BearX220

Most HGIs are purpose-built, newer properties that reflect a rigorous standard. Most Doubletrees are random, older, often reflagged properties with few to no common elements (unless you count the cookie).

Doubletree is Hilton's "none of the above" brand. It's the column where they stick outlier or one-of-a-kind properties that are more than a Hampton Inn, less than a Hilton, too shabby or aged to be an HGI, etc.

There are superb Doubletrees in Europe (look at the former Mint properties in the UK, some of which are nicer than Conrads: modern, sleek, elegant, great service) and horrible ones in the US (the SFO Airport perimeter Doubletree is one of the saddest hotels you will ever see, inside or outside the Hilton empire: dated, musty, shabby).

Nobody knows what Doubletree is meant to stand for, not even Hilton.

dll

I've stayed in Doubletree properties nicer than any Hilton, and I've stayed in Doubletree properties that were abysmal. Most are somewhere in between.

But for me, when I see "Doubletree" I say "double check." Double check the reviews, the photos. Then I can make a better decision.

Consistency is really the biggest problem with Hilton properties. HGI is about the only brand that really IS super consistent.

Eujeanie

I like that they keep DT's unique when it is a unique location (San Antonio comes to mind). What I don't like is when they force a brand into a not-conducive mold, for example with Hampton Inns - I've been to a couple that were unique, old buildings (New Orleans on Carondelet, and Bradenton Florida downtown, for example), and these beautiful buildings are slapped with the same "summer in Americana" vignettes on every door, elevator and other surface that just don't have the right feel in those hotels.

darthbimmer

I agree, Double Tree is Double Check. I've been to a few that are nice and/or unique, but others are stale cookie-cutter holdouts from decades ago.

Low Roller

The rooms in the marina building have been renovated and aren't too bad. Just stay away from the old tower rooms.

KenTarmac

What's changes is, as the OP said, Hilton is now building new DT hotels en masse.

My thoughts are that Hilton sees market opportunity within that sector of their portfolio.

I noticed a sign for a new one in Joplin, MO just this week. Speaking of DT, I stayed a a very nice DT on my way home from Joplin in Springfield, MO last night.

flyou10

Yea I have noticed several "new" ones, which is what got me to thinking about what Hilton is trying to accomplish. New being brand new or a gut of a former building.

At the same time, in the USA, I feel like they have been taking some of the nicest DT's and turning them into Curio's. The Curio Waterstone in Boca Raton, FL comes to mind.

DoubleTree = Double Check is the best line I've heard for that brand.

hugolover

I have also heard "TroubleTree".

amanuensis

Promus was the acquired company that owned DT, Homewood, Hampton, and Embassy Suites. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prom...el_Corporation

TGarza

Completely agree, the frozen commissary prepared eggs reheated at H2 is the same as made to order eggs at Embassy Suites.

CMK10

One of the cleverist posts I ever saw on FT, and I forget who wrote it, said that the rules for being a DT are:

1. Be a hotel
2. Have cookies.

There are some great properties and there are some terrible properties and there's everything in between. At any other Hilton brand I have a general idea of what to expect. At Doubletree I have no idea. It could be a new construction built specifically to be a DT or a former God knows what. There could be a lounge, there could not be a lounge. Breakfast could be anything. The rooms could be anything. It's so, so odd.

storewanderer

There was a time when Doubletree was a better brand. It is pretty sad to see Hilton reflagging old painted over 70's Holiday Inns (Livermore, CA... and supposedly soon Chico, CA which is a Ramada now but supposedly renovating into a Doubletree), and previous limited service properties (various former Phoenix Inns in OR/WA) over to that flag. It was a bad sign when Hilton reflagged some Red Lions to Doubletree in the 00's and we see how that went; most of those properties got divested and few still have the Doubletree flag (some have actually flat out shut down).

I think one of their biggest mistakes was the "Doubletree BY Hilton" thing. They should have kept Doubletree as a stand alone. Some of those properties really bring down the Hilton name.

edgewood49

Some of the hotels more in particular the old Phoenix Inns the buildings were in horrible shape they simply painted over failed parts of the walls including tape!! No don't stay in a DT unless you can see it was one from birth

Airrage

Already killed it for me. Beginning about a year again started avoiding DT properties like the plague.

pinniped

I'm staying at my first one later this summer. Not much choice: doing a long roadtrip, arriving for 1 night in Sioux Falls on a night when most hotels are $180-200. (Don't ask me what's actually going on in Sioux Falls to generate those rates...I have no idea.) H2S is 20k HH Points, so it seems like a good value for a roadtrip stop.

Maybe we'll just head to the fine cuisine of McD's (or whatever else is at our particular Interstate exit) for breakfast...

Only problem: there's also a huge difference between a well-run Embassy and a poorly-run one. Some Embassies are completely *not* set up to handle breakfast crowds, whereas others do it quite well. I like the floorplan of an Embassy room, but I'm really skittish on booking them unless I've read enough reviews that suggest the breakfast process was not a complete circus.

Dublin has a nice one if you need it.

LOL...I've stayed in a couple of those. One near PHX and one in Tempe. Obviously done by the same designer in the 1970s. If I could go back in time, I'd go back to that guy's childhood and convince him to go into something besides architecture.


There seems to be a new chapter in the DT story: they're building suburban ones that look *almost* like an HGI, just with the bar and a slightly-expanded evening menu of mostly frozen and/or processed foods. Stayed in one in Beaverton, OR a couple weeks ago. Very cookie-cutter feel...the first one I've been to that truly looked like an HGI from the outside, and was situated right near a mall like a lot of HGI's are. The whole thing felt very limited-service, even though technically I guess it offered everything that "regular" DT's do.

On the plus side, this particular DT was trying to do little extra things for Diamonds, such as a free drink each night and an extra goody bag beyond normal. (It obviously did not have a lounge.)