Hilton HHonors - Sydney HHonors res goes to Dallas.

Just ot a lovely email informing me that the Sydney res Honors office is no longer and that 2 special diamond res agaent will be looking after us from tomorrow.
it was really good ^ of them to let us know in advance and it looks like it is now 24 hrs 7 day which is fantastic!

Just ot a lovely email informing me that the Sydney res Honors office is no longer and that 2 special diamond res agaent will be looking after us from tomorrow.
it was really good ^ of them to let us know in advance and it looks like it is now 24 hrs 7 day which is fantastic!

I wonder why that's happening. Not enough need for it in SYD?

Maybe they have outsourced that function to the USA? ;)

In this day and age, amazing it did not move to INDIA. :td:

Anyway, the local 800 number still works to January 31 it just tells me. :)

it does makes sense. Im at the sydney Hilton where the club staff have told me that the new lounge manager will be reporting for work this week.

Hilton Australia has been consolidating and reducing redundancies ever since the sydney Hilton opened. Glass restaurant, if im not wrong is actually a outsourced restaurant. when i was making a reservation for my sydney Hilton, i have been told that Dani has left and a lot of the Hilton call centre staff in sydney for Hilton.com are being transferred to other departments within sydney Hilton. The food offerings within the lounge have decreased and there is no longer offer of orange juice or some sort of amenity for executive floor guests. At least, im told that used to happen. It has never happened to me though in all my previous stays at Sydney Hilton. At Sydney Hilton, Yvvette, one of my favourite reservations clerk at sydney Hilton has also left. some of the staff are also transferres from other Australia Hiltons. So im not surprised.

Im at room 3225, junior suite now and im loving the uninterupted phone connection. If only, i could bump into other Fters here in future. :rolleyes:

Oh no. Sydney staff were good in my experience (NZ Hilton calls go there).

What's the time differene to Dallas and the times of day to avoid (if dont want to be on hold for long time)?

This is sad. Jane and LaReine were always very helpful and provided guidancew and suggestions beyond the call more than once.

AKL = UTC + 12

DFW = UTC - 6

Monday morning and Friday / Sunday afternoons would probably be the worst for queues in Dallas, as a guess.



Oh no. Sydney staff were good in my experience (NZ Hilton calls go there).

What's the time differene to Dallas and the times of day to avoid (if dont want to be on hold for long time)?

it does makes sense. Im at the sydney Hilton where the club staff have told me that the new lounge manager will be reporting for work this week.

Sorry to hear that they are apparently changing lounge managers. Visited for a week during summer 2005. I found Jordan Oppy-Executive Lounge Manger to be very professional and personable. I believe he had just come on board from another hotel. Does anyone know where he has gone?

I'm there tomorrow night so I'll check on the current lounge deal.

That was a great feature on my other 4 or 5 stays. :(

I am finding the US crowd MUCH eas ^ ier and more pleasant to deal with

The US reservations would be the central reservations but for some specific vouchers which some of us Fters use such as the Hilton Premium Club vouchers, you still have to call the hotel directly.

cheers

Sorry to hear that they are apparently changing lounge managers. Visited for a week during summer 2006. I found Jordan Oppy-Executive Lounge Manger to be very professional and personable. I believe he had just come on board from another hotel. Does anyone know where he has gone?

Im not sure whether you meant 2006 or 2005. The former lounge manager was shane who has gone back to front desk and the new lounge manager is katarina(hope i spelt her name correctly). She's german and formerly from a london Hilton. She used to work with some of the staff.

Good on ya, mate, but we septics have terrible accents. Er, y'all. ;)

I am finding the US crowd MUCH eas ^ ier and more pleasant to deal with

Im not sure whether you meant 2006 or 2005. The former lounge manager was shane who has gone back to front desk and the new lounge manager is katarina(hope i spelt her name correctly). She's german and formerly from a london Hilton. She used to work with some of the staff.

It should be the summer of 2005, when we met Jordan Oppy.

I am finding the US crowd MUCH eas ^ ier and more pleasant to deal with

Easier to get hold of yes (no more trying to remember oz working hours).

Easier to deal with - no. Unresolved issues and stuff apparently lost in the mail somewhere. :(

The US reservations would be the central reservations but for some specific vouchers which some of us Fters use such as the Hilton Premium Club vouchers, you still have to call the hotel directly.

cheers
when i dial the 1800251600 I get texas but they know ALL about all the certificates and even told me what ones were avaialble. They call them premium club vouchers so obviously are VERY well trained in them! ^

Easier to get hold of yes (no more trying to remember oz working hours).

Easier to deal with - no. Unresolved issues and stuff apparently lost in the mail somewhere. :(

I take that back. While the number is indeed 24/7, customer service dept is apparently only M-F office hours (Dallas time). Much harder to remember Dallas working hours than oz working hours. Anyway service was good the last 2 times I rang, so I guess my experience is it depends on who you get.

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If this is all true, (and I have no way of knowing) sounds like a rough deal JordanOppy. Welcome to FT. :)

I been in that lounge probably 25 times since very early days, so feel sure our paths have crossed, altho I cannot put a face to the name.

I do recall one Asian background guy up there was quite fantastic. I believe his name was Donald. He used to be an It'l operations Qantas Flight attendant I recall him saying in conversation.

A customer service supremo, but he too sadly seemed to get removed from that lounge area. I was waiting in lobby for my partner to arrive last stay and he recognised me, remembered my name, and offered me a coffee from the café there on the ground floor whilst I waited. Which he made himself, with the neat little cinnamon swirls in the cappuccino froth.

Absolutely superb customer service, that really adds a great personal touch to a very large hotel, and I mentioned this to Management.

Staff like that are what separates the best from the rest. ^

Donald was indeed in the lounge at one time together with Amanda, Melissa, Trish and a few others in the lounge. Slowly but surely, all have left due to poor working conditions at the hotel.

Most of the lounge staff who are there now are there for less than 1 year.

Donald who is there was last seen working at the front desk but even though he tends to be nice to guests, its mostly done discriminatory, favouring white men. :td: :td: :td:

As if I needed any more reason to only stay in the Harbor Marriott in Sydney. I am treated better there with no status than in the Hilton Sydney as a DIA these days.

Maybe they have outsourced that function to the USA? ;)

Now we will have threads complaining about the "American accent" and untrained agents. ;)

it does makes sense. Im at the sydney Hilton where the club staff have told me that the new lounge manager will be reporting for work this week. Hilton Australia has been consolidating and reducing redundancies ever since the sydney Hilton opened. Glass restaurant, if im not wrong is actually a outsourced restaurant. when i was making a reservation for my sydney Hilton, i have been told that Dani has left and a lot of the Hilton call centre staff in sydney for Hilton.com are being transferred to other departments within sydney Hilton. The food offerings within the lounge have decreased and there is no longer offer of orange juice or some sort of amenity for executive floor guests. At least, im told that used to happen. It has never happened to me though in all my previous stays at Sydney Hilton. At Sydney Hilton, Yvvette, one of my favourite reservations clerk at sydney Hilton has also left. some of the staff are also transferres from other Australia Hiltons. So im not surprised.

Im at room 3225, junior suite now and im loving the uninterupted phone connection. If only, i could bump into other Fters here in future. :rolleyes:

Akshulee, the monthly spending requirements of Paris, the Hollywood Bimbette, have escalated wildly, and she requires a larger allowance. To meet the financial demands, the company has had to prioritize expense reductions. Not only has the orange juice been removed, but domestic rabbit will become a prominent menu item on Sydney Hilton menus (along with chicken fried 'roo). next, you'll be getting your towels at the front desk on check in......

Akshulee, the monthly spending requirements of Paris, the Hollywood Bimbette, have escalated wildly, and she requires a larger allowance. To meet the financial demands, the company has had to prioritize expense reductions. Not only has the orange juice been removed, but domestic rabbit will become a prominent menu item on Sydney Hilton menus (along with chicken fried 'roo). next, you'll be getting your towels at the front desk on check in......


TMOliver - out of interest have you ever stayed there? If not your comments are out of place - IMHO. :cool:

You are basing your comments on a 9 month old post. Things were certainly a little funky in the early stages and I was among others in commenting on that, but for the past year or so I find staying there is still a fine experience.

However you may be correct about Kangaroo steaks being on the menu at Glass Restaurant - it is quite a popular delicacy at top end eating houses here. :)

(Totally OT I saw Kangaroo sausages on sale in my supermarket today - that was a first for me anyway!)

(along with chicken fried 'roo)

I had some wonderful kangaroo here in London a month or so ago. Amusingly enough, this was right after I'd spent almost two months in Australia without having any roo meat! (It did come with some crickets, locusts, gnu, yak, scorpions, and other less exotic creatures that my friends and I ordered. :) All were quite tasty, but the tab more than befitted that!)

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Hello Jordan – Mixed emotions about seeing your name here. It is most unfortunate your experience of employment with Hilton. I had always hoped to take another vacation to Australia and meet up with you again. Certainly if you ever take a trip to the Unites States, well the Boston area do let us know. You can reach me through FT and I will send you my e-mail to your address.

Since you would have met so many people at Hilton I am sure that you don’t recall just who the heck Macken7 is. We were a father and son (Age 12) party of two from Boston staying for a week on an award and heading for Port Douglas/Cairns. Our trip was great. It was a pleasure to have met you and wish you the very best in the future. My son asks me to say hello for him.

Hello Jordan – Mixed emotions about seeing your name here. It is most unfortunate your experience of employment with Hilton. I had always hoped to take another vacation to Australia and meet up with you again. Certainly if you ever take a trip to the Unites States, well the Boston area do let us know. You can reach me through FT and I will send you my e-mail to your address.

Since you would have met so many people at Hilton I am sure that you don’t recall just who the heck Macken7 is. We were a father and son (Age 12) party of two from Boston staying for a week on an award and heading for Port Douglas/Cairns. Our trip was great. It was a pleasure to have met you and wish you the very best in the future. My son asks me to say hello for him.

Macken7,

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I have found the Dallas call centre people helpful and chatty in the several calls I have made recently. So far my experience has been better than when it was domiciled in Oz.

Hello Jordan.
I was there on opening night and as you may remember it was PACKED standing room only and they ran out of "bubbly".how absurd for a hotel opening!
I was also there on the other friday night and there were no more that 30 people in there!
the pickings are very scarce now compared with the first couple of months.
Anyway I do wish you good fortune!

JordanOppy - you are a new member here and may not be aware that posting full names of hotel/airline employees other than executives who are quoted in media etc, is against the TOS:

Guard Others' Privacy
With the exception of public figures, do not post names, addresses, phone numbers or e-mails of other FlyerTalk members. This information will be removed by moderators. Respect the privacy of non-management travel service employees by not referring to them by name.

http://www.flyertalk.com/help/rules


Posting about any specific person's sexual preferences is too AFAIK, and may well be grounds for defamation in this country if you are wrong.

You might like to consider some edits of your earier posts?

What a joke that was in the lounge. A lounge built for 68 pax, with over 300 people allocated with Executive Level Access. It was more like a petting zoo, than a 5 star establishment.



All Hiltons worldwide have far more guests in a 100% full hotel eligible for lounges than there are seats - we all realise that here.

As there are a lot less than 600 rooms in Sydney I am not sure how "over 300" persons get access to the lounge even when at 100% full occupancy. Only Executive Floor and Suite guests and top level elites get access AFAIK.

It is a large lounge by any standard worldwide, and I have never been there when it was overcrowded. I've visited it dozens of times on various days of the week.

I was at the Hilton Millennium in Seoul this month for a few nights and that has a lot more rooms, and a FAR smaller lounge. And it was packed.

If only all Hiltons had such a large lounge area as SYD does. ^

Glen

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