all, when telephoning HSP, the phone has never answered for me without automatically being placed on "music on hold". This is not an occasional experience......it's EVERY time I've phoned. That's very poor form which reeks of budget accommodation with too few staff to deal with customers. Disturbingly, this also happens with the Magic button and at times, I've had to hang up because I'd been on hold for far too long. As mentioned previously, the timber dining seating in the residences is uncomfortable and ugly and the lack of wall dressings (art etc) makes the stay feel very sterile rather than warm, easy and enjoyable. At one stay (June 2012), our windows were so filthy that we struggled to see out. In a hotel were the view is highly regarded, clean windows are a must. I went to phone Magic to get them cleaned and the phones (neither) worked in the room. I had to use my mobile to phone the landline (wait forever on hold) before being able to request clean windows and workable phones. Those requests were remade three times before we finally got someone to look at the phones and he fixed one but not the other. The whole stay, we had only one phone (the other one might still not work for all I know) and the windows were never cleaned despite them being safely accessible from the balcony (please see photos attached). I understand there may be demarcation issues for the cleaning staff, but for a hotel the size of HSP that offers stunning views as part of the experience, a window cleaner would be imperative. That same stay (June) also saw us needing to complain multiple times about linen and RUBBISH being left in front of the elevators on our floor. Despite the complaints, this was not attended to. Toiletries seem to be on the scabby side at HSP. We do not seem to get bath salt tablets and cotton bud packs as we do at other Hiltons and the executive lounge, although offering great views, offers a very boring canapé selection. We have experienced just a cheeseboard, sopu and a Mediterranean choice only. Occasionally we've had the rice and chicken dish but there is basically no alternates. Other Hiltons offer alternating canapés like sandwich fingers and fried morsels like baby octopus, calamari, spiced lamb balls etc. At our stay just gone (Nov.2012), no choice of red wine was on offer at all and at our previous stay (June 2012) we went to the executive lounge for afternoon tea only to find nothing on offer except leftovers from breakfast (at 4.30 in the afternoon.....yuck). When asked, the lady simply said as no one was there, they hadn't had the cake sent up.........but then suggested if we wait, she'll have it brought up for happy hour......at 6.00pm! What kind of logic is that?? No wonder no one goes, but it did disappoint us. Are we "no one"? On our last stay (Nov.2012), at check in, I stood in the HHonors priority queue (the only one in the HHonors queue). Two reception ladies were attending to another guest and three others and a gentleman in a suit (manager?) simply continued to natter away between themselves behind the reception counter. Perhaps training was happening or something, but I felt I was simply being ignored. Even a simple acknowledgement that I wasn't totally invisible would have been nice! Compounding this was a long wait for elevators which seem to be used more for cleaner excursions between floors than for the guests comfort (a number of times we've been shoved to the back of the elevator so the cleaning trolley or those black tubs-on-wheels can fit in. I understand there are insufficient elevators, but surely there must be a workable solution (perhaps one elevator locked off for cleaners use only, leaving the rest for guests).
In being honest here, I have to say that the Gold Coast (I'm a Gold Coast resident BTW) has a reputation of being a bogan destination. Of all the Hiltons on the Australian eastern seaboard, HSP seems to be the one living up to that reputation. Everything seems to be done "on the cheap" or "close enough is good enough". That kind of mentality is not what we expect from a Hilton property labeled as a Category 7 hotel. Please don't misunderstand me, we've had some truly excellent service (especially from name deleted, who we cannot praise enough), but that wonderful level of service is the exception rather than the norm with HSP from our experience. We love the fact Hilton has come to the Gold Coast (as we no longer have Conrad) and as we are currently renovating our home, our short break Hilton stays (of which we have many booked) are very important to us remaining "sane" during the renos. It's very disappointing when we arrive and find things less than expected and less than we experience at other Hilton hotels. Important little things, like an in-house multi-movie deal as offered by most other Australian Hiltons and the lacking toiletries are noticed. Hopefully Hilton Surfers Paradise can haul itself out of the bogan mode and actually set itself to the same standard we like to expect from the Hilton group.
We have previously had discussions with (name deleted) about booking the sub-penthouse, but again being honest with you here, the rate is not commensurate with the sub-par level of professionalism we regularly experience at HSP. Perhaps more staff like (name deleted) and less staff recruitment from backpacker hostels may be in order.
I hope I haven't been out of order in offering you this critique and you take it in the spirit it is intended.
Hilton windows salt encrustation wrecking the view. Requested for them to be cleaned three times. They weren’t cleaned at all during our two day stay despite them being readily and safely accessible from the balcony.
Rubbish in foyers. This happened daily and remained all day despite requests to remove it.
