The Best UK Hiltons for Diamond Status

Discussion in 'Hilton Honors' started by litefoot, Jun 18, 2016.

  1. litefoot

    litefoot Active Member

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    OK, so now I have Hilton Diamond status, I'm curious to know which UK Hiltons offer the best level of service for Diamond members.

    Which UK Hiltons have lounges, for example?
     
  2. JoeD

    JoeD Well-Known Member

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    I'll be reporting back from the Conrad St.James next week - recommended by people on here.
     
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  3. litefoot

    litefoot Active Member

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    I'm going to Glasgow frequently over the next 12 months. I'm also interested in what the Hilton T4 and 5s have to offer. I've stayed at the latter but not with status.
     
  4. Ian

    Ian Active Member

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    You know you can filter on 'Executive Lounge' when searching the Hilton website, right?

    London ones I know have a lounge
    Hilton Bankside - my favourite London hotel. It's newly built, everything is all shiny and new and the staff are great. Fantastic breakfast in the lounge, and pretty much always quiet.

    Hilton Olympia - Has a lounge and is very near to OIympia. That's about all I can say that's positive about this

    Hilton Kensington - Decent sized lounge, good range of food and serves drinks a little later than most lounges, IIRC

    Waldorf Hilton - Didn't get to see this lounge, but can't be too shabby in here, surely.
     
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  5. Ian

    Ian Active Member

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    Also off to Cardiff Hilton in a few weeks for a night. That claims to have a lounge. I also got that weird e-standby offer when booking that suggested upgrade to an Executive Room was £0, so went for that. Hoping that might stack with a Diamond upgrade???
     
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  6. litefoot

    litefoot Active Member

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    I didn't know that, thanks!
     
  7. Chrism20

    Chrism20 New Member

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    Glasgow lounge always seems to be rammed even when the hotel is near empty and selling rooms at £68 a night.

    Spirits have been added again after having been removed for a while but it seems to have come at the cost of the food. One of the hot canapés is occasionally soup which is interesting to watch some people try and consume after they have necked a bottle of wine in under forty minutes.

    That's the only HH lounge in Scotland ATM but two others are on their way with DT Glasgow and Hilton Edinburgh Carlton when they officially open.
     
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  8. litefoot

    litefoot Active Member

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    Thanks!
     
  9. Ian

    Ian Active Member

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    Hilton Cardiff was OK. Booked regular Hilton room, and ended up with Executive room with view, which is a good few steps up from what we booked (as a points redemption too). The hotel was full I believe, and it looks like that room would have cost over £300 for the night, so quite happy having burned 40,000 points on it.

    Hotel is clean and fairly well maintained, but a bit dated. It occupies an awesome location for the City centre shops and restaurants. Lounge was up on the 7th floor with decent views,. There's a decent bean to cup coffee machine and take away cups available, so I did help myself on arrival before we headed off exploring (I think that was allowed?) There is only wine and Carlsberg offered in the evenings, along with a reasonable selection of canapes. Breakfast was underwhelming, and probably should have gone to the restaurant. Staff were all friendly and helpful, and seemingly genuinely grateful for my custom and thanked me for loyalty (inferred from diamond status)
     
  10. litefoot

    litefoot Active Member

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    I had my first Diamond stay last weekend and thought you gents might be interested to know how it went, given I got the status through your tips. It was at the Hilton Heathrow T5. At check-in I asked for a room upgrade and immediately got it. I was given a room on the fourth floor, which is exec rooms only. To my surprise, I was informed by the check-in lady that the fourth floor also had a free executive lounge. I went straight in, and found free plates of cheesecake and chocolate fudge cake. Needless to say, that went down well with me. Then from 6pm to 8pm they also served free snacks and alcohol. Nothing amazing, just sandwiches and various other bits and pieces, of which I had plenty. It wasn't a bar as such, rather a selection of free wines/beers etc sat along with the food.

    The room was relatively small but very nice, with a free bottle of wine. There's a free minibar which costs extra if you remove anything. The TV has 110 TV and radio channels, including plenty of foreign ones like Qatar TV and Sudan TV...

    Bathroom looked pretty nice too. Bath, separate shower, dressing gown, slippers, toiletries.

    The room wifi was good, and refreshingly, I didn't have to login, or use a password, to access it. Just hit the connect button on your system tray and you're in.

    Breakfast was completely free - cooked and continental - so I got my money's worth and had both.

    After that I went down to the spa and used the pool for an hour, which was free. It was empty.

    The hotel isn't part of the terminal - it's a couple of miles away by public transport. Obviously there's an expensive Hotel Hoppa bus for £5 each way, but I'd recommend the hourly No. 10 bus which stops on the main road. Cost £2.20. Journey time five minutes from the terminal. Same for the Hoppa, except it stops halfway at the new Holiday Inn (on the same road) and will drop you outside the door of the Hilton, rather than the main road.

    One warning: the exec lounge attendant really did not like me using my camera and got quite shirty with me. The hotel concierge at the front didn't like me taking photos either!

    Two days after my stay, Hilton gave me 3000 HHonors points, which was a great bonus!

    Overall, definitely worth the £80 I paid for it in the flash sale last week. I have a ton of photos and videos which I will attempt to put on YouTube if I ever manage to learn how to edit HD videos!
     
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  11. tommyl

    tommyl Co-founder Staff Member

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    Hilton Paddington is pretty good for Diamonds. There's plenty of "superior" rooms to be upgraded to, and I really like the lounge - it's well stocked and overlooks the station, so great for people-watching.
     
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  12. litefoot

    litefoot Active Member

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    Thanks. It's on my list :)
     
  13. Gagravarr

    Gagravarr Active Member

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    The Hilton at Gatwick Airport (LGW) has a large but quite busy exec lounge, and thankfully also lets you checkin there as a Diamond to skip the main queues. Lounge has in the evening a few beers, some spirits, almost enough snacky food to make a meal. As a Diamond you should get one of the nicer rooms in the new bit of the hotel.

    The Hilton Metropole in London (Edgeware Road / Paddington) is huge and a bit soulless, but does have a cosy (and sometimes full...) exec lounge, again and a chance to checkin there as Diamond and skip the queues.

    The Edinburgh WA was very good when I stayed there 18 months ago (upgraded to a lovely huge suite, full breakfast etc), but I gather from flyertalk that they've cut back on Diamond treatment lately. Also for Edinburgh, the Hilton Grosvenor doesn't have a lounge, but I've always had good treatment from them. Last time we got a suite + free drink, and the breakfast is nice. Time before I booked two rooms, both the cheapest, and with me as the only Diamond. They were happy to upgrade both rooms to the biggest non-suite rooms, allow an early checkin etc.
     
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  14. Ian

    Ian Active Member

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    Good info on the LGW lounge, as I am flying out of there next June for my almost free holiday

    To add another London area option I have recently experienced, Kensington Olympia has a fairly small lounge with most seats around tables rather than a relaxing area. They serve a decent range of canapes in the evening including tempura prawns, cheese and biscuits, crudites and hummus. Booze-wise (which is what we're really interested in) they have bottled Kronenburg 1664 (eugh!), red and white wine, whisky, rum, gin and vodka plus a fridge full of mixers, all help yourself. Breakfast is average with bacon, sausage and scrambled egg (usually overdone) plus fruits, cereals, cold meats, cheese etc. You can get a decent cup of coffee, and they also have take out cups which is a nice option when you are heading out.

    Apart from the lounge, I can't think of much else good to say about Hilton Kensington Olympia, it's a decent walk from any tube station (overground is right next door, though) and the hotel is generally a bit of a dump with the rooms in need of an overhaul. I had a shower that leaked from where the hose joined the head and sprayed water all over the suspended ceiling making the tiles smell of damp. The low ceiling also prevented me standing up straight in the shower (I'm 6'4"). When I mentioned this at check out, they said that is how the ceilings are in that part of the hotel, I could ask for the other wing next time, but it's not as nice! That's when I decided not to go back!
     
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