DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Houston Hobby Airport {US-TX}
Mar 23, 2002, 8:31 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Dallas
Programs: AA LTPLT UA1P Hilton Dia Marriott Plat
Posts: 1,183
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Houston Hobby Airport {US-TX}
As a Diamond member you get nothing at this hotel. I did complain to the front desk manager and am waiting a response. NO WATER NO UPGRADE NO BREAKFAST NO WELCOME GIFT NO NOTHING. The room was a dump and the sheets had stains. If I was Hilton Corp they might want to re-think there name on this particular hotel.
Mar 22, 2008, 3:30 pm
#3
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Westchester Co, NY or Rio Grande Valley, TX or ???
Programs: BAEC G, WN A-, Hyatt G, HH G, MAR T, Hz PC, was [UA2P, FL A+Elite, BD G]
Posts: 2,271
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Houston Hobby Airport {US-TX}
Hello all,
I saw that there were some poor reviews of this property that were a few years old, but I needed to spend an overnight or two near Hobby and was unimpressed with the Hampton nearby during a couple of stays last year, so I figured I would give the Hilton a shot.
I first booked a net direct (pre-paid, non-refundable) for one night. Unfortunately, this turned out to be one of the very few times that I needed to change my travel plans - so much for trying to save some $.
My first night was a Sunday, the van from Hobby took ~5 minutes from my call to pick me up, with a 3 minute ride back to the hotel. Check-in was smooth; they gave me a nice pen as a first-time-guest-at-the-hotel welcoming gift, and included a breakfast buffet voucher even though the guy at the desk (Gabriel - very helpful!) noted that I had chosen the extra 1000 points rather than free breakfast. He had assigned me room 709; I knew that there is no executive lounge or deluxe rooms so I wasn't expecting anything special. Imagine my surprise when I got out of the elevator and started walking down the hall to see that room 709 had double doors! In fact, it was one of their king suites, with two rooms. Upon entering, there was a living-room type setup, with a couch, chair, coffee table, and flat screen TV, with large windows overlooking the airport. To the left was a small wet bar with a tiny fridge, leading to the bathroom, and further to the left was the bedroom, with a king bed, large desk, the typical Hilton alarm clock, and another flat screen TV. The bed was comfy (as always), and free wireless internet was included. I should note that although the suite has two rooms, there is no door separating the rooms, unlike an Embassy Suites.
After looking over the room, I went down for dinner. They have "two" restaurants - I say "two" because one is open for breakfast and lunch while the other is open for dinner. The Boardwalk is the dinner restaurant, it had a nice ambiance (including a fountain), good selection and not unreasonable prices. I had the mixed grill (small ribeye, three medium sized grilled shrimp, and a grilled chicken breast, with rice and veggies), all of which was very good.
On my way back up, I stopped off at the desk to A) thank them for the suite upgrade, and B) let them know about my net direct booking on Wednesday. Even though I would not be there Wednesday evening, my travel plans would have me going through Hobby on Wednesday morning. Of course, trying to live up to the ideals of FT(!), I let them know that I was planning on coming by Wednesday morning between my flights in order to briefly check into my unneeded room in order to get credit. Gabriel said no problem, even though 10:30 was well before normal check-in, that should work out fine.
The next morning, The elevator was acting screwy. I would press the call button, but it would go out after about 3 seconds. However I could hear at least one elevator working, so I kept trying to call the elevator for several minutes. Finally, a member of the cleaning staff came out of a room and saw me. She said that the elevator wasn't working, and pointed me to the service elevator (behind the guest elevators - that's what I had been hearing). On the first floor there was a sign stating that the elevators were out of order and pointing the way to the service elevator; I stopped by the desk and asked if they could post similar signs on the other floors as I had lost 5 minutes waiting, then went to breakfast. Their buffet was nice - no carved meats or omelets to order, but all of the usual suspects at a southern buffet along with plenty of salmon with all the fixin's (a nice surprise). I had plenty of time to eat, get back to the room (riding up with a couple of elevator service techs), gather my stuff, get back down, take their van back to Hobby, and make my morning flight without incident.
On Wednesday, my inbound flight was a bit late, but I had no problem with taking the van from Hobby. Gabriel was on the desk; he remembered my situation but someone else had assigned me a room that was currently occupied, so it took him a bit to get things set up for me. In the end it all worked out, but I had no time to pick up lunch there as I had hoped.
The following Sunday I was back again, with Gabriel once again on the desk. I had looked at the online check-in but was not impressed with the choices offered (also, I was visiting my Mom and I don't trust that her computer is spyware-free). Sometime after I looked, Gabriel must have taken care of things, because this time he let me know that I was booked into room 424, which is the 4th floor king suite at the other end of the hotel (same layout, rotated 180 degrees). By the time I arrived, the dining room had closed, but they were still serving in the bar. I ended up ordering the stuffed pork chop, with portabello mushrooms and venison sausage and more ingredients that I forget - very good! The bar charges $5.25 for bottom-shelf scotch, and $6.25 for top-shelf, and the cheesecake was a nice end to the meal. My flight the next day left too early to have another crack at the buffet, but they did give me another voucher despite the fact that my account was still set to the 1000 points.
All in all, I am very pleased with having chosen to stay here. Downsides were as follows: 1) The elevators not working on the morning of my first stay - if I had been in a hurry this could have been serious, especially since the only signage was on the first floor. 2) Carpeting and hallways (except for the lobby) are a bit drab - not sure if what's needed is better lighting or new paint or what exactly. Clearly, this is not a big deal, but I know some people who would latch onto that as a reason to complain. 3) The bathrooms in the suites are very small - not a real problem for me (as someone who was upgraded to a suite, I am most certainly not going to complain!), but I could see someone who paid full price being unimpressed. If you need a room near Hobby and are a member of HH, I would choose this over the Hampton in most circumstances, especially if you are certain of your plans and can successfully implement a net direct reservation, as that will usually be within $10 of the Hampton price.
I saw that there were some poor reviews of this property that were a few years old, but I needed to spend an overnight or two near Hobby and was unimpressed with the Hampton nearby during a couple of stays last year, so I figured I would give the Hilton a shot.
I first booked a net direct (pre-paid, non-refundable) for one night. Unfortunately, this turned out to be one of the very few times that I needed to change my travel plans - so much for trying to save some $.
My first night was a Sunday, the van from Hobby took ~5 minutes from my call to pick me up, with a 3 minute ride back to the hotel. Check-in was smooth; they gave me a nice pen as a first-time-guest-at-the-hotel welcoming gift, and included a breakfast buffet voucher even though the guy at the desk (Gabriel - very helpful!) noted that I had chosen the extra 1000 points rather than free breakfast. He had assigned me room 709; I knew that there is no executive lounge or deluxe rooms so I wasn't expecting anything special. Imagine my surprise when I got out of the elevator and started walking down the hall to see that room 709 had double doors! In fact, it was one of their king suites, with two rooms. Upon entering, there was a living-room type setup, with a couch, chair, coffee table, and flat screen TV, with large windows overlooking the airport. To the left was a small wet bar with a tiny fridge, leading to the bathroom, and further to the left was the bedroom, with a king bed, large desk, the typical Hilton alarm clock, and another flat screen TV. The bed was comfy (as always), and free wireless internet was included. I should note that although the suite has two rooms, there is no door separating the rooms, unlike an Embassy Suites.
After looking over the room, I went down for dinner. They have "two" restaurants - I say "two" because one is open for breakfast and lunch while the other is open for dinner. The Boardwalk is the dinner restaurant, it had a nice ambiance (including a fountain), good selection and not unreasonable prices. I had the mixed grill (small ribeye, three medium sized grilled shrimp, and a grilled chicken breast, with rice and veggies), all of which was very good.
On my way back up, I stopped off at the desk to A) thank them for the suite upgrade, and B) let them know about my net direct booking on Wednesday. Even though I would not be there Wednesday evening, my travel plans would have me going through Hobby on Wednesday morning. Of course, trying to live up to the ideals of FT(!), I let them know that I was planning on coming by Wednesday morning between my flights in order to briefly check into my unneeded room in order to get credit. Gabriel said no problem, even though 10:30 was well before normal check-in, that should work out fine.
The next morning, The elevator was acting screwy. I would press the call button, but it would go out after about 3 seconds. However I could hear at least one elevator working, so I kept trying to call the elevator for several minutes. Finally, a member of the cleaning staff came out of a room and saw me. She said that the elevator wasn't working, and pointed me to the service elevator (behind the guest elevators - that's what I had been hearing). On the first floor there was a sign stating that the elevators were out of order and pointing the way to the service elevator; I stopped by the desk and asked if they could post similar signs on the other floors as I had lost 5 minutes waiting, then went to breakfast. Their buffet was nice - no carved meats or omelets to order, but all of the usual suspects at a southern buffet along with plenty of salmon with all the fixin's (a nice surprise). I had plenty of time to eat, get back to the room (riding up with a couple of elevator service techs), gather my stuff, get back down, take their van back to Hobby, and make my morning flight without incident.
On Wednesday, my inbound flight was a bit late, but I had no problem with taking the van from Hobby. Gabriel was on the desk; he remembered my situation but someone else had assigned me a room that was currently occupied, so it took him a bit to get things set up for me. In the end it all worked out, but I had no time to pick up lunch there as I had hoped.
The following Sunday I was back again, with Gabriel once again on the desk. I had looked at the online check-in but was not impressed with the choices offered (also, I was visiting my Mom and I don't trust that her computer is spyware-free). Sometime after I looked, Gabriel must have taken care of things, because this time he let me know that I was booked into room 424, which is the 4th floor king suite at the other end of the hotel (same layout, rotated 180 degrees). By the time I arrived, the dining room had closed, but they were still serving in the bar. I ended up ordering the stuffed pork chop, with portabello mushrooms and venison sausage and more ingredients that I forget - very good! The bar charges $5.25 for bottom-shelf scotch, and $6.25 for top-shelf, and the cheesecake was a nice end to the meal. My flight the next day left too early to have another crack at the buffet, but they did give me another voucher despite the fact that my account was still set to the 1000 points.
All in all, I am very pleased with having chosen to stay here. Downsides were as follows: 1) The elevators not working on the morning of my first stay - if I had been in a hurry this could have been serious, especially since the only signage was on the first floor. 2) Carpeting and hallways (except for the lobby) are a bit drab - not sure if what's needed is better lighting or new paint or what exactly. Clearly, this is not a big deal, but I know some people who would latch onto that as a reason to complain. 3) The bathrooms in the suites are very small - not a real problem for me (as someone who was upgraded to a suite, I am most certainly not going to complain!), but I could see someone who paid full price being unimpressed. If you need a room near Hobby and are a member of HH, I would choose this over the Hampton in most circumstances, especially if you are certain of your plans and can successfully implement a net direct reservation, as that will usually be within $10 of the Hampton price.
Mar 10, 2014, 9:30 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: DFW
Programs: UA Pleb, HH Gold, PWP General Secretary
Posts: 23,199
Doubletree Houston Hobby HOU (former Hilton)--reviews
Anyone stay here recently. It was one of the Hilton re-flags. It looks like they have been doing some renovating. Anything on suite upgrades ect?
Jan 18, 2018, 8:21 pm
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2008
Programs: Formaldehyde Medallion DL DieMiles
Posts: 12,646
Very disappointing stay so far... and I have not been to bed yet.
I am experiencing the same elevator problems that were described in post #3 ... ten years ago.
I am posting this with not a lot of confidence since the internet is almost unusable.
I selected this hotel rather than the Hampton since the DoubleTree website stated that the DoubbleTree had an exec Lounge:
"Hilton Honors Diamond and Gold members relish drinks, snacks and a great airport view from the Executive Lounge. "
The lounge has been shut down. All furniture covered with white sheets.
What a crock.
I am experiencing the same elevator problems that were described in post #3 ... ten years ago.
I am posting this with not a lot of confidence since the internet is almost unusable.
I selected this hotel rather than the Hampton since the DoubleTree website stated that the DoubbleTree had an exec Lounge:
"Hilton Honors Diamond and Gold members relish drinks, snacks and a great airport view from the Executive Lounge. "
The lounge has been shut down. All furniture covered with white sheets.
What a crock.
Jan 21, 2018, 9:31 am
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2008
Programs: Formaldehyde Medallion DL DieMiles
Posts: 12,646
Very disappointing stay so far... and I have not been to bed yet.
I am experiencing the same elevator problems that were described in post #3 ... ten years ago.
I am posting this with not a lot of confidence since the internet is almost unusable.
I selected this hotel rather than the Hampton since the DoubleTree website stated that the DoubbleTree had an exec Lounge:
"Hilton Honors Diamond and Gold members relish drinks, snacks and a great airport view from the Executive Lounge. "
The lounge has been shut down. All furniture covered with white sheets.
What a crock.
I am experiencing the same elevator problems that were described in post #3 ... ten years ago.
I am posting this with not a lot of confidence since the internet is almost unusable.
I selected this hotel rather than the Hampton since the DoubleTree website stated that the DoubbleTree had an exec Lounge:
"Hilton Honors Diamond and Gold members relish drinks, snacks and a great airport view from the Executive Lounge. "
What a crock.
The agent felt the best response, and a way to divert the discussion away from false advertising, was to deny that Diamonds had Exec Lounge access at DTs.
She read the DT section of the MyWay benefits page and, since that did not explicitly address lounge access, she was adamant that Diamonds were out of luck.
She overlooked the double-asterisk footnote on the same page that explains that
" If you are a Diamond Hilton Honors guest, you and up to one additional registered guest will always enjoy complimentary access to the Executive Floor Lounge, even if you do not receive a room upgrade to the Executive Floor. "
Clearly, the best way to address a problem is to deny that it exists.