Hilton HHonors - Hampton Inn Will Be Upgrading Rooms

Starting in Mar 04 the Hampton Inns will be installing new matresses, new pillows, new bed covers and some costlier bathroom toiletries. Additionally they will be introducing one "hot" breakfast item at each HI. About 60-80 HI will be upgraded each month.

MisterNice

Upbeat article in USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2004-01-28-hampton_x.htm

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Wow! This really seems like quite an undertaking, but a welcome one. Most Hampton Inns are still in good shape from my experience and this will only make them better. Contrast that with Four Points by Sheraton which is an absolute disgrace to the Starwood brand. And they still haven't made any significant renovations that I am aware of.

I stayed at the Hampton Inn in Concord, NH last week and it is in the middle of its renovation.

They put me in one of the remodeled rooms and I have to say it was one the nicest room I've had with any Hilton property in quite a while. Brand new furniture and bedding; the bathroom was exceptional.

It was rather noisy and dusty throughout the property but a small price to pay for the end result.

FANTASTIC NEWS!

Most of my travel is in smaller towns and cities and Hampton is always the best choice. This will just keep them at the top of my list!

Don't miss the mention that all Hamptons will have free high speed Internet (either wired or wireless) in all rooms by the end of 2004.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pdhenry:
Don't miss the mention that all Hamptons will have free high speed Internet (either wired or wireless) in all rooms by the end of 2004.</font>

This'll be awesome...

--Grog--

For the prices we've paid, we've been pretty satisfied with the various Hampton Inns we've stayed at throughout the past two years. I can't help but think that this renovation move would result in rates increasing across the board.

Definitely welcome news here. I always look forward to stays at Hampton Inns because I've found them utterly reliable, but if I had to make one complaint, it's that I'd prefer a little more from the bed -- sheets, comforter, etc. I agree that FourPoints is an utter disgrace to Starwood. Those places are just plain awful. But I think Hilton knows to keep HIs in good shape -- a value line of hotels that maintains such a high level of quality is a major attraction.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Scotch:
I can't help but think that this renovation move would result in rates increasing across the board.</font>The article essentially says this. <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">From the USAToday Article:
Success of Hampton's makeover will hinge on acceptance by guests and hotel owners, who are shelling out most of the money for the update. "The challenge is showing the franchisees they can get a return on investment," says Charles Ledsinger, CEO of Choice Hotels International, which runs such competing chains as Comfort Suites and Clarion. "You've got to drive the rate."</font> It also mentions that Hampton was the only Hilton chain whose average nightly rate increased in 2003 over 2002.

I stayed at the Hampton in Cartersville, GA and I think they're using some of the new gear. The key holder, letterhead, and signs near the breakfast area all looked very different and pretty cool. They was also in a deep blue and said "welcome to georgia" on it.

I have stayed at the Hampton Inn in Collinsville, IL. The hot breakfast has sausage patties and egg patties, Atkins friendly indeed. Threee types of coffee, reg, decaf & robusto. Breakfast bags to go that contain yogurt, muffin, cereal bar and a bottle of water + the assorted pastries, donuts, etc.

I'm getting upgraded to a two room suite with a jacuzzi for the astounding rate of $55 a night. The hotel is about 20 minutes Northeast of downtown St. Louis, not East St. Louis.

I am very impressed. Get me a softer pillow next time and I will be good to go...
G

How about a new thread with a list of upgraded properties? I think if we limit it to simply listing the properties, it could be a great resource.

What are the differences between the new Hampton Inn versus a Hilton Garden Inn?

I am not too sure about this. Some Hampton's I've stayed at are real dumps. Others are really good. I think it will entirely depend on how the money is allocated between hotels. Some definitely need much, much more money than others. I also hope the money actually gets used for upgrades and not random other things the hotel has on their wish lists. Just my thoughts.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Scott218:
What are the differences between the new Hampton Inn versus a Hilton Garden Inn?</font>
Among other things:

- The HGI breakfest isn't free unless you're elite, in which case it still isn't free for everyone if there's more than two of you, while the Hampton breakfast is free for all who stay there and no fussing with coupons.

- But the fact that there's coupons at HGI is because the breakfast at HGI's is in the hotel restaurant! No such beast at a Hampton Inn, which means (a) you have to step outside of the hotel to get to a restaurant, and (b) the only room service is through outside vendors (the hotel usually does have info about a couple local restaurants who deliver to hotel rooms). Meanwhile, at HGI you are limited to a buffet for the FREE breakfast, but you can order other breakfast items for more $ if you want; at Hampton the free breakfast is all there is.

- Hamptons have free phone calls at least for some reasonable voice duration (some locations limit it to 30 minutes per call or whatever, but once they have free high-speed internet that'll be less of an issue than it might be right now at hotels where dial-up is the only free internet access).

- Do almost all HGI's have free parking? It's very hard to find a Hampton that doesn't.

- If you want to earn airline miles on any airline other than Southwest (in Southwest's case you earn the same 0.5 credits per stay at either Hampton or HGI), you earn 500 miles per stay at HGI but only 100 at Hampton.

- In many cities there's between zero and a small handful of HGI's, while there's usually several up to a dozen or more Hamptons. So if you need a specific suburban location, chances are much greater there'll be a Hampton near there than an HGI. (But there is the occasional smaller city with an HGI but no Hampton.)

That's not ALL the differences, but that should be enough for a start. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I just stayed at the HI in Vacaville, CA. They already have the new blue room keys, folios, and some new banners. They say the hot items will be added to their breakfast on February 25. There have been no changes to the rooms, at least yet. Perhaps because it is a fairly new property, the franchisee is waiting til later to do that?