How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

[Deleted member 29185]

Hilton Cairns once more proved to me that despite being a Cat 6 hotel, they don't forget the little things that I notice and appreciate. Last night I didn't get my usual bottle of sparkling water, but instead a bottle of sparkling wine.....along with my two waters, jar of honey, block of dark chocolate and of course the card from the manager (which it seems many Oz Hiltons have forgone of late). The funny thing was, I noticed first of all......above everything else.....the text on the glasses which read Moët & Chandon! I very quickly checked out the bottle......but it was not to be! Nice room gift regardless. Well done H-CNS, I especially like how you select local gifts to highlight the regions attractions.

 

[Aeolus]

Recently booked and stayed a night each in the 3 KUL based Hilton chain of hotels.

DT KL
Booked Guestroom via redemption. Received Deluxe Suite. Very impressed with the breakfast on Level 11 - was a combination of 2 restaurants with a very wide selection of local and western options (biggest selection compared to all 3 hotels). Easy to get to from KLIA train, hop on the red train line to Ampang Park and follow the signs. Exec lounge's food selection was really good too. Based on the welcome letter, they will upgrade Diamond members to Deluxe Suite on availability! Overall, best value amongst the 3 hotels IMHO.

Hilton PJ
Booked King Guestroom, received Exec Room Plus. I checked in at the Exec Lounge just before 8pm and the staff insisted on waiting for me to take the food and drinks before they clear them away which was a really caring and thoughtful gesture. Wide variety of canapes and warm food selections for both evening coughtails and breakfast. Had made to order eggs at the lounge as well. Was pleasantly surprised at the overall quality and service. Also, it's a mere RM$15 by taxi straight from the KLIA train. As it's the cheapest Hilton hotel in KL, it's definitely worth considering.

Hilton KL
Booked King Deluxe, received King Exec Plus corner room (or I think that's what it was, based on the floor plan, it was certainly the larger room on the exec floor). Basically I was allowed to stay as long as I like at the exec lounge after the extended 3pm checkout. If you want to, you could practically live on exec lounge's food as there's even tea (with scones, finger sandwiches and cupcakes) served at 3pm. Great service overall.

 

[boomy]

My rather dim view of Hilton Parmelia has not brightened at all. I've been believing for some time now that the coffee "surcharge" had been dumped as a bad joke and really bad PR due to me not receiving a bill for a coffee for many, many months now. I'm now quite depressed to hear a Hilton with no lounge and ridiculous rates has the bloody audacity to charge for a coffee with breakfast!

Seems like a classic case of inconsistency among Hilton Hotels in Australia.
It reminds me once in Hilton ADL I saw a coffee charge in my bill when checking out. I was never charged for barista coffee in ADL before (or since) and wasn't informed of any charge when ordering the coffee on that day. The charge was cancelled on the spot with no argument from the front desk.
In contrast, Hilton SYD and MEL never offered me free barista coffee since the new tax was introduced.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Seems like a classic case of inconsistency among Hilton Hotels in Australia........
Hilton SYD and MEL never offered me free barista coffee since the new tax was introduced.

It would appear inconsistency is indeed the word. Last stay for me in SYD there was no coffee charge and my last MEL stay was HoTP where there was also no charge. H-SYD has certainly billed me previously. HSP has never billed us, H-CNS has never billed us and H-BNE has never billed us (at least not from my recollection). Also on our Jan trip which included stays at 6 different Hilton/Conrads, we were not once billed for a coffee (admittedly, the coffee mostly was rubbish). It seems really poor form from my perspective and obviously difficult for them to manage successfully which in itself, should indicate to Hilton that the scheme is a failure and should be scrapped.

 

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

Hilton Sukhumvit Bangkok
Status: Gold
3 nights Jan 22-25
Rate: $169 advanced purchase
Room booked: Double double executive
Room received: Double double executive
Booked an executive floor as it was good value and my birthday so didn’t want to miss out on exec lounge access. Received a birthday cake on arrival plus usual other amenities. Convenient for BTS but note lack of escalators when getting to street level. Food in exec lounge was great. Breakfast was a highlight with chef in the lounge cooking eggs and omelettes to your taste. Given the hotel options in Bangkok I would be likely to try an alternative on my next stay.

Doubletree KL
3 nights Feb 4-7
Rate: $114
Room booked: Cheapest/base room
Room received: Executive on 33[SUP]rd[/SUP] floor
Greeted by GM on arrival who was very friendly. There was a large bowl of fruit and Indonesian layered cake in room in addition to water and cookie on arrival. Food in the executive lounge was again very good and the staff were particularly attentive clearing bowls quickly and always offering to make drinks. Overall, great facilities and excellent value.

Hilton Singapore
2 nights Feb 8-10
Rate: $205 with 25% Singapore sale
Room booked: Cheapest/base room
Room received: Executive floor
An unremarkable Hilton with location being its best feature. The hotel's gym was more extensive than most others which was a positive. A friend invited me to the Exec lounge at the Conrad which had a far superior exec lounge and facilities.

Hilton Surfers Paradise
1 night Feb 26
Rate: $179 (corporate)
Room booked: Cheapest/base room
Room received: Relaxation room
Check-in staff were very friendly and eager to know how the online check-in was working as once I saw I had been allocated a relaxation room facing the ocean I checked-in immediately. Not sure if it was complimentary but there were macarons, a bottle of still and sparkling water and a bottle of red wine on the bench on arrival which were consumed and not charged. The executive lounge was reasonable with the evening food offerings quite tasty but not sufficient for dinner unlike in Asia. Same goes for breakfast. I checked out with the same lady who checked me in and she kindly validated my parking ticket for free which was a nice touch.

 

[Clivem]

Strange one (at least from my experience).

H.S.W. - Booked Dec. last year for the Melbourne Cup 2015 ......31/10 to 4/11 Exec king room booked back then.
We have now decided to do Derby Day also so I wanted to add the Friday before to the booking (understanding I might get stung for that add day) only to find no Exec king rooms available for October 3O. So I called just to see if any magic could be made to happen - "no luck.... sorry sir".

With that I decided just to book at standard room on-line for Friday the 30th even if I had to do a room change (hoping a link could be done prior to check-in to avoid a room hop).
So I go ahead and book the standard room night ......... low and behold as soon as I get the confirmation they offer me a points upgrade to Exec king as an option .......... what the ?

An advice on if I just do the points upgrade for that additional night and them just call to link the two Exec King bookings and move on (seems the simple option) or is their another / better way to skin the cat?

I guess I'm lucky in that I don't often have to amend or change my Hilton bookings ...... but In general I would like to know if anybody has seen this 'no room available at the level requested only to find one 'miraculous' appear as an upgrade option' before ...... It strikes me as poor form on Hiltons part or am I missing something ...... ?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Cheers.

 

[Cynicor]

Strange one (at least from my experience).

H.S.W. - Booked Dec. last year for the Melbourne Cup 2015 ......31/10 to 4/11 Exec king room booked back then.
We have now decided to do Derby Day also so I wanted to add the Friday before to the booking (understanding I might get stung for that add day) only to find no Exec king rooms available for October 3O. So I called just to see if any magic could be made to happen - "no luck.... sorry sir".

With that I decided just to book at standard room on-line for Friday the 30th even if I had to do a room change (hoping a link could be done prior to check-in to avoid a room hop).
So I go ahead and book the standard room night ......... low and behold as soon as I get the confirmation they offer me a points upgrade to Exec king as an option .......... what the ?

An advice on if I just do the points or upgrade for that additional night and them just call to link the two Exec King bookings and move on (seems the simple option) or is their another / better way to skin the cat?

I guess I'm lucky in that I don't often have to amend or change bookings ...... but In general I would like to know if anybody has seen this 'no room available at the level requested only to find one 'miraculous' appear as an upgrade option' before ...... It strikes me as poor form on Hiltons part ...... ?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Cheers.

Maybe they are sold out of the room, but will bump someone in an Exec King if you pay as a points upgrade. I.e another diamond would get a suite.

Or take your points and give you a suite, rather than the exec king, because either way they are getting more $ out of it.

 

[jackthomas]

DT Melbourne.
Room Booked: King Interior (Points+ Pay)
Room Received: King Guest Room ( Window with a lovely view of a brick wall)
2x Cookies at Check in , 2pm Check Out Granted...
2X bottles of water in the room plus the rare welcome card from GM in room.


Rooms are much more spacious and well presented than I expected... Hopefully rest of the stay goes fuss free.

 

[straitman]

Good luck with breakfast though they should be OK now after I had a meltdown last Friday morning.

(I'll do a report as soon as I get a chance)

 

[hydrabyss]

Strange one (at least from my experience).

H.S.W. - Booked Dec. last year for the Melbourne Cup 2015 ......31/10 to 4/11 Exec king room booked back then.
We have now decided to do Derby Day also so I wanted to add the Friday before to the booking (understanding I might get stung for that add day) only to find no Exec king rooms available for October 3O. So I called just to see if any magic could be made to happen - "no luck.... sorry sir".

With that I decided just to book at standard room on-line for Friday the 30th even if I had to do a room change (hoping a link could be done prior to check-in to avoid a room hop).
So I go ahead and book the standard room night ......... low and behold as soon as I get the confirmation they offer me a points upgrade to Exec king as an option .......... what the ?

An advice on if I just do the points or upgrade for that additional night and them just call to link the two Exec King bookings and move on (seems the simple option) or is their another / better way to skin the cat?

I guess I'm lucky in that I don't often have to amend or change bookings ...... but In general I would like to know if anybody has seen this 'no room available at the level requested only to find one 'miraculous' appear as an upgrade option' before ...... It strikes me as poor form on Hiltons part ...... ?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Cheers.

I have a sydney booking also showing something similiar.There are no suites available for booking but are showing as upgrades.My only thought is they are all booked but come the day before arrival people start cancelling bookings they dont want and the hotel knows this and now has an option to sell them.

 

[Aeolus]

Good luck with breakfast though they should be OK now after I had a meltdown last Friday morning.

(I'll do a report as soon as I get a chance)

Going back for a 2nd stay at DT Mel tomorrow. What happened? I'm scared!:-|

 

[DC3]

DT Melbourne.
Room Booked: King Interior (Points+ Pay)
Room Received: King Guest Room ( Window with a lovely view of a brick wall) ......

Thank you for posting the photos.

I had read where some of the rooms have windows.

 

[straitman]

Going back for a 2nd stay at DT Mel tomorrow. What happened? I'm scared!:-|

Property: DoubleTree MEL
Date: 26 February 2015
Rate: Govt
Booked: King Room on a points booking (50,000)
Received: King Room with station views.

Two bottles of water, chocolates and turndown.

The hotel was full but still managed an upgrade. The WiFi speed was great though I had to go back and ask for a code and also to ask for my cookie. (Service recovery was a second cookie)

At breakfast there was absolutely no service from the kitchen. :evil: Three staff ambling around but no one actually serving so I started to make pancakes and follow up later. I placed my plate at the end of the pancake machine and left for a moment. When I came back my plate was being removed which I queried. The answer was that there was a plate there already. There was but as I pointed out it was filthy with bits and pieces of burnt whatever attached. About then I said a few words which finally got peoples attention. I also pointed out that coffee at $5.50 was inappropriate (not my exact words) particularly as there were quality coffee shops next door.

From that point on I was literally offered anything though the only thing I accepted was a (warm) coffee. I have met the GM previously at Lake Taupo and Alice Springs and when he get back from holidays this week I will be making contact.

Other than breakfast my overall impressions were that the points stay was expensive (HSW was 60,000 points the previous evening) though the property was pleasant enough and the staff were attempting to get it right. Compared to HSW with exec lounge and much more the DT was worth only about 30,000 points IMHO. Bar drinks at $9 each are too dear considering the ambience level and that they would have been free at HSW.

A strange thing is that the three elevators work off two buttons with one button controlling two and and the other controlling one.

Would I stay here again? Only if there was a significant difference in price from HSW. I have a booking there on the 8th March as HSW is $200 dearer but I'm still deciding whether to stay there or not.

 

[straitman]

Property: HSW MEL
Date: 25 February 2015
Rate: Govt
Booked: King Room on a points booking (60,000)
Received: King Yarra Suite

Two bottles of water, chocolates and turndown.

Staff were attentive even though they had a private function on the balcony. Good drinks selection, solo singer and plenty go good nibbles. I even managed to borrow a phone charger as I'd left mine home.

 

[straitman]

Thank you for posting the photos.

I had read where some of the rooms have windows.

Rooms 1 and 2 on each floor have windows.

 

[boomy]

Rooms 1 and 2 on each floor have windows.

Also, the top two floors have balconies.

 

[drross]

Rooms 1 and 2 on each floor have windows.

thanks Bill

 

[drross]

Also, the top two floors have balconies.

big enough to be usable (table/chair) or just for 'fresh air'?

 

[Clivem]

big enough to be usable (table/chair) or just for 'fresh air'?

They are about 1.2m wide 'ish' , walking space / lean on the rail and have a look stuff. They runs nearly the full length of the room but no table or chair/s ........That noted, it has been many moons since the air around Flinders Street Station has been referred to as ... fresh.

 

[boomy]

There is also an extra window in those rooms with balconies. It brings more natural light in addition to good views.