Stay Report - 10/24 - 10/25:
Location: The hotel is on Hillsborough Road less than half a mile away from NC State's main campus. It's about a mile and a half from Glenwood Avenue and all its bars and restaurants and about the same from Downtown Raleigh. I believe it's the closest full service Hilton property to downtown Raleigh. Lots of restaurants, bars and nightlife are within an easy walk or short Uber ride from the hotel.
Hotel: One of the stranger looking Hilton properties I've been to. It's a much older building with wrought iron balconies on the outside of each room. Thankfully, the property has had an upgrade since it transferred from Holiday Inn to Doubletree. The lobby area is new and quite nice and there's a small bar just off it. There's also a business center in the lobby and a small room where breakfast is served.
Check In: I was thanked for being a Diamond and offered bottled water and anything else I wanted to drink from their cooler. I wasn't proactively upgraded but after I asked, I was given a suite on the first floor.
Room: The living room was great, large couch, TV, two arm chairs, coffee table and desk. The bedroom was tiny and dominated by the bed and had a small TV in the wall. The bathroom was also pretty small and was right next to the room's front door. There was also a balcony that I didn't use. Annoyingly, the soundproofing is bad and everyone speaking in the parking lot was easily heard from the room. Also, this hotel has no HHonors Wifi. You use a network for the floor you're on and enter a code that changes every 24 hours.
Breakfast/Other: Diamonds get a full breakfast buffet which has a omelette bar plus hot options (waffles, grits, oatmeal, eggs, potatoes, sausage and bacon). The food was pretty bland and tasteless.
Overall this is a pretty good hotel with a great location for downtown Raleigh.