How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

[boomy]

Wouldn't life be so much easier if that were the case. I haven't stayed at the DTs in DRW (I was warned about them here on AFF), but DT CNS is OK and DT Marjan Island RAK (UAE) was a fabulous resort.......There are obviously some real DT gems out there......and some real dogs!

DT can be good value for money when Hilton gets too expensive. Some properties even have exec lounges (not in Australia) and some resorts like the one you mentioned and also DT Sanya are very nice.

 

[oh_lol]

All the Double Trees in Darwin are very old rebranded hotels. I grew up in Darwin, and the hotels now rebranded as DT have always been poor.

Only one which is nice is the actual Hilton (was Crowne Plaza before that).

 

[froggerADL]

Hotel: DoubleTree Beijing
HH Status: Diamond
Booked: King Bed Guest Room
Rate: 8000 HH Points per night
Received: King Bed Executive Room

Water, fruit platter and confectionary (every day so far), 50 RMB laundry allowance per stay (which will cover almost two T-shirts )

I think Doubletree is Conrad S Hilton-speak for "3rd rate Hovel"....or something similar to such.

I strongly disagree. I have found all DoubleTrees that I have stayed at in Asia to be better than all Hiltons I have stayed at in the US.

 

[oh_lol]

Last DT I stayed at was in Montreal, and that was a pretty nice hotel.

 

[Cynicor]

DT Amsterdam is decent. Apparently better than Hilton but never stayed there so cannot compare.

 

[drross]

DT Amsterdam is decent. Apparently better than Hilton but never stayed there so cannot compare.

great hotel. had new years there. very small lounge on the ground floor. rooms were small but adequate..the view of the city and the fireworks was great

 

[Aeolus]

Hotel: Hilton Millenium Bangkok
Booked: King Deluxe
Received: King Executive
Great value hotel, love the afternoon tea and coughtails at the executive lounge and also the breakfast with a view at the cafe downstairs. Overall, I find the service and value for money to be better than Conrad Bangkok.

Hotel: Conrad Bangkok
Booked: Standard King
Received: Corner Deluxe room
Had a few unpleasant experience, worst was at breakfast when I was second in the queue and behind me were a man and a toddler. When it came to my turn, the server asked if it's table for 3 and I said no, for one and she basically left me on my own to find my own table while the people behind me were shown their table. Was debating if I should write to them but I know I won't be going back there for a while. There were other service issues as well, overall I was quite disappointed considering they were supposed to be a class above the Hilton but service came a distant second to the Millenium on this occassion.

Hotel: Conrad Hong Kong
Booked: Standard King
Received: Harbour View Suite
Beautiful hotel with polished service to boot. Noticed they've allocated an executive room on the 61st floor on the app but I didn't proceed with OLCI. On arrival, I was allocated the harbour view suite and was also offered 4pm checkout but I had to leave early to join the AFF lounge run.

 

[boomy]

Summary of stays in the last 7 days.

Property: DoubleTree Melbourne
Booked: Queen Guestroom Interior
Received: King Flinders St Station View

Happy with the upgrade as I'm not huge fan of interior rooms. Two bottles of water in the room plus two Lindt chocolates on pillows at turndown. The cookie was hard as rock and not eatable but didn't mind it as I don't really need the extra calories


Property: Hilton Adelaide
Booked: Queen Guestroom
Received: King Junior Suite

Early 9am check-in and the room was ready. The Jr suites are modern and specious, my favourite room type in this hotel. Breakfast in restaurant was ok but service too slow. Coffee tax waved for diamonds.


Property: Hilton Sydney
Booked: King Deluxe Plus X2
Received: King Deluxe Plus X2

Needed two rooms and my usual hotel choices in Sydney had only high category rooms left due to strong demand during the public holiday. Hilton rates were high as well but managed to get slightly cheaper at last minute (still over $300 per room).
No diamond recognition whatsoever, no upgrades, no nothing. The app showed higher categories available but I didn't want to start arguing with the staff next to my guests.
Thinking of sending an email regarding this stay but knowing how incompetent the current GM is I have little faith it will make any difference.


Property: Hilton Melbourne
Booked: King Guestroom
Received: Relaxation Suite

Upgrade to my favourite room showed up the night before when OLCI. 2pm late checkout requested and granted.
Few things to improve:
Found the toilet bin full of garbage from previous guests. Not as bad as Jessica's 'pizza box in drawer' incident at Hilton Surfers but still not a pretty sight.
Tried to call Magic to ask for couple bottles of water (none in the room) but after 5 minutes wait gave up and went downstairs to do it myself. It's just bad business as I'm sure they are loosing revenue from other guests who try to order room service but can't get through.
Breakfast in restaurant was good as usual with very friendly and efficient service. Completely barista coffee was offered.

 

[Aeolus]

Property: Hilton Melbourne
Found the toilet bin full of garbage from previous guests. Not as bad as Jessica's 'pizza box in drawer' incident at Hilton Surfers but still not a pretty sight.
Tried to call Magic to ask for couple bottles of water (none in the room) but after 5 minutes wait gave up and went downstairs to do it myself. It's just bad business as I'm sure they are loosing revenue from other guests who try to order room service but can't get through.

I'll let Mr Bonner know the next time I see him. He personally emailed me back on my feedback for my last stay and usually stop to say hello. I find him to be genuinely caring about the service quality - most approachable GMs of all Hiltons in Oz.

 

[stark]

Some further example of Hilton Syd being great!
Hotel: Hilton Sydney
Booked: King Deluxe
Received: King Deluxe
No recognition, no upgrades (again with higher rooms available in the app), no water in the room. Staff in exec lounge were genuinely great during my stay though.

 

[jackthomas]

Not a Trip Report:
I'm looking at a nice relaxing weekend in the tropics next month and have booked two nights at QT Port Douglas (2 nights for $330 in a one bedroom apartment, get on it if you want a cheap getaway)
But I'll need one extra night in Cairns and looking at the Hilton + Doubletree. Rates are quite high at H CNS that night, at least higher than I've seen other nights and wanted to know if people deemed the property pretty decent. (Lounge, breakfast etc) If not I'll just book at the Doubletree for much cheaper. Thanks! I stayed at HCNS around 10 years ago and got zero sleep from the city streets so wanted to see if the water side was different.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

looking at the Hilton + Doubletree. Rates are quite high at H CNS that night, at least higher than I've seen other nights and wanted to know if people deemed the property pretty decent. (Lounge, breakfast etc) If not I'll just book at the Doubletree for much cheaper.

It depends upon the difference in rates and the number of guests. H-CNS can get far more expense than I'd pay, in which case DT (or others) would be the go. H-CNS is nicer than the DT (IMHO). The H-CNS breakfast is pretty decent, but I've never tried the DT breakfast to compare. The H-CNS lounge is friendly but small. It opens at 5pm (no afternoon tea), for drinks and cold canapés and hot canapés are brought out at 6pm and remains until close at 8pm. As diamond, you'll get (most likely) a 9th floor room so street noise won't be an issue and the inlet side is preferable to the city side. I regularly pay a premium of $35/nite to stay at the Hilton, but that'd be about it. A difference of much more would be hard to justify for one person but may be OK for 2.......depends on how many drinks you have I guess. If evening canapés do not interest you, then DT would probably be the winner. I also like the location of H-CNS (over DT), but that has to do with my work (often in the marina) and I also like the H-CNS business centre (free for guests) and I quite like Mondos for lunch (can't beat a table right on the edge of the inlet watching Wednesday afternoon yacht races, with Barramundi spring rolls and a huge glass of Squealing Pig....hey, I didn't say I worked hard!).

 

[jackthomas]

It depends upon the difference in rates and the number of guests. H-CNS can get far more expense than I'd pay, in which case DT (or others) would be the go. H-CNS is nicer than the DT (IMHO). The H-CNS breakfast is pretty decent, but I've never tried the DT breakfast to compare. The H-CNS lounge is friendly but small. It opens at 5pm (no afternoon tea), for drinks and cold canapés and hot canapés are brought out at 6pm and remains until close at 8pm. As diamond, you'll get (most likely) a 9th floor room so street noise won't be an issue and the inlet side is preferable to the city side. I regularly pay a premium of $35/nite to stay at the Hilton, but that'd be about it. A difference of much more would be hard to justify for one person but may be OK for 2.......depends on how many drinks you have I guess. If evening canapés do not interest you, then DT would probably be the winner.

I was actually going to Private Message you, knowing you're one of the properties frequent guests! It's only me and the price difference is around $120 so might just stick with the DT and suffer without the cheap wine and lounge snacks we're accustomed to. Might do a flexi booking at both and just monitor the costs going forward...There's still 4 weeks until I get there. Thanks!

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I was actually going to Private Message you, knowing you're one of the properties frequent guests! It's only me and the price difference is around $120 so might just stick with the DT and suffer without the cheap wine and lounge snacks we're accustomed to. Might do a flexi booking at both and just monitor the costs going forward...There's still 4 weeks until I get there. Thanks!

I wouldn't even consider paying a $120 premium to get H-CNS lounge and location. I also can't recall seeing H-CNS rates drop (unlike H-SYD for example).

 

[boomy]

Some further example of Hilton Syd being great!
Hotel: Hilton Sydney
Booked: King Deluxe
Received: King Deluxe
No recognition, no upgrades (again with higher rooms available in the app), no water in the room.

Oh dear... They really dislike status guests at this hotel.

 

[Daver6]

Conrad Bali
Status: Diamond
Booked: King garden (cheapest option) for ~$129 US
Received: Suite in the suites wing

Full details in a mini trip report to come shortly. Can be found here http://www.australianfrequentflyer....-tr-bali-flying-garuda-76732.html#post1468847

 

[kermatu]

I wouldn't even consider paying a $120 premium to get H-CNS lounge and location. I also can't recall seeing H-CNS rates drop (unlike H-SYD for example).

I'm a big fan of H-CNS but agree that's too steep a price premium. Lounge wines are OK and there are basic spirits - but food is not that great and I always go out for dinner after (or order room service, which is good and reasonably-priced). There's a new GM so will be interesting to see if anything significant changes.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

There's a new GM so will be interesting to see if anything significant changes.

I had a nice chat with the new GM on Wednesday. Seems like an amicable guy and he does have some good experience, recently from DT-CNS, but previous to that at Indonesia (Bandung perhaps?) and Bangkok (Millennium). Let's hope any "significant change" is not detrimental to us! :shock:

 

[jackthomas]

I'm a big fan of H-CNS but agree that's too steep a price premium. Lounge wines are OK and there are basic spirits - but food is not that great and I always go out for dinner after (or order room service, which is good and reasonably-priced). There's a new GM so will be interesting to see if anything significant changes.

A Points+Pay rate popped up at HCNS so I'll report back after the stay (just over 3 weeks away)

 

[JessicaTam]

A Points+Pay rate popped up at HCNS so I'll report back after the stay (just over 3 weeks away)

I find the breakfasts at each property are comparable. The HCNS does have a nicer outlook if you get a river view. And it has the lounge, which may or may not matter to you. It doesn't take much of a price difference for me to stay at the DT.