nako

And their "Hampton Touch" is a whole roll of Oreos, not just a little package of four.

Mike

Brendan

The Hilton Novi, 15 miles N of Metro Airport, is an Opportunity hotel whose Point Stretchers run Fri. Nov.15 --Dec.30. So if you want a room tonight (Thu. 11/14) it'll cost you 10K HHonors points. But if you need a room on Sun. on returning, it's only 6K!
I love Ann Arbor. Some bars downtown are friendly to strangers & you can discuss a subject with some intellectual meat to it without hearing whining about 'deep subjects.' Also Ann Arbor & the West suburbs of Detroit offer great pickup Volleyball on Sundays!

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Play the travel game 3 vacations into the future!

dgordon

Still packing and it is too late to change anything. Needed to cancel by 6 pm EST. Who knows when we'll get there. We'll probably drive straight through on Sunday as my daughter needs to back in school and I'll be working in the afternoon. Thanks for all your help.

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Ms.DtG

YesHyM

Brendan,

FYI, the Hilton Novi will become a Sheraton Hotel in January. I have been staying there while visiting relatives nearby, and was looking forward to future visits (3 or 4 times per year). While checking out, Oct. 4, the desk clerk gave me the disappointing news. Now I will have to redeem twice as many points for Executive category properties. There are no other Opportunity hotels around the Detroit area. It is a great hotel; no executive lounge but received two $8.49 breakfast coupons for each night to treat my relatives to a nice breakfast on Sunday mornings.

Billiken

Just completed a stay at the Hilton. Room was okay and very large (was not upgraded as a Diamonod). However there is a lot of dead or wasted space.

The long curved hallway does produce a echo so anyone talking outside your room can easily be heard. Bottom line, if you're a light sleeper ask for a room at the end of the hall. There was no highway noise with my room that faced towards the parking lot. Apparently, there are rooms that face the highway. I would avoid those.

Free high-speed wireless access (in-room).

I would stay here again.

Alysia

What's better: the Southfield Hilton or the Southfield Hampton Inn?

tvelinsk

Kanderna, I would guess it would depend on what you are looking for. The Hilton has older rooms - the Hampton has just gone through their "Hampton Update" so the rooms are remodeled - new bedding - new bathrooms. Both have indoor pools, whirlpools, and exercise rooms. As a Diamond I have gotten bottles of water at the desk at the Hilton, and "Hampton Touch" of water and cookies in the room at the Hampton. Hilton will give you breakfast certificates to order off the menu at their restaurant, obviously the Hampton has their regular breakfast.
The properties are within a mile of each other, but if you stay at the Hilton you will want to make sure an get a map before you go - it can be a bit hard to figure out how to actually get to the property...
Tania

lintemut

This property was initially a Guest Quarters hotel.

infinityplusone

I just completed a mattress run a couple of months ago at the Southfield Hampton Inn and it has been newly updated, as stated earlier.
I would stay here again as the staff was friendly, my room was on the large size and breakfast was well stocked. The price was good at $59 (Hit the Road rate).

BigLar

Just a couple of miles west (in Warren and Sterling Heights) there is a Hampton (Warren) and Hampton Inns & Suites (SH). I have stayed at both. Was treated very well at both, as a Diamond and a Gold. Got upgraded to jacuzzi room, which was a very good size.

Free breakfast at both, or course. At the Warren property, they served dinner Mon-Wed (complementary, including beer). They have an exercise room, but the pool is just a'building - probably ready by summer.

The HI&S is brand new, also has jacuzzi rooms - free b'kfst, no dinner (yet). Indoor pool and exercise room.

Locations are just off busy VanDyke, at 14 Mile and 16 Mile. Might fit your needs, might not.

Ooops - just noticed this thread is a couple of years old. Oh well.

ny747

I just completed a stay at the Hilton in Troy, MI. When I checked out, I was shocked to discover that the 4 one minute domestic long distance calls that were made from the room were billed at a whopping $6.18 each.

The front desk person explained that was the rate that Ameritech charged for these calls for the first minute. While I have understand that a hotel needs to have a markup on their rates, I thought that the $6.18 was excessive.

I called the Hilton Honors program and they said that the hotel's GM would call me within 3 business days to address my complaint.

Does anyone have an idea what other hotels in the Detroit area or other Hiltons nationally charge for a similar call?

Thanks

Eugene

Horrendously marked-up phone charges is one of the worst scams perpetrated by too many hotels, Hiltons and otherwise.

MisterNice

$6.18/min should be enough to call the moon. Never-the-less every HH hotel I have seen in the last 2-3 years has had a Telephone Rate Card by the phone or the rates listed in the pen/pad thingee by the bed and desk. I make my hotel phone calls only with a Costco prepaid phone card for less than $0.03/min and recommend you get a similar prepaid card.

MisterNice

jhpark

I don't know if any hotels I've made the mistake of calling from charged $6 for the first minute, but I know it was always more than $1/minute. Getting a calling card or a cell (though it's silly to get one just for this reason) is my recommendation.

Or, there are VOIP services, but the calling card will likely be cheaper.

Braindrain

Sounds about right. It isn't only Hilton who are charging these rates. Did you read about the charges before calling? It's usually (if I remember correctly) "double the direct dialed rates" plus some service charge.

I also notice you're SPG Gold. Westins charge about the same.