Originally Posted by
TheVengefulTraveller
I find that the tone of the lounge can vary with the type of event that is on at the NEC and the demographic that it is aimed at.
Always worth checking before booking, which you obviously did as you knew it was quiet.
There is usually a sign outside about the no children after 6pm policy so it shouldn't have caught anyone by surprise. Disappointing to hear that things got unpleasant.
Decent breakfast in the lounge is dependable though.
Yeah I think you are right, it's a somewhat bazaar lounge, I do like it though but I don't know why....... it's nothing great , maybe it's just I've had some great times here and maybe I've had a few Stella's tonight too.
Seriously though, it went from crazy busy to almost dead when the family's left, ironically I got chatting to a couple who were miffed that their children could not come in and they said Hilton had promised them a " games room where they could hang out during happy hour but this never happened, that was the main cause of argument not the child restrictions....fair play I guess.
The lounge remained quiet most of the night, the canapes was not that inspiring, I had a few nuts but we went to dinner in the lounge bar around 9-30pm.....very quiet, almost dead .....service was poor , had to order food and drinks at bar and it took a while to arrive via a waitress that clearly didn't want to be here, food was acceptable, now about to head back to room to retire......... will report back!