Originally Posted by kawoh
Stayed in Perth about 8 weeks ago, spent most of the time at the Hyatt (awesome hotel) as compared to the Hilton. Tho the hilton is in a better location.
I found the staff, service, all round quality of the property below par. Everything about them was either about cutting corners or trying to squeeze as much as they could out of you.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I had read very mixed reports about this hotel and was a bit uncertain about booking it. My expectations were pretty low but in our case they were were exceeded and we were well treated. Upon arrival without any prompting, the receptionist told us that as Diamond we had been upgraded, which was a good start. We got a huge room with partial river view, which was an extra plus. They didn't have to give any extras, but a bottle of wine and bowl of fruit were also in the room. Staff in the restaurant were very friendly, especially the waitresses from Glasgow and Budapest who were most very chatty. Each morning, they also kept asking if we needed any more food from the buffet before it was closing. Concierge also gave us useful tips on tours and boat/train/bus times and was most helpful. When I asked for a late check-out from the standard 11am time(which all our 3 Australian Hiltons had), it was no problem getting a 3pm check-out time and this gave us an extra few hours in Perth, which my wife put to good use at the Harbourside shopping mall!
I agree that the Melbourne Airport Hilton is much better, but it is a very new property. However at that hotel, we thought the breakfast restaurant service was very poor and we were treated very badly. A waitress put us at one table and a few minutes later a waiter came along and started complaining about us sitting at that table and then a small argument between the staff - not a vary good start to breakfast. Wanted to have a swim in the morning but the pool was closed for some reason, so although we got a nice upgrade there, the overall experience was disappointing.
I've said it before that it all boils down to individual's experiences at the time. I've had bad stays in several hiltons including the UK and US and then read great reports by other FT members. Overall, I'm not raving about the hotel but we enjoyed our stay at the Parmelia Hilton in Perth, which just goes to show how people's opinions can differ. I think that the customer service that one experiences at the time and staff attitudes can make a big difference to a stay and we were lucky.