Originally Posted by
Windward Side of Life
I am scheduled to make this trip next week with plans to stay a couple of nights over the weekend at the Hilton, would you care to elaborate or post on a Hilton thread if you don't want to venture too far OT? Would appreciate any info specific to the hotel and any suggestions you may have.
Thanks.
Of course, mods feel free to move it to the Hilton forum if it is off topic.
1). Ordered a cappuccino every morning in their restaurant, after the first morning the staff would refuse to make it. After push back they would eventually make it.
2). Dinner service in the restaurant was even worse. They were always understaffed and we would have to ask at least 4 times over the course of an hour to get drinks/silverware. This was when we could get their attention, usually they would walk past us and ignore us as we tried to ask them. Would also have to place the order for food multiple times as they always forgot to enter it. This was happening to every table around us, even those who spoke fluent Spanish.
One time, when the food came it looked as if someone had eaten part of it. I went to the front desk and asked them to talk to the restaurant since the waitstaff spoke very little English. They said I would not have to pay and the manager would be there to apologize. When I got back to the table the manager was not present and the staff refused to get him, all they did was harass me to sign the bill.
3). Unrelated to restaurant service, I would avoid arranging guides through the hotel. They arranged for a very expensive English speaking private guide and driver to Mindo who turned out to speak only basic English, as a result we were not able to see what we wanted as he had no idea what we were asking.
Food quality overall was also very bad, meats were questionable, breads were hard, dishes were cold. When we got to the Galapagos we were so happy to have decent quality food. Note, we ate at the hotel for breakfast, since it is free for diamonds, and dinner as were would be very tired after sightseeing and there are not full service restaurants near the hotel. Normally we eat at local restaurants when traveling.
We paid an upgrade fee to a suite, which was very nice. Hard product was fine, if you avoid the restaurants and hotel arranged guides you should be ok. I complained to the GM and Hilton corporate so hopefully they improved since then.
Hope this helps.