Introduction As this is the first Tru by Hilton to open, I imagine FlyerTalkers will be interested in this new brand. Hilton has styled this as a hotel for Millenials, aiming to snatch market share from Choice Hotels, AirBnB, and whatever else Millenials do to avoid staying at a Hampton, Hilton, etc. Ten properties should be open by the end of the year; 300+ are currently under development. This property opened to guests roughly around April 21st. At the date of my stay on April 26th, they had sold a total of about 50 rooms over the five nights the property had been open. Some portions of the building were still under construction, but none of this activity was visible to me. The rate paid was $108/night. Location This property is located at a typical freeway offramp on the west side of Oklahoma City. It is across the street from a Hilton Garden Inn and immediately next to a La Quinta that appears to be about 40% of the way through the construction process. Another hotel is being built simultaneously to the east. There are various fast food and fast-casual dining options nearby. Check In As soon as I entered the lobby, I was greeted by the desk agent. He was playing a card game at one of the large tables in the lobby with two other guests. He introduced himself as James and welcomed me to the property, including the remark, "Aha! You're a Millenial! You're exactly the type of customer we are looking for." I quickly corrected him that I was not. I am a Millenial, yes, but Hilton already has my business. I was there more as a sightseer to figure out what this new brand was. James was very personable, and the management chose him well. Similar to the rest of the desk staff, he wore the Tru by Hilton uniform - T-shirt, jeans, tattoos, jewelry, etc. This is the look they feel will resonate with Millenials, and they may be right. I and my fellow travelers spent more time talking to him after we visited the room, and concluded that management had chosen well. Regardless of what he was wearing, he was personable and engaging, and clearly knows a lot about the business. The actual check-in was simple. I had checked in on the app and my phone was the key. I requested plastic keys for my two travel companions. They are the tap-style key, not the swipe-style. The lobby itself is very bright, with an open plan for socializing. There is a pool table on one side and tables and chairs for eating on the other side. One corner has more private booths for quiet conversation. The desk is located in the center of this, ringed by various shelves and coolers with food and beverage for sale. Purchase seemed to be on the honor system, with a kiosk for point-of-sale. There are various bulletin boards with suggestions for local bars and restaurants. A filtered water dispenser is located by an ice machine opposite the elevator lobby. Room Rooms are narrower than a standard hotel room, with the desk replaced by a long shelf. The floor appeared to be engineered wood. There is no closet either, but hangers and an iron and ironing board are provided. The beds are new and the matresses are sealed inside some special protective covered with a numbered seal, so I could not tell the brand. I slept incredibly well, although that may have been the two Manhattans I had. Duvet cover, sheets, and pillow seem to come from whoever supplies Hampton.Lighting is excellent, as is the number and variety of outlets. Three so-called Millenials had no difficulty plugging in all our devices. The bathroom follows the same simple form. Well-illuminated with a walk-in shower. Toiletries are dispensed from squeeze containers on the walls. I dispise this sort of arrangement, but tried the product anyways and found no issue with it. HVAC functioned as it should. I am appreciative of the "constant fan" option; this establishment has it. Service This is not a "service" hotel. This is a "self-service" hotel, where you are expected to check in, find your own room, purchase your own snacks, and check out all by yourself. I did need "service" of a sort after I discovered that here were only two towels in the room. A trip to the front desk yielded a search for someone who had the key to the linen closet (new hotel issues, I guess). The towels were brought promptly after I returned to the room. Every single staff member I interacted with was competent, friendly, and enthusiastic. You can't ask for more than that. Dining Tru offers a decidedly limited breakfast option. There are various donuts, bagels, yogurts, cereals, and fruit options. These three Millenials HATED it, but that may be conditioning. We were on the 15th consecutive night in a Hilton property (9 Hampton, 2 Hilton, 2 HGI, 1 Curio) and so the bar was set high. Perhaps if a traveler had opted for the Tru over the nearby Motel 6, then they would be delighted with the food selection. I found enough cereal and fruit to make a passable breakfast.Anything passing for lunch or dinner would be packaged or bottled snack food from the area around the desk. Again, this is not a "service" hotel. I would have taken photos of the breakfast options but we were feeling like fish in a fishbowl at that point. Overall Some of the initial experience with our stay was surreal, as if we were in a fishbowl. When we came down to breakfast and there were five or six people seated in the lobby, and I only recognized one of them as someone we'd seen checking in the night before, I became suspicious. With the property averaging 10 rooms sold per night, there is no way that there would be that many business types lounging around the lobby of a young-person hotel at 8:30 a.m. doing nothing but fiddling with their phones and tablets. My suspicions were confirmed when one of them started asking us chit chat questions that resembled market research. I think four people came by to see what we were eating or ask us what we thought. It was enough to cause one of my travel companions to flee back to the room.The general manager, an extremely matronly woman, was giving some sort of interview and was rattling off facts and figures. We thought that it was too bad she was not around the night before as we could have made a drinking game out of her use of the word "Millenial." I decided that instead of giving passive feedback to the greater audience, I would give her my comments directly. What I told her were the same conclusions I'm sharing now:I think Tru by Hilton has potential, but not at the current price point or with the current breakfast options. The Hilton Garden Inn across the street was charging $113 that night; a premium of $5 for hot cooked-to-order breakfasts and 10 Honors points per dollar of spend versus the 5 at Tru. A comparison between the two is no contest. Tru is clearly Hilton's lowest tier, on par with Home2Suites. Millenials are extremely fickle and are very sensitive to large brands that try too hard to market to them. Our conclusion was that Hilton had created this concept in a laboratory, and people will say one thing on a survey and do a different thing when it costs them dollars out of their own pocket. As a generation, Millenials make far less than the generations before them. Their most sensitive factor is price, although the communal lobby and pool table will appeal to them more than whatever the flagship Hilton offers. If Tru wants to pull this demographic, they need to set the price point slightly above whatever the nearest Choice Hotels property is asking. Otherwise Millenials will sleep elsewhere.While I enjoyed the stay, I will carefully evaluate future Tru locations for their value relative to the price. It would help if the price represented a break over the higher class of service offered across the street at the HGI or if they upgraded the breakfast to at least Hampton-level. Hilton set the capped point redemption rate for this property at 30,000 points and the earn rate at 5 points per dollar, which tells you that some amount of irrational thinking is driving this. The manager told me that I was the first person to bring up price as an issue to her. I countered with the question, "How many actual Millenial guests have you talked to?" She demurred.I wish the staff the best of luck; they are all excellent people. The Hilton corporate people lurking in the lobby had decided that the yellow paint behind the headboards needs to be changed to a different shade. I suspect they are fussing over the wrong details, and the free market will sort out the details that really matter.