How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

Hilton LQS has to be one of the worst in the network in Australia...junior staff, average lounge and pretty stingy on benefits
.
I know this drifting OT but related to my comment above on general Hilton standards. I can see the whole HHonors loyalty program going downhill (reduced upgrades and breakfast benefit only a matter of time before it all goes to vouchers). I'm still diamond but will be last year as I get treated infinitely better by Marriott.
 
Agree. I'm a Diamond. We have 2 rooms booked at the Hilton in Sydney for tomorrow. When I enquired about an upgrade, I was told I could upgrade for $20/room or my request would be considered when we check in tomorrow. I seem to recall that Hilton promised an "capacity available" upgrade 72 hours before check-in during Covids, but that promise seems to have vanished along with social distancing.

Interestingly, I took advantage of the IHG side-grade thing. Given that I secured Hilton Diamond for 2023 and I don't think that I'll even make Gold next year so it wasn't worth me collecting roll-over nights, I have been experimenting with IHG stays. With the exception of the poor experience at the Indigo Brisbane, my upgrade history as an IHG Diamond Elite has been significantly more successful.
Fingers crossed for you as the Sydney Hilton is one of those properties i’ e been lucky in the last and got upgraded to a suite on the day after all. Not sure how their occupancy would be over the holidays but I wish you best of luck!

We’re booked at the Doubletree Perth from tomorrow and have the same situation there. A nice Christmas surprise would be great!
 
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Property: Hilton Sydney

Date: 21-24 Dec

Status: Diamond

Room booked: Corner Premium King

Rate: $177 govt

Recieved: Nil Junior Suites available for upgrade. Offered "upgrade" to executive room - no thanks. Stayed with Corner room as it was larger albeit on lower floor.



Comments: No seafood offered in Exec lounge evening drinks (prawns, oysters or tuna sashimi or the like) on Mon-Thurs, only Fri-Sun (though it might be adjusted during the holiday period next week). Breakfast during the holiday period runs to 11am.
 
Property: Hilton Darwin
Status: Gold
Room Booked: King Guest Room
Received: King Guest Room with Harbour View - no upselling of another upgrade (but we did arrive at 2am). Two bottles of complimentary still water provided upon checkin.
Rate: $202/night (flexible member rate)

Comments:
-Complimentary continental breakfast provided. Was told earlier that the full breakfast is a $10/person/day upgrade, but the continental is pretty good tbh
- Room was nice, but the corridors feel dated (particularly the carpet)
- Small gym, but 24hour access is nice
- Didn't bother with the valet parking - the State Square underground car park is about 100m away
 
I can see the whole HHonors loyalty program going downhill (reduced upgrades and breakfast benefit only a matter of time before it all goes to vouchers).
I saw a reference that indeed Honors are considering expanding the Voucher system offshore from North America.
 
I personally don’t think this is the worst. I hate ruining my well deserved sleep ins to adhere to a property’s breakfast hours which more often than not means getting up at 8:30 or 8 in the morning.

In other words: I actually prefer a free ice cold beer by the pool over some glibbery scrambled eggs and some burnt bacon in the morning.
 
I personally don’t think this is the worst. I hate ruining my well deserved sleep ins to adhere to a property’s breakfast hours which more often than not means getting up at 8:30 or 8 in the morning.

In other words: I actually prefer a free ice cold beer by the pool over some glibbery scrambled eggs and some burnt bacon in the morning.
Probably better to give guests the option of free breakfast or a voucher.
It would also be stupid of Hilton to implement this move in Asia as buffet breakfast is a huge deal, especially when it's competitors such as Marriott and IHG continue to offer free breakfast to it's elite members.
 
Probably better to give guests the option of free breakfast or a voucher.
Well- that would be a REAL enhancement that’s beneficial to every guest, whether they like breakfast or not.

So, let’s all guess how likely it is that this is going to happen… Zilch chance would be my guess. :rolleyes:
 
Property: Hilton Little Queen Street Melbourne
Status: Diamond
Room Booked: King Guest Room
Received: Junior Suite upgraded 24 hours before checkin. Two bottles of complimentary still water in room.
Rate: $290/night (flexible member rate with 2x points)

Very nice upgrade. Had issues with the Digital Key not working for the Executive Lounge (due to problems with the app) and not working in the main lifts (due to poor 5G reception) so in future will just get a key.

Executive Lounge offerings are a bit lack-lustre and it wasn’t open for breakfast despite being a very busy public holiday.
 
Property: Parmelia Hilton Perth

Status: Diamond
Room Booked: King Guest Room
Received: King Parlour Room (Suite)
Rate: 2 x Free Night Awards Used


I got an automatic upgrade from King Guest Room to King Executive Room; however, I had a polite conversation via the App (when it became available) to see if they were able to upgrade me to one of the suites and was given the King Parlour Room!


The Executive Lounge is tucked away past the reception. It has a very attentive staff during breakfast and evening canapes who quickly offer beverages when they notice your cup is empty!
 
Property: Parmelia Hilton Perth

Status: Diamond
Room Booked: King Guest Room
Received: King Parlour Room (Suite)
Rate: 2 x Free Night Awards Used


I got an automatic upgrade from King Guest Room to King Executive Room; however, I had a polite conversation via the App (when it became available) to see if they were able to upgrade me to one of the suites and was given the King Parlour Room!


The Executive Lounge is tucked away past the reception. It has a very attentive staff during breakfast and evening canapes who quickly offer beverages when they notice your cup is empty!
That is great to hear.

Stayed at Adelaide Hilton yesterday for my birthday and couldn't have been more disappointed. They will certainly be getting some feedback.
 
That is great to hear.

Stayed at Adelaide Hilton yesterday for my birthday and couldn't have been more disappointed. They will certainly be getting some feedback.
Having status certainly helps; being polite and not demanding stuff always has worked for me ;)!

I usually have food at the DoubleTree Northbridge restaurant (as Parmelia is quite a trek away), but having a polite conversation with the Staff to see how they're going may contribute to it as well - they usually remember the order that I like with my meal at this point!
 
Property: Doubletree by Hilton Northbridge, Perth

Status: Diamond
Room Booked: King Guest Room
Received: Apparently an “upgrade” to a “Panoramic King room” which had views of the suburbs- meh
Rate: Booked about a year ago and hence the rate fluctuated really weirdly day by day- average of about $180 a night

We had stayed at this property pre-Covid and decided it was time to give it another go. Unfortunately, the shine of being new is long gone and the hotel now has some serious staffing/ housekeeping issues.

Received this rather annoying generic “You’ve been upgraded!” email the day before our stay and alas, the so-called “upgrade” was a non upgrade to what they call a “Panoramic Deluxe King”. When you look at the hotel map, it’s exactly the same size as any other room, just on a higher floor and our room even faced the dead-boring suburbs side of the hotel. Nothing of a panorama to speak of and it was not even on the very highest ot floors (12 out of 15, super generous- thank you for nothing). Actually- we had almost exactly the same room 3 or 4 years ago and back then we were only Gold status with Hilton. Also zero acknowledgement of status upon checkin by the generally rather clueless and not very well trained front office staff. Once again, HHonours Diamond is proving to be a pretty useless status beyond the Gold tier one below. Speaking of- proper coffee of course came at a fee, otherwise it’s filter coffee from the camping bucket. Not a big issue for me but I bet some of my Melbourne friends would be outraged. At least we were allowed to also have the hot food options, not that these would be anything to write home about. Hot tip: Get up even earlier than you’d think you have to as many items on the buffet don’t get replenished ever.

So far so mediocre. The room was okay albeit a bit small, the mattress way too soft and the otherwise lovely rain shower had close to zero water pressure but we could live with all this. However- after bombarding me with those idiotic marketing emails from Covid time about how clean the rooms are at Hilton and even having a “Clean Stay” sticker on the bathroom mirror, hygiene turned out to be exactly the opposite of that: We noticed lots of smears and not cleaned spill stains on the furniture and the desk and even found a used tampon package (luckily not the tampon itself at least!) on the floor which is exactly what a gay man likes to find in his room- not. Clearly, if you can’t even vacuum the floors properly between guests, what chance is there that “Extra care will be taken in cleaning much used surfaces”? The elevator buttons clearly spoke to this as they seemed to never got cleaned a single time during our entire 7 night stay.

That’s a great segueway to the two biggest problems of which the first is housekeeping: Oh dear, oh dear! This is what happens if you kick out all your experienced staff as soon as a pandemic hits and then wonder why you can’t find anyone qualified after (hot tip- paying an extra $$$ above minimum wage might actually help with that). One day, we called for the room to be serviced before heading to the pool, only to find out two hours later that it hadn’t been done. Next day, we had the “Do not Disturb” sign on but housekeeping ignored it and stormed into the room anyway which is simply a total no no (and the signs are VERY clear in this hotel- nice big red or green squares, electronically lit so unless you’re a total moron who has never stayed in a hotel yourself before and never got any training… Oh yes, now this makes sense, actually). Another day, we left the hotel around 10am for a tour to Rotty Island and the housekeeping lady was literally right outside our room doing the room opposite from us. Green light clearly switched on so we thought that surely she would do ours afterwards. But when we came home in the evening, nothing had been done. Not much worse than retreating to your hotel only to find a messy room so I called reception straight away- I had seen somewhere earlier that “Housekeeping is available till 4pm” and by that time it was well beyond 6 so I was prepared. And, as expected, the completely tone death lady at reception wanted to pull the “Unfortunately Sirrrrr…” line on me but I wasn’t having it so told her to go do it herself or get her manager to do it. The latter gave me dirty looks once we left for yet another to wait in a nearby pub for the room to be cleaned but at least it was finally done. Zero apologies, zero explanation, nothing. When I checked out at the end, the then receptionist asked me to write a review about these housekeeping issues which in itself is rather unprofessional but I herby do it: Fix your housekeeping and train your staff properly!

Second big issue for us, the rather nice little pool features the most idiotic set up of lounge chairs I’ve ever seen: Hardly any are two together so it’s something like chair, flower bucket, chair, wall, bean bag (I know- why???), chair and so on. Hardly a chance to sit together with your other half, let alone as a family. Might seem like a small issue but if you’re counting on that pool, be aware!

Likewise, be aware of the location: As a middle aged gay couple, we stayed here again precisely BECAUSE of the location. Northbridge is the exact opposite of what people think of when they ask us why the heck we like Perth: It’s artsy, gritty, noisy and could be at home in any bigger city. In other words, it’s a nightlife district with all that you’d expect. Directly opposite the hotel are two sex shops and a gay nightclub, to the left and right are a really dodgy looking pool billiard hall and a dingy karaoke bar aka money laundering establishment. I’d think this hotel was never meant to be a place for families but there were screaming kids aplenty so just be aware- if you stay here, don’t complain afterwards about the noise and the nightlife. For us, this is one of the very few positives about this hotel but that alone won’t be sufficient to draw us in again- there is just way too much wrong and I don’t like staff’s/ management’s attitude in the slightest.
 
Property: Doubletree by Hilton Northbridge, Perth

Status: Diamond
Room Booked: King Guest Room
Received: Apparently an “upgrade” to a “Panoramic King room” which had views of the suburbs- meh
Rate: Booked about a year ago and hence the rate fluctuated really weirdly day by day- average of about $180 a night
I didn't see this covered in your review but would be curious what the breakfast benefit was like. Was it buffet breakfast or has that property switched over to the "enhanced" food & beverage credit seen in North American properties? As for the coffee, that for me is a plus considering how hard it is to get drip coffee (arguably the only real coffee) in Australia (a story for another day).
Received this rather annoying generic “You’ve been upgraded!” email the day before our stay and alas, the so-called “upgrade” was a non upgrade to what they call a “Panoramic Deluxe King”. When you look at the hotel map, it’s exactly the same size as any other room, just on a higher floor and our room even faced the dead-boring suburbs side of the hotel. Nothing of a panorama to speak of and it was not even on the very highest ot floors (12 out of 15, super generous- thank you for nothing). Actually- we had almost exactly the same room 3 or 4 years ago and back then we were only Gold status with Hilton. Also zero acknowledgement of status upon checkin by the generally rather clueless and not very well trained front office staff. Once again, HHonours Diamond is proving to be a pretty useless status beyond the Gold tier one below. Speaking of- proper coffee of course came at a fee, otherwise it’s filter coffee from the camping bucket. Not a big issue for me but I bet some of my Melbourne friends would be outraged. At least we were allowed to also have the hot food options, not that these would be anything to write home about. Hot tip: Get up even earlier than you’d think you have to as many items on the buffet don’t get replenished ever.
This is nothing new for Hilton. Having stayed at very many Hiltons around the world as a Gold and received upgrades every now and then, I frankly can never tell the difference between the upgraded room and the room I booked. This phenomenon also happens at Accors a lot (albeit less so than at Hilton properties). One chain that does a really good job at upgrades, though, is Marriott. I've always had a noticeably better room than booked when staying at a Marriott as a Gold. Pity that there aren't any Marriotts in Australia in my price range ($100/night). Hence, I'll have to settle for Accor!
So far so mediocre. The room was okay albeit a bit small, the mattress way too soft and the otherwise lovely rain shower had close to zero water pressure but we could live with all this. However- after bombarding me with those idiotic marketing emails from Covid time about how clean the rooms are at Hilton and even having a “Clean Stay” sticker on the bathroom mirror, hygiene turned out to be exactly the opposite of that: We noticed lots of smears and not cleaned spill stains on the furniture and the desk and even found a used tampon package (luckily not the tampon itself at least!) on the floor which is exactly what a gay man likes to find in his room- not. Clearly, if you can’t even vacuum the floors properly between guests, what chance is there that “Extra care will be taken in cleaning much used surfaces”? The elevator buttons clearly spoke to this as they seemed to never got cleaned a single time during our entire 7 night stay.

That’s a great segueway to the two biggest problems of which the first is housekeeping: Oh dear, oh dear! This is what happens if you kick out all your experienced staff as soon as a pandemic hits and then wonder why you can’t find anyone qualified after (hot tip- paying an extra $$$ above minimum wage might actually help with that). One day, we called for the room to be serviced before heading to the pool, only to find out two hours later that it hadn’t been done. Next day, we had the “Do not Disturb” sign on but housekeeping ignored it and stormed into the room anyway which is simply a total no no (and the signs are VERY clear in this hotel- nice big red or green squares, electronically lit so unless you’re a total moron who has never stayed in a hotel yourself before and never got any training… Oh yes, now this makes sense, actually). Another day, we left the hotel around 10am for a tour to Rotty Island and the housekeeping lady was literally right outside our room doing the room opposite from us. Green light clearly switched on so we thought that surely she would do ours afterwards. But when we came home in the evening, nothing had been done. Not much worse than retreating to your hotel only to find a messy room so I called reception straight away- I had seen somewhere earlier that “Housekeeping is available till 4pm” and by that time it was well beyond 6 so I was prepared. And, as expected, the completely tone death lady at reception wanted to pull the “Unfortunately Sirrrrr…” line on me but I wasn’t having it so told her to go do it herself or get her manager to do it. The latter gave me dirty looks once we left for yet another to wait in a nearby pub for the room to be cleaned but at least it was finally done. Zero apologies, zero explanation, nothing. When I checked out at the end, the then receptionist asked me to write a review about these housekeeping issues which in itself is rather unprofessional but I herby do it: Fix your housekeeping and train your staff properly!
Housekeeping has been an issue I've experienced at a number of hotels since the pandemic started. Doesn't matter the chain, brand or anything else. It's very hit or miss (often miss). I've been to hotels that have used COVID as an excuse for not providing housekeeping. Whether this is cost saving by the hotels or a genuine staff shortage that's up for debate. But this malarkey has to end. If I wanted to do my own bed and clean my own room I'd stay in an Airbnb thank you very much!
 
Hot buffet but a rather mediocre one. Lots of people paying to order their oh so important flat whites and lates.

For us it’s Hyatt or nothing from now on, hands down the better program in terms of upgrades and status recognition.
 
Property: Doubletree by Hilton Northbridge, Perth

Status: Diamond
Room Booked: King Guest Room
Received: Apparently an “upgrade” to a “Panoramic King room” which had views of the suburbs- meh
Rate: Booked about a year ago and hence the rate fluctuated really weirdly day by day- average of about $180 a night

We had stayed at this property pre-Covid and decided it was time to give it another go. Unfortunately, the shine of being new is long gone and the hotel now has some serious staffing/ housekeeping issues.

Received this rather annoying generic “You’ve been upgraded!” email the day before our stay and alas, the so-called “upgrade” was a non upgrade to what they call a “Panoramic Deluxe King”. When you look at the hotel map, it’s exactly the same size as any other room, just on a higher floor and our room even faced the dead-boring suburbs side of the hotel. Nothing of a panorama to speak of and it was not even on the very highest ot floors (12 out of 15, super generous- thank you for nothing). Actually- we had almost exactly the same room 3 or 4 years ago and back then we were only Gold status with Hilton. Also zero acknowledgement of status upon checkin by the generally rather clueless and not very well trained front office staff. Once again, HHonours Diamond is proving to be a pretty useless status beyond the Gold tier one below. Speaking of- proper coffee of course came at a fee, otherwise it’s filter coffee from the camping bucket. Not a big issue for me but I bet some of my Melbourne friends would be outraged. At least we were allowed to also have the hot food options, not that these would be anything to write home about. Hot tip: Get up even earlier than you’d think you have to as many items on the buffet don’t get replenished ever.

So far so mediocre. The room was okay albeit a bit small, the mattress way too soft and the otherwise lovely rain shower had close to zero water pressure but we could live with all this. However- after bombarding me with those idiotic marketing emails from Covid time about how clean the rooms are at Hilton and even having a “Clean Stay” sticker on the bathroom mirror, hygiene turned out to be exactly the opposite of that: We noticed lots of smears and not cleaned spill stains on the furniture and the desk and even found a used tampon package (luckily not the tampon itself at least!) on the floor which is exactly what a gay man likes to find in his room- not. Clearly, if you can’t even vacuum the floors properly between guests, what chance is there that “Extra care will be taken in cleaning much used surfaces”? The elevator buttons clearly spoke to this as they seemed to never got cleaned a single time during our entire 7 night stay.

That’s a great segueway to the two biggest problems of which the first is housekeeping: Oh dear, oh dear! This is what happens if you kick out all your experienced staff as soon as a pandemic hits and then wonder why you can’t find anyone qualified after (hot tip- paying an extra $$$ above minimum wage might actually help with that). One day, we called for the room to be serviced before heading to the pool, only to find out two hours later that it hadn’t been done. Next day, we had the “Do not Disturb” sign on but housekeeping ignored it and stormed into the room anyway which is simply a total no no (and the signs are VERY clear in this hotel- nice big red or green squares, electronically lit so unless you’re a total moron who has never stayed in a hotel yourself before and never got any training… Oh yes, now this makes sense, actually). Another day, we left the hotel around 10am for a tour to Rotty Island and the housekeeping lady was literally right outside our room doing the room opposite from us. Green light clearly switched on so we thought that surely she would do ours afterwards. But when we came home in the evening, nothing had been done. Not much worse than retreating to your hotel only to find a messy room so I called reception straight away- I had seen somewhere earlier that “Housekeeping is available till 4pm” and by that time it was well beyond 6 so I was prepared. And, as expected, the completely tone death lady at reception wanted to pull the “Unfortunately Sirrrrr…” line on me but I wasn’t having it so told her to go do it herself or get her manager to do it. The latter gave me dirty looks once we left for yet another to wait in a nearby pub for the room to be cleaned but at least it was finally done. Zero apologies, zero explanation, nothing. When I checked out at the end, the then receptionist asked me to write a review about these housekeeping issues which in itself is rather unprofessional but I herby do it: Fix your housekeeping and train your staff properly!

Second big issue for us, the rather nice little pool features the most idiotic set up of lounge chairs I’ve ever seen: Hardly any are two together so it’s something like chair, flower bucket, chair, wall, bean bag (I know- why???), chair and so on. Hardly a chance to sit together with your other half, let alone as a family. Might seem like a small issue but if you’re counting on that pool, be aware!

Likewise, be aware of the location: As a middle aged gay couple, we stayed here again precisely BECAUSE of the location. Northbridge is the exact opposite of what people think of when they ask us why the heck we like Perth: It’s artsy, gritty, noisy and could be at home in any bigger city. In other words, it’s a nightlife district with all that you’d expect. Directly opposite the hotel are two sex shops and a gay nightclub, to the left and right are a really dodgy looking pool billiard hall and a dingy karaoke bar aka money laundering establishment. I’d think this hotel was never meant to be a place for families but there were screaming kids aplenty so just be aware- if you stay here, don’t complain afterwards about the noise and the nightlife. For us, this is one of the very few positives about this hotel but that alone won’t be sufficient to draw us in again- there is just way too much wrong and I don’t like staff’s/ management’s attitude in the slightest.

That's terrible :(

As for the view of the suburbs; all the rooms face either east or west. So one way or another you have a view of the suburbs. I think the rooms right on the southern end of the corridor (James St end) might have a south facing window which would have views of the city.
 
If I wanted to do my own bed and clean my own room I'd stay in an Airbnb thank you very much!
My words- couldn’t agree more!

Likewise with that annoying new tendency to simply re-use the old bed sheets under the disguise of either Covid or “Saving the planet”: Fresh crisp linens every day is one of my prime reasons to stay in a hotel. Especially if it gets sweaty because they aircon isn’t running properly and/or the bedding is all plasticky.
 

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