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Recent stays in Chicago, Las Vegas and Tampa

Recent stays in Chicago, Las Vegas and Tampa

Old Apr 24, 2003, 11:04 am
  #1  
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Siesta Key
Programs: AA EXP-1.6MM, Hilton Diamond, ManU & Chicago Bears #1 Fan
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Recent stays in Chicago, Las Vegas and Tampa

I was comped Gold status through the AA promotion. These were my first stays at Hilton as Gold. Here are some observations.
Three of the stays were reserved through Hilton.com, and there were all 21 day advance pre-pay stays, and included Chicago Hilton, Chicago O'Hare Hilton and Tampa Westshore Hilton. The Las Vegas Hilton was booked through AA.com to get the 3000 miles bonus, and it was also pre-paid. I did not make any calls the evenings before arrivals, but I did request upgrades when making reservations in the special request section.
1.Tampa Westshore Hilton - Given a HHonors floor, 2 top floors which have balconies. Also told to show my card in the restaurant in the morning for a free continental breakfast, as the lounge was closed(?), don't know why and did not ask. The room was simple, the furniture needed some upgrading, but it was clean. No mini-fridge/bar or safe in the room, but there were 2 bottles of water left in the room. Would only stay there again if need a one night stay before or after my trip. Do not recommend it for longer stays. Satisfactory stay.
2. Chicago Hilton and Towers - Arrived around 2 pm, no lines, so walked right up to the first available clerk. She acknowledged my status, and explained all the perks available. My room was pre-assigned on the concierge level, but I politely asked if it was possible to get a nice view of the park and lake, and after few minutes she found a corner room. The room was on 22nd floor, 2 floors below the lounge floor, but still an executive floor. Great room, east and north views from the 2 windows. Everything was great about the room, except again, no safe. Had a mini-bar and I was given 2 tickets to exchange for bottled water from the mini-bar. Did not use the lounge, but went up there once just to look around. It was very busy, had a nice spread, and also an honor bar. It seemed to me that all the folks there were enjoying the food and drinks. Highly recommend this hotel for longer stays, although, depending on what you like to do while in Chicago, the location is not that great for shopping or nightlife, but great for museums and lakefront enjoyment. It does have a free shuttle to North Michigan, otherwise known as the magnificent mile, a shoppers paradise. Very happy with this property.
3. Chicago O'Hare Hilton - Without asking, I was given an upgrade to a mini-suite. A beautiful 2 open-room suite. Everything was in great shape. No lounge, but free continental breakfast in the restaurant. 1 ticket for bottle of water from the mini-bar, but again no safe(?), is this some Hilton policy? Highly recommend, but not sure if being at the airport hotel for more than 1 night make sense. Subway to downtown right under the hotel, but it takes about 45 minutes each way. Very happy with this place.
4. Las Vegas Hilton - Followed the advice to check-in at the airport. The clerk took my Gold card and put my number in the computer, which the Hilton 800 number CS refused to do, telling me that it was a pre-paid wholesaler booking and they could not do it. Hopefully I will get the stay credited. The clerk informed me that the room we were getting is bigger than a regular room, and all the Diamonds and Golds love these rooms. When we entered the room, we were disappointed. It looked to be a regular room. It was clean, and had a ok view of the strip, but very simple, and to top it off the mini-fridge was removed and the door were the fridge was at one time was broken, just hanging there. I went downstairs, and when I asked if it was possible to get a different room, the clerk was shocked that we got that room, being that I have a Gold status. She immidiately upgraded us to a mini-suite with a private lanai. It had a sunken living room with floor to ceiling sliding door to an outside lanai with 2 chairs and a table. The furniture needs some updating, and the room service should occasionaly look under the beds and tables to clean some leftovers from the previous guests. On the scale of 1-10 with 10 being extremely clean, I would say it was about 7. It had a fridge(not a mini-bar), and for the first time a safe, but there is a $3.00 charge per day to use it. Continental breakfast in the Crystal room for all the elites staying, but we were not that impressed with the food. The bagels were a little stale, the fruits were ok, and the coffee great. Nothing to get too excited about. It was not a disappointing, but not a very enjoyable stay either. The location is not great if you like to do the evening strip stuff, as the cabs run about $10 every time you go anywhere on the strip. Ok for a day or 2 stay and/or if you're there for a convention, but would not stay there if I wanted to stay longer in Vegas.
Over all, the Hiltons did not disappoint and I'm happy that I decided to change from Starwood, as the Gold status seems to have actual meaning with the hotels. I will make Gold the hard way this year, so I will have a chance to experience few more, even some in Europe. Hopefully my future experiences will be the same or maybe even better.
A special thanks and praise to the great people at the Chicago Hilton and O'Hare Hilton, as they went well above the call of duty to make my return to Windy city a memorable one. A special note to Tampa and Las Vegas Hiltons. Try to improve on furniture, and in LV case, better training for the room service folks.
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Old Apr 25, 2003, 5:44 pm
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Join Date: Jun 2002
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I'm happy to report that I did get credit for the LV stay, although I did not get points for the prepaid rate, only for the room charge, but I did get 500 AA miles as well. Thanks Hilton!!!
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Old Apr 26, 2003, 7:22 am
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Suwanee,Ga ,usa
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andrzej
Thanks for sharing. IMO I think you did better than I would expect (especially at thr LAS hilton).
jabez is offline  

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