Hilton HHonors - Need advise re:glon asia with good upgrade chance

I have two glon (old) to use - had planned to use them in the Maldives but am reconsidering due to their strange answers re: upgrade policy eg - won't ug diamond to over the water for free but will for $200 a night! (last time I was there was lucky to be upgraded as gold to otw - now told no chance as diamond http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif )

Anyway - am now thinking of cancelling this reservation and using the glons somewhere else - please advise your recomm. - criteria
Asia - preferably somewhere UA flies
biggest criteria - good treatment of diamonds WITHOUT hassle or begging
NOT interested in Conrad Sing (if it was glon) - since I have given up on this hotel due to their multiple different "rules" about ug which have nothing to do with promises made by Hilton.

Thanks so much -

i stayed for 2 nights in the conrad hkg and was treated very nicely. upg to top floor with garden view. i hear u can also ask for a non-executive floor harbor view room. its probably the most impressive hilton i've stayed in.

I just stayed at the Hilton Resort in Hua Hin Thailand. With a Gold Card I was treated very well. The staff will treat you royally. Just flash your card at check-in and I'm sure they will upgrade you to their best room. In our case that was a suite on the top floor. It seemed the best time to get the "treatment" is by avoiding peak seasons, and possibly weekends. As I recall UA serves Bangkok. The best part is that they are a category one hotel--low points!!

How about the Grand Hilton Seoul? I know you will be treated well. On the executive floors the rooms all have computers with free internet access. The Hilton Seoul is closer to downtown, but the Grand Hilton is more peaceful.

In general, we are supposed to receive our status privileges even when staying using awards.

Hilton Hua Hin is already on my list - but no need to use glon's - already have stayed there many times and more planned http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Haven't been to Soeul for a loooong time - what would you recommend doing in the area of the Grand?

Please keep the info coming http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

You don't need to use a GLON at the Grand Hilton Seoul either, if you can stay using point stretchers for 18,000 points a night (end of November through December).

There are hiking trails on the property. Otherwise, I would recommend using the subway to explore anywhere in the city. There is a shuttle to the Honje subway stop, or you can walk there in less than ten minutes. You can buy a subway discount ticket for 10K or 20K Won and that would be enough for 15 - 30 rides respectively, depending on how far you travel.

You probably know that United now has direct service to Seoul from San Francisco on a 777.

The Guam Hilton is nice, but not great. United no longer flies to Guam, but you can fly ANA there, a Star Alliance carrier.

I got upgraded to executive floor (as Diamond) at both the Hilton Tokyo and the Hilton Osaka. Used pre-devaluation 100,000-point GLON awards at both.

I did e-mail a request for this upgrade to both hotels ahead of time, just to avoid any misunderstanding or begging. I don't know, however, if this was necessary.

In any case, I have been treated very well at both hotels, especially Osaka.

As you know, UA flies both SFO-NRT and SFO-KIX.


Kathy

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by estnet:
Hilton Hua Hin is already on my list - but no need to use glon's - already have stayed there many times and more planned http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Haven't been to Soeul for a loooong time - what would you recommend doing in the area of the Grand?

Please keep the info coming http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif</font>

Not much to do in the area surrounding the Grand Hilton (unless you hang with some locals) so take the hotel shuttle(free) to different parts of the city like Namdaemun\MyoungDong and just hang out or visit the markets. Stay away from Itaewon. (major tourist trap. those folks can smell a US dollar from a mile away) I would reccomend taking a tour of Panmunjom and the DMZ. MyoungDong has alot of places to eat both Korean, Western, Japanese etc. I'm sure I forgot alot of stuff and will add as I remember.

Biggest issue I find with Asian properties is that they allocate more ExecFloor rooms to smokers than is found on this side of the Pacific. It tends to mean non-smoking rooms go quickly to guests who actually pay the ExecFloor rates [they really do exist!] and this benefit to Golds and Diamonds cannot be honoured unless you are prepared to take a smoking room. Since you didn't mention if you are a smoker, or how sensitive you are to residual smoke, this may or may not be an issue for you. [Had a week-long stay on a GLON at Tokyo Hilton, and they could only upgrade me if I took a smoking room. Fortunately, the room I received had little tobacco smell and I had a very pleasant stay.]

That being said Itaewon is normally frequented by low ranking GI's who don't particularly have a lot of money. If you want to get things made, know materials and know how to bargain, great buys can be had. That being said, there is nothing aesthetic to see there.