Miesque

Wow, that article was from 2004 and yet I have never seen such a thing in my Hilton visits and there have been many a hotel Hilton I would have loved such a thing since that seems to where I wait on line the most.

controller1

I tried using one at a Hilton in Houston years ago when there was a long line at check-in. After seeing what appeared to be a DOA kiosk, a bellman approached and apologized telling me "that machine has never worked more than thirty minutes at a time".

UA Fan

I've always wondered why hotels did not offer advance room selection like with flights.

sdsearch

They have, but only by number so far (Hilton's on-line check-in would tell me I was upgraded to room XXX but I could also choose room AAA or BBB or CCC or DDD).

With an airline, there are only so many different plane configurations (typically dozens, not even hundreds), and they just need a map for each one of those plane configurations (not for every seperate flight).

But with hotels, every single hotel (thousands in the case of HHonors) needs a different room layout map!

So do it with room layout maps is a lot more work than doing it with airplane seating charts. Gosh, there isn't even a constraint on the "sprawl" of a hotel (which would result in "sprawl" of the room layout map), like there is on the physical size of an airplane. And airplane can't get much bigger than an A380, but a hotel can have 40+ separate buildings at least. Though this isn't a Hilton example, the Mt Olympus Village (part of Mt Olympus Hotel & Resort) in Lake Delton (Wisconsin Dells area) in Wisconsin is that size; you drive across town and you keep seing more and more parts of it everywhere (with signs like "building #41")!

(I don't know what the Hilton property with the most separate buildings is. I don't even know if Mt Olympus Village is the hotel property with the most separate buildings. I just happened across it because I was visiting the Wisconsin Dells area.)

Crazyhotelguy

Checking in for my stay at the Hilton LAX tonight, I see the map of the rooms and the rooms that are available... Just like before, it seems to be the crappiest rooms on the floor that are available for pre-assignment. Now, to be fair, I am upgraded to "Towers" floor, but I would prefer not to have the rooms right behind the elevator or the smallest rooms on the diagram being offered

There seems to be no option to do any type of upgrade at all.

I am not checking in online and will try my luck at the EL upon arrival.

If this is how things are going to go, I do not see this being much better than the current system. I guess the upgrade is that I can see the rooms are crappy before I pick one.

IMH

Similar experience looking at my Hilton NYC Fashion District booking for tomorrow. I could check in now if I wanted to, but only into one of a limited range of rooms on floors 2 to 12 (of 22). I will take a chance on getting something better in person tomorrow afternoon.

Crazyhotelguy

Waiting paid off for me. EL agent gave me an end room on 12. Nice room with two panes of windows to see the runways of LAX. Room was a little noisier than others in the hotel, but I was not disturbed.

timfountain

I'd really like to see graduation of how early you can select a room based on status level. Something like Diamonds 2 days out, Gold 1 day out, silver 12 hours, blue 6 hours from stated earliest property check-in time. Like the airlines do with upgrades.

If graduation is an issue then just offer this service to the top tier or two and not every card carrying HH member. Hilton seems to be degrading their loyalty program at every turn....

troyintn

+ 1

stanj

Used the newly re-designed in-app room selection tool to check-in to the HGI Pismo Beach. Chose what appeared to be a nice corner room with some extra space based on the floor plan, but when I got there the room had been switched. They said the room we got was an upgrade.

Based on the floor plan on the door of the room, it looked like the extra space I saw on the app's floor plan for the room I originally chose, was actually part of the room next door to it, so maybe they did me a favor by switching the rooms.

I know they always say room number is subject to change, but it makes me wonder how useful the new tool is, if (1) you can't count on getting the room you choose, and (2) the floor plan is inaccurate.

aww3583

+1

Hilton Phoenix Airport has been my home-away-from-home recently. I was in a top floor suite each of the past couple of weeks on a standard reservation.

Tried e-CheckIn this morning. The only room showing available are on the 1st floor. I can't even select other floors.

I'll hold off until checking-in in person and hope the front desk agent recognizes me.

On a slightly different note, the newest version of the iPhone app blows. It says I have no future stays when I actually have 3 week-long stays booked. It says it can't process my request to view previous stays. It also is unable to show any points activity. The reviews in the iTunes store are ugly, and very accurate.

Zeeb

I was told the opposite yesterday at an Embassy Suites. I had selected a room and when I got there it wasn't ready (it was before the check in time so I didn't mind). It still wasn't ready at three so I asked if I could just get another room. They did so but told me that "they aren't allowed to switch the selected rooms unless the customer asks" which is why they didn't automatically switch me when my original room wasn't ready.

Hilton Honors Ambassador

As we're in the earlier stages of the features outside of the digital floor plans, I am unable to answer some of these initial questions, but please note that this thread is being reviewed carefully by the team leading these efforts, so your feedback/comments are incredibly valuable.

To answer a few questions about digital room selection:

By the end of 2014, over 450,000 rooms at more than 2,000 hotels will have digital floor plan maps. In addition, room selection from lists will be available globally for over 650,000 rooms at more than 4,000 hotels across Hilton's portfolio of 11 brands.


Yes, room selection shows the same available rooms in the room type you booked.


Great question! You can complete the pre-arrival check-in process starting at 6 a.m. local hotel time.

I believe I understand what you're saying. There are a few exceptions for special rooms that can only be assigned by the front desk because of their uniqueness – and this varies from property to property – otherwise, what you see is what is open. On the day of arrival, complimentary room upgrades are based on availability at the time of check-in. Availability is dynamic and always changing, so hotels take this fluidity into account when determining if they are able to offer a complimentary room upgrade.

The team for this project is absolutely reading this thread and using it to inform the future of these features!

With this room selection, all rooms are offered on a first come, first serve basis and are not dictated by HHonors status. However, if hotel staff knows your preferences, they may pre-assign a room that best suits your needs. If a room is pre-selected by the hotel, you can opt to keep the room or may be able to choose another room during the check-in process.

IMH

It did for us, too. In other words, at least for the two properties we've posted about, waiting to check in at the hotel still beats doing so online.

kenbo

Just to be clear, if I attempt to select a room at 6AM the day before arrival, it's only going to show me what's available at 6AM, right? So if someone checks out later that morning, and I attempt to see what's available in the afternoon, then there may be additional rooms available. Is that right?

A couple other questions:

If I pre-select a room, can I go back online later and switch to a different room?

Is online check-in available from both the Hilton app and the Hilton HHonors app?