New Breakfast enhancement

[Princess Fiona]

Judging by recent comment from Princess Fiona, it may be a case that they are attempting to reduce the long queues for Glass in the mornings!

This is exactly what I think they are trying to do. If so they will need to substantially up the ante with the breakfast offerings in the Exec Lounge as they are very poor. Not really comparing apples with apples but as an example : Conrad HKG has breakfast for Diamonds in the Garden Cafe or the lounge. The food in the lounge is a mini/lite version of that which is available in the Garden Cafe. It's actually really decent and very convenient to go there if you just want a quick fuel stop before going out for the day. The continental buffet at Exec Lounge Hilton Sydney bears no resemblance whatsoever to what is available in Glass. Boiled eggs, poor cold cuts and sad fruit salad just don't cut it really.
It would also be crazy to restrict Diamonds to the Exec Lounge but have Golds not upgraded to Exec level have breakfast in Glass.
FWIW there are a few hotels in the Hilton chain worldwide which restrict restaurant breakfast to Diamonds only and have all Golds take it in the Exec Lounge. Personally I'd rather Hilton SYD didn't implement any changes to breakfast but if they do this option would make much more sense. Why penalise your highest value customers? Crazy stuff

 

[k3nnis]

What happens to gold that doesn't get upgraded to executive rooms?

 

[Deleted member 29185]

What happens to gold that doesn't get upgraded to executive rooms?

I think the suggestion is that all elite guests will partake of breakfast in the exec lounge. I doubt that means that all golds will get exec lounge access for canapés though.

 

[k3nnis]

Ok thanks. As long as they don't remove the breakfast entitlement for golds completely...

 

[dajop]

What happens to gold that doesn't get upgraded to executive rooms?

Follow the US style approach to continental breakfast .... as in a pastry and a coffee or a $7 starbucks voucher?

 

[DC3]

Yes, true at some Hiltons. Although I recently stayed at HGI, Homewood Suites and Embassy Suites, all offering a reasonable hot breakfast, including eggs to order. Not up to Glass standards of course but quite okay as a hot breakfast.

Edit: For all guests

 

[basso]

Follow the US style approach to continental breakfast .... as in a pastry and a coffee or a $7 starbucks voucher?

I have been in at least one US hotel where there was a special section set aside for Golds, and that is pretty much what they got - a selection of pastries and a tea or coffee....

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I guess all round, the Hilton breakfast is one thing that makes being a diamond worthwhile. The four things for me (in order of priority) are:

1) point accumulation;
2) breakfast;
3) exec lounge; and
4) room upgrades

Although the exec lounge is neither here nor there (I could do the same in my room for maybe $10 if I could be bothered), the breakfast is an important consideration (as serfty says, you can't eat a view) and it's probably genuinely worth to me, about $20 a day. Room upgrades are valueless to me (except for the DYKWIA factor) as with Hilton, one can not bank on getting an upgrade at all and as such, the room needed must be booked as a minimum and any upgrade is just icing on the cake. The points though, are a very important consideration. The accumulation of points (when one stays for business purposes anyway) is worth a considerable amount of money. The Hilton points alone, were worth probably about $15000 worth of "free" accommodation during our January holiday. Admittedly, the value can only be assessed as what I would have paid anyway and it is debateable as to whether we would have chosen Conrad Rangali if we didn't have the points, but regardless, there was a lot of value realised with those points.

There are also other factors of Hilton status. Exec lounge check in to bypass queues. HH help desk for little issues. A fairly good network worldwide etc.

I guess everyone has to make an assessment as to just how much the full breakfast is worth to them personally and hope that other Hiltons don't try this on..........but they can do so if they wish and still be 100% compliant with the HH T&Cs. It's also worth considering, that although they may make sweeping changes, a hotel may choose to allow frequent guests to continue unchanged. An example is the fairly recent change to the cancellation policy. A certain Hilton has told me that if I genuinely need to cancel on the same day, they will permit it without penalty as I rarely cancel a booking and they understand my situation which may from time to time require last minute cancellation due to issues beyond my control (PNGs rapidly changeable weather).

Let's just hope it works against H-SYD and they reverse the decision. For me, I haven't stayed there for some time, preferring the IC but I'm also keen to try some of the other hotels in SYD, like the Hyatt and the Four Seasons to name just two, so this change won't effect me so much. H-SYD doesn't hold much attraction for me at the moment.

 

[drross]

At Darwin Hilton from Sunday - we'll see what Diamond benefits are like in the top end

 

[Moopere]

Judging by recent comment from Princess Fiona, it may be a case that they are attempting to reduce the long queues for Glass in the mornings!

Yes, you may well be right ... a thought comes immediately to mind on how to fix that though - make the lounge breakfast worth going to Seriously.

If you open a breakfast bar somewhere in the city and lots of people are coming then you change the menu and people stop coming and instead go to the competition ... well .. its obvious what you need to do Years ago, more than I care to remember now (3-4-5+) breakfasts in the AU lounges were not bad, never as good as main restaurant sure, but worth coming to. They reduced the offering to almost nothing and people stopped bothering to turn up.

Lounge breakfast in Asia (my experience is DT & Hilton) is always packed to the brim with guests.

 

[basso]

Re: How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

There is something wrong here, but I've come across it before at other properties. The fact is, a gold without exec access is still owed a free breakfast ... can't be in the lounge as no access so it has to be in the main restaurant and they can't weedle out of it with some sort of penny pinching - so thats the minimum. Gold with exec or Diamonds (with exec access as standard) have this to fall back on as a minimum service level - it can only build from here.

Isn't this thread just dripping with a sense of entitlement? End of the day, the specified thing is a continental breakfast. It is up to the hotel how they deliver on that requirement.

 

[Moopere]

Let's just hope it works against H-SYD and they reverse the decision. For me, I haven't stayed there for some time, preferring the IC but I'm also keen to try some of the other hotels in SYD, like the Hyatt and the Four Seasons to name just two, so this change won't effect me so much. H-SYD doesn't hold much attraction for me at the moment.

My guess, and its a total guess, is that Hilton AU must be enjoying great occupancy and thus feel confident enough to start scraping the sides off the penny.

Its an interesting phenomena to me that AU Hiltons seem to be quite happy to drive to the bottom as far as 5 star bennies go, whereas almost everywhere I stay in SE/Central Asia (not only Hiltons) seems to be the opposite, there is a general striving to raise the bar.... its got to be competition related I suppose.

Like you, Hilton SYD doesn't hold a lot of allure - I've found the staff to be great and the location is excellent, but the rooms are seriously uninspiring ... and the 'exec' upgrades are enough to make you smile with the silliness of it all. Still, they are normally busy, so from their perspective they must be doing things right.

There are a lot of good looking hotels in the SYD CBD, I've got to get out and try them, start building some SPG value. Also can help to reset ones AU expectation, the grass always seems greener eh? I remember staying at the Four Points in SYD about 18 months ago or so, seriously underwhelming experience and I went running back to Hilton SYD with open arms for my next stay haha.

 

[Moopere]

Re: How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

Isn't this thread just dripping with a sense of entitlement? End of the day, the specified thing is a continental breakfast. It is up to the hotel how they deliver on that requirement.

Yeah sure - I'll wear that comment, certainly from the perspective of my recent posts.

This comes up in my own mind mainly because:

- Stays in Central/SE Asia have me leaving a Hilton hotel feeling like a valued guest (and valued status holder) and I can't wait for my next stay with them
- Stays in Australia, with very few exceptions (and even less in more recent times) have me walking away scratching my chin and genuinely pondering the real world value of holding status with a single chain.

Its quite a different emotional/customer response. Of course this type of circumstance is certainly not limited to the Hilton chain in Australia, it would be fair to generalise these comments across the tourism industry country wide (again, there are exceptions, but only a few that I've bumped into).

 

[DC3]

I've also gained an expectation of entitlement. I've had many good stays at Hilton SYD and have enjoyed the Glass breakfast (and dinner on occasions).

I'd like to know their occupancy rate. If it's as high as I suspect, then either we dance to their tune, or move on.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

There are a lot of good looking hotels in the SYD CBD, I've got to get out and try them, start building some SPG value. Also can help to reset ones AU expectation, the grass always seems greener eh? I remember staying at the Four Points in SYD about 18 months ago or so, seriously underwhelming experience and I went running back to Hilton SYD with open arms for my next stay haha.

I hadn't considered the Four Points (Darling Harbour?). I must admit I've stayed in a number of SYD hotels that look good, but are very uninspiring in reality and most have been centralised around Darling Harbour. I'm more keen to try some of the others around the Rocks and Circular Quay. Even Sheraton on the Park was rated fairly well from one AFFer (IIRC). I'm thinking the key to Sydney, is to forgo status and buy the desired benefits. My next stay will be the Park Hyatt at Circular Quay. That looks impressive at least and I'm sure one could grab a fairly impressive view!

 

[drross]

I hadn't considered the Four Points (Darling Harbour?). I must admit I've stayed in a number of SYD hotels that look good, but are very uninspiring in reality and most have been centralised around Darling Harbour. I'm more keen to try some of the others around the Rocks and Circular Quay. Even Sheraton on the Park was rated fairly well from one AFFer (IIRC). I'm thinking the key to Sydney, is to forgo status and buy the desired benefits. My next stay will be the Park Hyatt at Circular Quay. That looks impressive at least and I'm sure one could grab a fairly impressive view!

Sheraton on the Park - very good to us. Park Hyatt sounds great. Taj Blu( now renamed?) at woolomoloo was excellent

 

[boomy]

Sheraton on the Park - very good to us. Park Hyatt sounds great. Taj Blu( now renamed?) at woolomoloo was excellent

While both Sheraton and Westin are better then Hilton SYD in almost every aspect, platinums only get free (hot) complimentary breakfast in the lounge, unless swapping the welcome gift of 500 pts to breakfast in the restaurant (good value for two people).
Blue used to be great as expected from the Taj group but now it's part of the Olovo group, I wonder if standards remained the same.
Would love to try Park Hyatt once but must be under corporate rate, their normal rates are crazy.
Radisson Blue is good. Rooms, executive lounge and breakfast are all very nice.
The Darling is another option if anyone is looking to stay near Darling Harbour.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Would love to try Park Hyatt once but must be under corporate rate, their normal rates are crazy.

Horses for courses I guess. The rates are certainly dearer than most other hotels but I have seen some lowish rates with the gov't discount. I'm guessing it has to be número uno as far as location is concerned. Hard pressed to think of another with such a commanding position.

 

[boomy]

Horses for courses I guess. The rates are certainly dearer than most other hotels but I have seen some lowish rates with the gov't discount. I'm guessing it has to be número uno as far as location is concerned. Hard pressed to think of another with such a commanding position.

Forgot to mention the Shangri-la. If you're looking for impressive views the club rooms will deliver.
But yes, I'm sure Hyatt is a safe bet. Just need to score a table at Quay for the perfect stay

 

[kpc]

But yes, I'm sure Hyatt is a safe bet. Just need to score a table at Quay for the perfect stay

We did exactly that quinella a couple of years ago but found Quay overrated. ..consider Sepia in Sussex St