Originally Posted by Chapel Hill Guy
Could you also ask if they are staying with Hilton? I thought I saw something here (??) about them leaving.
The front-desk person I asked didn't know about the state of ownership/Hilton branding. (And specifically hadn't heard anything about possibly leaving Hilton.) And the renovations are apparently all complete.
Originally Posted by lpeterman
Overall, a very good experience. Great friendly, and helpful staff.
Walked 2 blocks for one hour of internet for A$1.00. Then discovered that the nearby Pacific Hotel had open access WiFi which I could connect to from the balcony of my room!
Agreed on the staff; very friendly, and very quick with any requests. (Other than one minor issue, noted at the bottom, with a mildly lazy manager.) Had a malfunctioning safe and missing ketchup from a room service order, both of which were attended to 2 - 3 minutes after a call. Checked out today after a 3 night stay.
Wish I'd known about the free wireless leaking over after paying $29/day (only paid for two 24-hour blocks worth as it was unreasonable, especially for how much I was actually online. Well, you actually ONLY pay AUD0.55/min, up to a max of $29/24 hour block. Yeah, that lasts a long time until you hit the max.
) I went past the Pacific Hotel several times walking around the city; if I'm back at the Hilton Cairns I'll certainly request a city-view! (Had much better views of the water on my diving trip beforehand than from my 9th floor harbor-view anyways.
) Couldn't see any wireless networks from my balcony unfortunately.
My only very minor quibble was difficulty in securing a late checkout. Asked at the front desk and was given a 12PM checkout (vs 11AM.) Called the HHonors # from the card left in my room (and actually talked to the same front desk manager who'd given me the 12PM checkout); he managed to give me a 2PM checkout after some research and calling me back. Of course late checkouts are "as available", so this is obviously nothing to complain about at all, but I could tell the manager didn't do any real checking on actual availability on the first request... (He just told me that the 9th floor was going to be heavily booked on Monday.) Obviously he checked when people would be checking in the second time I asked, which is the right way to do it, whether or not a late checkout can be provided. I guess I'm just spoiled by 4PM SPG late checkouts.
Overall, a very nice property for the location/price, and an exceptionally good value with the Amex 3rd-night-free promo they have going. I'd definitely stay there again on a return trip.