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Yep, I get it. You frankly couldn’t really care less about my one night stay at a budget hotel at a regional airport. But wait! There is method to my madness.

We’ve previously eulogised about the fantastic value you can get from redeeming your Hilton HHonors points at Hilton Category 1 and 2 hotels. Being a Category 2 hotel available at an astonishingly good 10,000 Hilton HHonors points a night, my stay at the Hampton by Hilton Liverpool airport is a practical example of exactly what you are getting for this redemption. As you will see, it’s some seriously good value.

I have stayed at a lot of airport hotels, and the Hampton at Liverpool airport is hard to beat for ease of access. First of all, you can see it when you step off the plane!

While it’s not directly connected by a walkway to the airport, the Hampton Liverpool Airport is literally across a small road from the airport exit. Given how small Liverpool airport is, baggage permitting you can be in the hotel within a few minutes of stepping off your flight. That compares very well to calling for a shuttle bus, waiting for a shuttle bus then being duly shuttled out of the airport perimeter to your “airport” hotel, as all too often is the case.

Upgraded?

I am Hilton Diamond, but wasn’t upgraded as such because the rooms are all standard, but i) I was given a top floor room with good views of the airport runway and ii) I used the “Second Guest Stays free” HHonors benefit to book the room for just me and my two kids (it has one double plus a foldaway double). My wife then stayed as the free second guest (it used to be known as “Spouse Stays Free”, so refers to the second adult in the staying party). Doing this meant I could book just one room, as booking for 2 adults and 2 children gave me a “no rooms available” message.

The room

Hampton rooms are not particularly spacious, but they contain the necessary in an efficient way. In addition to the double bed, we had the sofa bed out for our 2 and 4 year old, so space was at a premium, but we coped fine.

The rooms are new, spotless and the beds very comfortable. The bathrooms are shower only, but the shower is very good and well designed for the limited space.

What particularly struck me about the room was the impressive views. While I accept this puts me slightly into the “Aviation Geek” category, seeing the full panorama of the airport, South Liverpool and beyond was really quite impressive.

Facilities

As with all Hamptons, there was a perfectly acceptable gym.

Restaurants/breakfast

Not only is the breakfast at Hamptons always included in your room rate, it’s also pretty good.

Ok, it fails my “orange juice test”, with sickly sweet gloop dispensed from one of those “crime against humanity” juice machines you get all-too-frequently at budget hotels. That aside, there’s a good spread, all of reasonable quality. In addition to a wide range of cereals, pastries, breads and spreads, there’s a Full English option, and even a waffle machine which, while appearing slightly lethal at first glance, makes you a great, fresh waffle in 3 minutes.

Lounge

There are no executive lounges at Hampton by Hilton hotels.

Quality of service

I cannot say enough good things about the reception staff at the Hampton Liverpool airport. They were genuinely charming. Not only were they extremely, and quite sincerely, welcoming, they went out of their way to provide good service: whether allowing my Diamond member “free soft drink” to be a hot chocolate, or allowing my toddler kids to go behind the desk and “check themselves in” (not a cost cutting measure, you cynics), they were absolutely brilliant. Perhaps I got particularly friendly staff members, but my experience was replicated on check-in and check-out.

I ordered food in the evening, and after a fair old wait for it, Hilton brought me the wrong meal – pasta instead of a curry. This may seem like a complaint, but actually it is quite the opposite. As soon as I made clear the mistake, the staff member apologised profusely and very genuinely, rushed to arrange the correct meal for me and then offered me a free drink of anything I wanted. A mistake yes, but one anyone could have made and brilliantly handled. A negative situation turned into a positive one, so a genuinely excellent bit of customer service. Indeed excellent customer service was very much the theme at this hotel. Fantastic. The curry was pretty good, too.

Room details

Rate Paid: 10,000 HHonors points per night

Room Type: Double with fold out bed.

Summary of stay

All in all, this was an excellent stay. Pleasant rooms, fantastic service and a hearty breakfast – and at a cost of 10,000 HHonors points for 4 people. If you ever need a night at Liverpool airport, I cannot recommend this hotel enough, and I’d similarly recommend any UK Hampton at 5K (in the case of the Newport Hampton) or 10K HHonors points (in the case of 5 others).