schofs

Well, I'm checked into the Exec Plus room....

Arrived at 9:40pm, checked in (no queue at this time), smiles from the check in staff on the Hhonors desk, key in hand and up to room on 16th floor (all Exec Plus rooms on this floor).

Into room, took some photos with phone camera - will post soon enough. Thoughts? I should have saved myself 50 quid and stuck with the Queen guest room.

A King Executive is identical to the Queen guest room, except the 40 quid extra gets you lounge access and a King size bed (instead of a Queen).

An Executive Plus is identical to the King Exec, but with a spa bath and telly at the end of it.

The only effect my HH Gold card had was a bottle of red wine in the room.

My telly didn't work - I could turn it on and off, but couldn't change channels or bring up a menu. A guy from guest services came up and had a play, but didn't get anywhere, so moved me to another room on the floor.

This worked, and he said he'd bring me a bottle of wine for the inconvenience... and shortly after he left I realised that my new room didn't have the complimentary bottle of wine the previous one had...

...sure enough, the new bottle of wine that came was identical, but with no wine glasses!

So all in all, not a great first impression, and I think I'm going to stick to the normal Queen guest rooms in future.

I'll nip up to see what the lounge is like, but only for a minute as I've just ordered some food...

Photos to follow probably tomorrow.

Cheers, Schofs.


UPDATED to add: Well, I would go and see the lounge had I got a key card for the new room... also the selection of movies is pretty poor, and there's no "movie and internet" combo option that other hotels like the Radisson have - Internet is £15 which is somewhat steep, and it's cabled - no wireless.

UPDATED again to add: Well, the lounge closed at 8pm - I'll go and have a look tomorrow morning when it opens for breakie at 6:30am. Oh, and I've found some wine glasses. I think I'll go and change some of my future reservations to Queen rooms and save the 50 quid. At least then I can savour the glimmer of hope that I'll be upgraded to an Executive room...

Last UPDATE: The wine's truely horrible. Wish I hadn't found the glasses. Will eat food and wander up to Cloud 23 to see if it's any good. There has to be SOMETHING that goes right tonight at the hotel!

MAN Flyer

Well, I've still had no reply from the Diamond Desk in Glasgow but I was pleasantly surprised to get a letter from Bernadette today, which advises that in future all Diamond Members will receive upgrades to Executive Rooms from Standard Rooms and NOT to HHonors Floors. Subject to availability of course.

schofs

So this week, I roll up to the Hilton Manchester (earlier today), hand over my Gold Hhonors card, and am greeted by "Hello Mr Schofs, Welcome to the Hilton Manchester Deansgate. You have been upgraded to an Executive Room"

^ ^

Yup - this the problem seems to be solved. I'm currently in the Executive lounge, which is very nice. Having some hot and cold canapes and a beer courtesy of the upgrade, and am enjoying the view.

Congrats Hilton - Much happier today ^

Land-of-Miles

I had a letter from the GM a few days ago apologising for the previous issue, enclosing a copy of the refund of the Exec Room Supplement and promising me upgrades to Exec Rooms whenever space is available in future.

It is somewhat disappointing to learn that they have extended this largesse to Golds too

diamondman2006

Having read all the uncertainty, from all the above excellent reviews, I bit the bullet and paid for an Exec room with dinner thrown in on the first night.

My initial impressions were favourable; the room was nice, on the 22nd floor, with a great view. We both felt that there was too much brown and mushroom coloured decor - but that's just a personal opinion. The water pressure in the shower could have been better too.

The Exec lounge isn't bad, but not as welcoming (decor-wise) as the one at Canary Wharf. Again, too much single colour. Great staff though.

The restaurant food was nice and the drinks prices downstairs were sensible, unlike in London. Be warned though, if you want to get into the Cloud Bar, you must be either a resident, or book in advance. The bar's open till 0300 some nights and is on the same floor as the Exec lounge - there's a connecting door.

I liked the place and will stay again.

schofs

I didn't realise you could access it from the Exec Lounge - must try this tomorrow

Land-of-Miles

You can't or at least you couldn't when I was there. The door is usually closed but presumably provides an additional fire escape and allows for movement of the Hilton staff. They did leave the door open during the day on Sunday however so I was able to have a more detailed mooch around Cloud23 than I could as a paying customer.

cjd

Had a stay there last week and was told that we had to enter Cloud 23 via the elevator from the ground floor. This is for Fire Regulations as they are only allowed maximum 250 people in there and it has to be monitored from the ground floor.

What did surprise me about this new hotel is that they don't have any use of the underground car park for hotel residents, only for the apartments. Hotel guests have to use the NCP car park opposite the hotel. Normal charge is £15 per 24 hours, but hotel residents get 40% discount making it £9. It wasn't a problem but I did get wet making my way back to the hotel after trying to find a space in the public car park. I'm used to hotels such as Leeds, Newcastle and Glasgow having integral multi-storey car parks as part of the hotel. Very strange.

Upon checking in, was told that I'd been upgraded to an Executive room, which I said was strange, as I'd booked an Executive room and that seemed to surprise the receptionist. After some discussion with a colleague, she upgraded us to an Executive Plus room on the 19th floor. Room was very pleasant with a great view, but was certainly not a large room. Enjoyed the executive lounge for a couple of hours and thought the service very good. It was however very quiet. Had room service and everthing was fine.

Disappointed the next morning when we came to have showers between 08.30 and 09.00hrs, the water pressure was low and the water was not very hot, just warm. Mentioned this at checkout and on the comments card, but no follow-up at all. After pleasant breakfast in the Executive lounge, I again checked the water and at 10.00hrs, it was hot again. Looks like this could be a problem early morning.

I would certainly go back, but would not book the expensive Executive room rates. Don't think they merit an extra £40/night. Will look out for the Special 2-night rates with dinner on first night and breakfast each morning, which are usually very good value. Will take a chance on an upgrade.

schofs

Currently sat in the Manchester Deansgate Hilton (I've had about 4 stays here so far).

A few things to note:

1) Standard, Exec and Exec Plus rooms are all exactly the same size*. Exec rooms have King beds and separate shower units, Exec Plus rooms have spa baths with a bathroom panel TV.

* Odd numbered rooms (e.g. 1603) are about a foot longer though

2) Of my 4 stays, only once have I had chocolates & wine in the room.

3) The staff do seem to know now about the upgrades for Gold & Diamonds

4) The £40/night extra for an Exec room is not IMO worth it (and if you're Gold/Diamond you can assume you'll get an upgrade from a standard room)

5) The £10/night extra for an Exec Plus room over an Exec room is worth it if you plan to have a Spa bath

6) You can't go between the Exec Lounge and Cloud 23 Bar without going via the ground floor. If you find different, consider yourself lucky as it's a 1 off.

schofs

OK... have become quite a regular here - it's now my official home from home, and I'm pleased I made the change from the Radisson Edwardian and the Lowry.

The service is consistently excellent, and it's now my hotel of choice in Manchester. (it's also tipped me over to Diamond status )

I'd recommend it to anyone. We're even having our Christmas party here ^

Tim_T

Stayed for one night at the weekend. Had booked Exec plus at a (in my view) good rate therefore no issue of upgrade or not.

Hotel appeared busy with weddings + xmas parties. Lounge was very busy in the evening for a short while with standing room only, but did clear out pretty quick. Plenty of hot nibbles brought out. Once these had gone a different selection appeared very quickly. Drinks cabinets were kept full, but I could not find any juice. Breakfast selection was the best I have ever had in a Hilton Lounge. Would rival some hotels main breakfast buffet ! Cold selection of meats, salmon, cheese, 8 different chopped fruits, pastries, breads, cereal, etc. Juices + tea / coffee. Hot selection of toast, sausages, bacon, tomatoes, & scrambled eggs.

Swiming pool was empty when we visited. Used the restuarant in the evening. Overpriced for what was served, but was tasty non the less. Staff very attentive.

Good location with easy walk to the xmas markets. As mentioned previous, and contra to the website, no hotel parking but a NCP parking garage is next door with OK rates.

Room was very nice (1601). Kid really enjoyed having a spa bath whilst watching balamory !!! Great views over Manchester. Bed very comfortable.

Only problem as such was that I could not work out how the air con worked. I could switch it off, but it came back on a hour later !

Would stay here again without question. Nice to have 3 decent Hiltons within 2.5 hrs drive - Glasgow, Newcastle and now Manchester

PaulRO

Quite so, Mr Schofs. This is a wonderful addition to the Hilton Crown. I hope the management will keep it well-polished.
I used to stay at the MAN Airport Hilton and cab/train into town for meetings. It's lounge-free, great breakfasts, bad views, appaling cab service and good for falling in and out of planes. Now I'm now switching to this one downtown.

The Hilton on Deansgate is about as near the Hilton chain will get to emulating the Bangkok Conrad, taking into account the British chain's reported idiosyncracies. Some way off, but I wouldn't expect more in UK. Decent lounge, great breakfasts, superb views, great rooms. Canny staff.

My stay in early December, originally a weekend break, changed into a 26-hour work session, closing down a book I was editing and that was suddenly needed the next day in Thailand. No time to sample the famed bar on Floor 29, but my room directly below it on 28 did not catch any of its noises. People queue around the block to get in, they say, but Exec level guests can go to the head of the queue for the separate lift from the lobby.

The room worked well, once we'd got the lighting sorted and the desk at the writer-inspiring window. Was slightly surprised that the concierge did not have any extension leads for the lighting, which uses different small 1950's style 3-round-plugs. He probably does now.

The lounge served as my kitchen/larder, allowing me the workaholic's diet of coffee and bananas and occasional snacks -- more than adequate. Its rather minimalist layout and furniture is probably designed not to detract from the view over the city centre, and I expect that had I wanted to relax there, its somewhat canteen-ish layout would not have helped. But it did the job for me this time. The room is good for relaxing - great seating, wonderful bed, unBritish shower [fast, hot, untamed], good bath. And, new to me, a TV-radio which had dozens of Internet radio stations from several continents; cool.

Early check-in, late check-out, double person-made wake-up calls to break a power nap at 3am, these benchmarks of good service (or, if not, a night's refund, for me) were all fulfilled, the latter by a concerned and vigilant night staff. Perhaps helped by me knowing their countries of origin and people they 'know'. Always get to know yer night staff. Perhaps helped by my brief discourse at 3.30am on Manchester's reputation as a CyberCity (it founded Telecities) having been null-and-voided by the collapse of the Internet service, which was essential to my work. Not the hotel, not the room, the Internet provider. Service returned within 15 minutes, and nothing was charged.

Next time I'll hope to try out its leisure facets. Right now, judging its ability to be a place for a lunatic to work like a madman, in calm and comfort, I'd say it's really rather good.

Explore

Has anyone redeemed an award here? We will stay only on an award basis (hotel wants 199 pounds on the night of our stay, and lousy exchange rate from US dollar of course).

Is an upgrade likely in this case?

Thanks.

schofs

I haven't stayted here since January (before which I stayed every week from when it opened more or less), but checking my account for the first time in a few weeks I've noticed a whole chunk of points ave hit my account (since 6th March)

Hilton Manchester Deansgate - MINI BREAKS BONUS OFFER 13,074

Anyone any ideas what this offer is? It's coincidentally the same number of points as my base points for a previous stay...

MAN Flyer

There is a current UK Mini Breaks offer on, or there was recently. It must be something to do with that.