How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

Property: Conrad Bali
Room booked: Deluxe King Ocean Front
Rate Type & Amount: Amex THC - 4th Night Free
Room Received: Conrad Suite King
HH Status: Diamond

In the middle of this stay but just posting to advise anyone else to double check the rate charged versus booked. I booked on Amex in July for a total of ~$650 USD, but was charged ~$950 on check-in (not including deposit for incidentals). Went to the desk the next day. First I was told that the Amex rate would have been based on the July exchange rate, which had changed (to the tune of $300 in the hotel's favour?). Challenged this and they took a photo of my Amex confirmation and $. Just received a call from them to advise that this was a glitch and the rate has been adjusted back down. I'm choosing to charitably interpret this for the time being.

Also thinking the suite upgrade might have been a bit of a downgrade for me, as I'm just one and didn't need all the space. I think the suites wing has limited ocean view options, so maybe my original room would have been better?

Experience otherwise so far has been quite good, proactively notified about the $100 Amex credit, executive afternoon tea and happy hour are good too. Property seems quite quiet (I was one of maybe two or three people in the lounge over 2+ hours).
Yeah I found the lounge empty during the day when I went to grab a quick take away soft drink or coffee.

Even at 5-6pm was only ever max of 4 couples I saw
 
In the middle of this stay but just posting to advise anyone else to double check the rate charged versus booked. I booked on Amex in July for a total of ~$650 USD, but was charged ~$950 on check-in (not including deposit for incidentals). Went to the desk the next day. First I was told that the Amex rate would have been based on the July exchange rate, which had changed (to the tune of $300 in the hotel's favour?). Challenged this and they took a photo of my Amex confirmation and $. Just received a call from them to advise that this was a glitch and the rate has been adjusted back down. I'm choosing to charitably interpret this for the time being.

Thanks for the heads up as I'm on a THC rate here in December.

I booked through Platinum Services over the phone as the Amex Travel website was playing up, my booking confirmation has the price listed in IDR so they'd have no forex argument
 
The Conrad suites are a definite upgrade but if you wanted the view then clearly it’s not the same. I guess hotels can’t please everyone, you got a 2 or 3 or so category upgrade.
 
Property: Ovolo Brisbane
Booked: Large room (base)
Received: As booked; lowest floor right next to the elevator
Status: Gold
Rate: 40,000points

The hilton had jumped in price $400 overnight so thought I'd try this one instead. Very disappointing experience; no recognition of status whatsoever and given when I assume is the worst room (my preferences say high floor away from elevator). There's a lolly bar in the reception which is kinda cute - not sure if it's just for (urgh) halloween.

Room is very big and sparsely furnished. Nice toiletries. Very poor soundproofing. There was an alexa device blaring music which I couldn't figure out how to turn off, so I just unplugged it. TV said it had a chromecast but it wasn't working.

Went to get breakfast in the morning, told no it wasn't included despite Gold. I queried this and they said they'd check with reception but by this stage I just wanted to get to work (there were heaps of people faffing about trying to charge breakfast to the room).

Yeah nah.
 
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Property: Ovolo Brisbane
Booked: Large room (base)
Received: As booked; lowest floor right next to the elevator
Status: Gold
Rate: 40,000points

The hilton had jumped in price $400 overnight so thought I'd try this one instead. Very disappointing experience; no recognition of status whatsoever and given when I assume is the worst room (my preferences say high floor away from elevator). There's a lolly bar in the reception which is kinda cute - not sure if it's just for (urgh) halloween.

Room is very big and sparsely furnished. Nice toiletries. Very poor soundproofing. There was an alexa device blaring music which I couldn't figure out how to turn off, so I just unplugged it. TV said it had a chromecast but it wasn't working.

Went to get breakfast in the morning, told no it wasn't included despite Gold. I queried this and they said they'd check with reception but by this stage I just wanted to get to work (there were heaps of people faffing about trying to charge breakfast to the room).

Yeah nah.
The standard of this place obviously hasn’t changed in the last few years. Great pool though!
 
Property: Next by Hilton Curio, Melbourne
Booked: Twin room
Received: Twin room
Status: Diamond
Rate: Govt

No upgrade, no welcome note or amenity. 2 waters in a drawer.

The exec lounge was pleasant enough for drinks/canapés and breakfast.

Meh.
I had a 12 day stay there in October. The major issues were service related - room cleaning hit or miss, poor service in the restaurant, the executive lounge with some serious food handling issues. I could go on. I raved about it in its early days less than a year ago but not anymore. I am really disappointed.
 
Property: Conrad Osaka
Room booked: Deluxe king on points, 5 nights + 2 nights
King Received: Premiun king
Status: Diamond

Hotel quite full despite its high rates. Still fairly newish looking. Great service all around. Full buffet breakfast at restaurant with a la carte menu as well. Teppanyaki highly recommended. 25% discount HH discount. Didn't use the lounge. No video streaming or mirroring available on TV.

Property: Conrad Macao
Room booked: Deluxe king Eiffel Tower view, 2 nights paid
King Received: Deluxe king suite
Status: Diamond

Property showing its age. But the other parts of the Londoner hotels have been fully renovated. Full breakfast buffet at restaurant. You have to pick a 1.5 hour slot for breakfast at check in but don't think it was really enforced as we were just told we could eat for 1.5 hours. No EL. Service was great. No video streaming or mirroring available on TV. No USB beside bed.

Property: Conrad HKG
Room booked: Deluxe king peak, 5 nights paid
King Received: Executive king peak
Status: Diamond

Very full hotel with multiple conferences and teams from some cricket tour. Great service all round. Fantastic EL staff. Uploading the drinks menu here. Property definitely showing its age. Plug in bathtub leaks. Part of the lobby undergoing reno. Full buffet breakfast in restaurant but selection not as good as the other two Conrads. Surprised that there's a dress code sign with pictures of no bathrobe, slippers and thongs but don't think that was meant for breakfast guests.
 

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I did a simple search for unverified data and came back with this ditty.

As of recent data, Hilton Honors has approximately 6.5 million active members worldwide1. Of these, around 2.5% hold Diamond status. This means there are roughly 162,500 Hilton Diamond members globally.
Interesting. Considering there are credit cards in the US that hand out free HHD, I think that seems like a low estimate.

E.g. per AMEX financial statements, there are apparently 60m+ Amex cards on issue in the US. If 0.5% of those are Hilton Aspire cards then there’d be 300,000 HHD right there. Obviously I’m plucking numbers out of thin air and completely acknowledging I have no actual knowledge/facts - but 162,500 seems low.

I reckon there’s 160,000 HH Diamond at any one time at the Conrad Singapore alone, based on my lounge visits.
 
E.g. per AMEX financial statements, there are apparently 60m+ Amex cards on issue in the US. If 0.5% of those are Hilton Aspire cards then there’d be 300,000 HHD right there. Obviously I’m plucking numbers out of thin air and completely acknowledging I have no actual knowledge/facts - but 162,500 seems low.

The 2.5% might be accurate, the problem is the 6.5m figure I think...


Through the award-winning guest loyalty program Hilton Honors, the more than 200 million Hilton Honors members who book directly with Hilton can earn Points for hotel stays and experiences money can't buy.

Although in the same article it states:

Hilton remains optimistic and committed to providing flexibility to its more than 118 million Hilton Honors members worldwide.

:rolleyes:

Edit: It appears the 6.5m / 2.5% stat is also from 20 years ago...

 
Property: H Curio LAX
Room booked: Deluxe King
Room Received: Deluxe King airport view (noticed upgrade in app at least 5 days before arrival)
Status: Diamond

Hot tip: water is cheaper at the Subway than in the hotel, or at the bodega down the street. I got two waters in my room.

Property: Embassy Suites by Hilton Monterey Bay Seaside
Room booked: 1 King bed @ 70k points per night (standard room reward)
Room Received: 1 King bed Balcony Bayview (balcony door was locked, didn't ask if it could be unlocked)
Status: Diamond
Parking is $20/day in an open, non-secure parking lot. Expensive! Using points may not have been the best redemption for Hilton points, but it saved me accommodation expenses for a few days in Monterey/Seaside before a conference that was close to Fisherman's Wharf.
There's a Chilis on the other side of the car park, and a decent restaurant for dinner in the Embassy Suites.
 

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