Hilton HHonors - Hilton Hotel and Suites Niagara Falls/Fallsview - and Gold Member

My wife, myself, and our 16 yr old daughter are considering staying at this hotel for the first time on the nights of Sept 1 and 2 (Labour Day weekend). I am a HHonors Gold member.

Of note - we have stayed several times at the Embassy Suites - with a falls view.

As a gold member, will all 3 of us get the buffet breakfast (I understand that there is no lounge).

As a gold member, will we likely get upgraded to a falls view, if I book the much cheaper cityview room.

Are there any other hotel specific benefits for Gold members?

Casino is not a big thing for us. Are there other features that FTers would recommend the Hilton over Embassy Suites, or vice versa - esp for Gold members?

Obviously, on a holiday weekend there's no guarantee that you'll get the upgrade, as it always busy on weekends there, and this one will be even busier, so long lines at checkin (use the HHonors line for faster checkin) and rooms going quickly. Best bet is to try for a room in the newer North Tower (non-smoking in that tower) and request a higher floor when booking.
Try arriving a bit earlier then posted check in time, which may give you a better chance of an upgraded room.

Here's a link to a long thread about this hotel, with comments and suggestions to help you decide:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilton-hhonors/443725-hilton-niagara-falls-fallsview-10.html

bj-21.

Of note - we have stayed several times at the Embassy Suites - with a falls view.
Be aware that the Hilton is set signficantly further back from the falls, with the Casino in the way, so while both hotels have a "falls view" of some sort, the falls view at the Hilton is restricted to a smaller percentage of rooms (you have to be high up, not just on the correct side, to not have the casino "too much" in the way), and the view is more distant and probably more "cluttered". At the Embassy Suites, the view is almost "looking straight down" at the Canadian falls (especially from the higher floors, but even from the resaurant on the 9th floor), but at the Hilton it's more "looking across" at the falls (and perhaps more the American than the Canadian? I'm not sure on that).

Any of the rooms at the Hilton on the higher floors (above floor 15 for example) will give you a decent view of both falls as long as you're on the Fallsview Ave. side of the hotel facing the casino, which is directly across the street. This would exclude the smaller "Mid-Tower" which has only much lower floors so not a good view of the falls. We stay in South Tower rooms (we smokers get relegated there) and our view of both falls and the Niagara River gorge from rooms on floors 28-32 (some of those floors no longer for smokers) facing Fallsview Ave. have been fine, with the note of course that the casino hotel's tower is in the middle of the view. If you're not a smoker, request a North Tower upgrade when booking online in the comments box, that might help get a fallsview facing room, as a Gold.

Since the OP is an HHonors Gold, he and his wife will get comped to the breakfast buffet, and if the Watermark restaurant is still open for breakfast during his family's stay (they don't serve breakfast in the Watermark during the late fall and winter, rather in the ground floor restaurant) and if you get the Watermark on the 33rd floor of the South Tower, the view is excellent, weather permitting. Can't comment whether or not they'll comp the OP's daughter too, as they usually comp my wife and me, being Golds, but I'd guess that a request at the front desk for a comped breakfast for his daughter MAY get honored also, but be sure that you list three guests in the room at booking. You'll get the breakfast coupons at checkin and these must be presented at the restaurant each day for the comp.

Note that the valet parking can be hectic at times, and the waits for picking up your car can be long, especially on busy weekends. The self parking lot at the Hilton is small and fills quickly.

The tightrope walker from the Skylon tower to the Hilton North Tower is fun to watch, and he does the walk around 7 PM daily, weather permitting.

After staying at the ES for several years from shortly after it opened, and getting some rooms on high floors both facing the falls or facing the tower next to it (with very little views unless we craned our necks to look out of the corner of the windows), we found the rooms there had started to get very worn and dated looking, so we prefer the Hilton, and definately rate the Hilton's buffet breakfast, both in the Watermark or the main floor restaurant, to be better. Best to get to the breakfast as early as possible to avoid the very large crowds and long waits for a table. Also be sure to put into your MYWAY preferences that you choose breakfast rather then the bonus 1,000 HHonors points for the stay.

Use the HHonors line (right side of the lineups at the front desk) for checking out also, to avoid what will be very long lineups too.

Suggest looking at TripAdvisor for both good and not so good comments on the Hilton, and similarly the ES.

bj-21.