denis in denver

booked the lowest priced room available - garden view.

When I checked in had been upgraded to an ocean view King in the Ocean Tower.

Nice sized room with a nice view.

The tram was running but we walked nonetheless.
The tram was out of service the rest of our stay. Had one staff member say that they were repairing the tram and were actually going to do some replacement. I did see persons working on the tram so believe that the staff member was correct. Boats were running.

We were given coupons for the continental breakfast in the Palm Terrace. I actually thought the continental spread was very extensive. A wide-variety of fresh fruit, lots of breakfast pastries, plus cereal (hot oatmeal also) yogurt, salmon, capers, a variety of cheeses, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. Juices and coffee. We had plenty to eat and I did not feel it was a come-down. I do remember the executive lounge spread and this was similar (actually may be more extensive).

They are apparently charging for parking, however the entire time I was there, the exit gate was broken (had been for some time I was told) so you just drive through without having to operate it with the room key which is the only way they would have to track use.

I have stayed here a number of times in the past, and it did appear that there were fewer people here than I remember. I am sure that occupancy is down. There were two conferences that overlapped my stay, so that helped occupancy. Plus there was some shooting of a VH1 reality show about dating that was being shot on premises (isn't reality TV an oxymoron?). I assume cast and crew were staying on premises, so all of that helped revenue.

By and large the stay was similar to that I have experienced in the past. I did not sense service being down and the property appears in similar shape to the last time I was here 2 or 3 years ago.

I did notice that the bar was very empty each time we went in for a nightcap. Did not eat at any of the on-site restaurants (other than breakfast in the Palm), as I have never been much impressed with them anyway. The Italian restaurant was closed the entire time were were there. Not sure about Kamuela Provision as we never got over there, but the only places open between the lobby and Ocean Tower were Kirin, the Chinese place and Imari, the Japanese place. Boat landing pavilion was also open.

I also noticed that returning later at night there was plenty of parking in the lot. In the past that has not always been the case. I can remember really having to ferret out a spot because the lot had been so full. No more.

New addition to the area since I was last here, is the Queens Market, accross from the old Kings Market. A wonderful grocery (offshoot of the ABC stores) that has a deli, good selection of wines and beer and groceries. We had some take out sushi which was quite good. I noticed many people walking to their rooms at the Hilton with grocery bags from there. People clearly loading up for snacks or more in their rooms.

There are also a couple of new restaurants there. We ate at one, Sansei, which was quite good. Hostess told us that they do an early-bird special on Sundays and Mondays, and people line up for it. We did not take advantage as that is not our style.