I still stay a fair bit at Hilton group Hotels, and will requalify for Diamond again this year, but by accident (ie staying a number of times at the same few properties like Conrad & Hilton in Singapore etc) rather than design.
However, as nearly all my stays are at the same few places (as mentioned above) I hadn't had to go through the usual and bl**dy annoying argument at check-in just to get the benefits you are entitled to for a while. I got a timely reminder at the Athens Hilton last week.
Having not stayed there before I wasn't up to speed on the place, but even I realised at check-in that a room on the 6th floor was not going to be an Exec Floor room. I therefore said 'I presume we have lounge access ?'. 'Err'. Here we go, again. 'You need to have your preferences set a certain way My Way'. 'I know this, and they are set correctly, that's why I know I should get lounge access'. Long in the tooth with these exchanges at Hiltons, I prevented the ten minutes wasted why he tried to say there is none available by adding 'and I know there are plenty of rooms available on the exec floor'. After some tapping on keys and a phone call the next thing he said was 'The lounge is open from 7am to 11pm (or whatever it is..) and is on the 11th floor.'
As we had also booked (and paid the little extra) for an Acropolis view room I enquired about an Exec Floor Acropolis view room. He said there were none available. Now, I had booked our room at 7pm the night before when every room type possible was available, and while I know large parties can of course roll up out of the blue, it was very unlikely. So I rolled out the line that increasingly you seem to have to at Hiltons ; 'So, when I go to my room and log on, there will be none of those rooms available to book ?'. Silence for a minute, then 'The inventory on the website may not be the same as what I have access to here' . They're right, the old ones are the best.
So, compare this to our next Hotel, the Westin Vouliagmeni, where yet again I hadn't stayed before. This was an award stay (gotta love these SPG free weekend nights offer, a basic room was 400 Euros here last week ) yet we got an enormous sea view suite with a fantastic double balcony, full bottle of wine and fruit bowl etc laid for us on the dining table. Not a murmur, no argument. Nothing. I didn't even need to ask. The Hotel was sold out and we were on an award stay, yet full benefits and no hassle. The Hilton was a paid stay and nowhere near full.
The difference in the top tier treatment in the two prgrammes is staggering, and those petty arguments at Hiltons over benefits is what pushed me over to SPG in the first place.
However, as nearly all my stays are at the same few places (as mentioned above) I hadn't had to go through the usual and bl**dy annoying argument at check-in just to get the benefits you are entitled to for a while. I got a timely reminder at the Athens Hilton last week.
Having not stayed there before I wasn't up to speed on the place, but even I realised at check-in that a room on the 6th floor was not going to be an Exec Floor room. I therefore said 'I presume we have lounge access ?'. 'Err'. Here we go, again. 'You need to have your preferences set a certain way My Way'. 'I know this, and they are set correctly, that's why I know I should get lounge access'. Long in the tooth with these exchanges at Hiltons, I prevented the ten minutes wasted why he tried to say there is none available by adding 'and I know there are plenty of rooms available on the exec floor'. After some tapping on keys and a phone call the next thing he said was 'The lounge is open from 7am to 11pm (or whatever it is..) and is on the 11th floor.'
As we had also booked (and paid the little extra) for an Acropolis view room I enquired about an Exec Floor Acropolis view room. He said there were none available. Now, I had booked our room at 7pm the night before when every room type possible was available, and while I know large parties can of course roll up out of the blue, it was very unlikely. So I rolled out the line that increasingly you seem to have to at Hiltons ; 'So, when I go to my room and log on, there will be none of those rooms available to book ?'. Silence for a minute, then 'The inventory on the website may not be the same as what I have access to here' . They're right, the old ones are the best.
So, compare this to our next Hotel, the Westin Vouliagmeni, where yet again I hadn't stayed before. This was an award stay (gotta love these SPG free weekend nights offer, a basic room was 400 Euros here last week ) yet we got an enormous sea view suite with a fantastic double balcony, full bottle of wine and fruit bowl etc laid for us on the dining table. Not a murmur, no argument. Nothing. I didn't even need to ask. The Hotel was sold out and we were on an award stay, yet full benefits and no hassle. The Hilton was a paid stay and nowhere near full.
The difference in the top tier treatment in the two prgrammes is staggering, and those petty arguments at Hiltons over benefits is what pushed me over to SPG in the first place.
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