Recent Stay Comments:
My better half and I stayed here recently (paid stay) for two weeks.
I wrote the operations director (found name on TripAdvisor) and asked very politely if we could get an upgrade, knowing our chances would be slim for such a long stay (14 nights).
The gentleman wrote back very promptly and was very helpful offering an upgrade for the entire stay to a one bedroom suite and even mentioned that if the 'alpine' suite (two bed, two bath suite) would be available on the day of our check-in for the duration he would upgrade us to that suite! A very nice gesture and much appreciated. ^
After careful consideration we declined the upgrade to the one bed suite and stay in a Whistler Junior Suite (for the 'real' fireplace, better kitchen, higher floor, balcony and potential of a jacuzzi in the bath)…obviously hoping that the alpine suite would become available…
The alpine was unfortunately booked for a few nights by someone the night before so we didn't get lucky but the kind ops director still came through for us and put us in the biggest Whistler Junior suite which has an extra window so you can look over to Blackcomb as well out towards Whistler mountain and a couple of extra square meters of floor space over other Whistler suites.
The room we had was 820 (I can highly recommend this particular room to anyone) and was great as it was a corner room on the top floor so very quiet and had great views from the window as well as the balcony. There was a very large bath with a jacuzzi tub, plenty of room for the two of us and a nice kitchen with a full size fridge, 4 burner ceramic hob, microwave, dishwasher and smaller appliances. They even provide dishwasher powder and all needed dish soap as well as towels and dish cloths. (not provided in many hotels in the Alps for comparison).
The fireplace was nice and although you were only allowed to burn the approved 'logs' which are special treated artificial logs they still burn and look close to the real thing (much better than gas fireplaces in my opinion). The log was replaced every day for us without asking or having to pay any extra fee although I did see a sign saying you could purchase further logs for $ 5.- per log if desired / needed over the 1 log per day policy.
There was a nice turn down service daily and we received two bottles of water (500 ml size) each night.
The ops director had left a very nice personal note for us in the room along with a nice full size bottle of B.C. wine and a cheese plate in the fridge for us ! (a brilliant way to kick off our vacation).
They did provide us with breakfast coupons at check-in but this turned out to be only half the needed amount as you need one per person per day and normally they do only give 2 coupons per room per night max so if you had kids you would be out of pocket. (Although, when I went down to query about the coupon numbers we had been given and get the remaining 14... they had no issue providing the extra ones and even hinted that if we had kids we could get some extra…) YMMV.
There was a washer and dryer on the 8th floor (not sure about other floors) and this was a better quality washer (using a side loading door and without an agitator). You could buy washing powder at the vending machines in the same room and each machine was $ 3.- and only took 30 minutes) Very convenient for those on extended stays!
The proximity to the hill and lifts is brilliant as others have posted and couldn't be more convenient. Many people did leave their skis or snowboards and boots at the Summit shop in the same complex (free of charge to Hilton guests) but many others also took their full kit up to the rooms as well and I never saw anyone from the hotel asking guests to not do this…so the choice is yours really. (although in the Hotel room literature they do ask you not do take skis and boots up to the rooms please!)
There are two reasonable grocery stores within walking distance (an independent and an IGA) to get anything you may want or need for food or drink if you were looking to do some self catering nights.
Breakfast was decent enough when free (using the coupons) but I would not want to pay $ 58.- for two, not including tip, personally. I think they may differentiate between gold and diamond or some other groups as I saw people with coupons for just continental breakfast, people with coupons for full buffet (including eggs to order which we received), and coupons for anything including any menu ordered items as well (assume people that had paid for breakfast as part of room rate?)…so not sure how they differentiate this. We found that it was worth getting to breakfast by 8 AM or the service tended to be poor and take longer if you came any later than this.
The bar in the hotel tended to get filled quite quickly after 3 PM or at lunch time and the music quite loud so not a place for a lower volume chat…but still friendly and a good time.
The sauna, hot tub, pool and gym were all okay and frequently visited!
Our visit was great and the staff were very helpful and friendly and they had no issue with our late check out request on the last day.
I will definitely return and would recommend this Hilton to anyone from our experience. We came to enjoy the snow and boy did we get it...over 6 feet of snow during our last week alone...nice powder! March is definitely the time to go.
Hope this long post helps others and provides some details that are useful not previously mentioned.