dweebe

Here is a link to an article from the 10-31-02 St. Louis Post-Dispatch about a new Hilton in downtown.

http://www.stlt oday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/Business/74B186C5B21DF25286256C6300230AFC?OpenDocument&Head line=Merchants-Laclede%20plans%20are%20revived

Does not say what type of Hilton it will be. My guess is a Garden Inn.

[This message has been edited by dweebe (edited 10-31-2002).]

amanuensis

The article says that the new hotel will be "a full-service, 210-room Hilton Hotel." Since Garden Inns are not full service, I would expect it to not be a Garden Inn, but instead be a regular Hilton hotel, maybe with a boutique flair.

This is good news to me. The last time I was in St. Louis, for a convention, I stayed at the Airport Hilton because I was assured that I could easily use light rail to get from the airport to the convention. It wasn't that easy, mainly because of the enormous amount of time wasted each day waiting for the hotel's airport shuttle to go to and from the airport.

dweebe

Good point.

The new location will be good if you are in town for a convention and want a Hilton but don't care about walking a few blocks to America's Center. It's about a 4 to 5 block walk.

They are also in the finishing a new Hampton Inn that is about 2 blocks closer to the Americas Center/Edward Jones Dome complex. Last time I tailgated for a Rams game (two weeks ago) it looked like it will be ready in the Spring. A lot better location than the one on the very western edge of downtown.

They are in the process of building a 1000+ room convention center hotel (Renaissance) right across the street from the America's Center.


[This message has been edited by dweebe (edited 10-31-2002).]

cabinpressure

I just returned from a trip to the newly renovated Hilton in downtown St. Louis. I'm relatively new to Hilton, so I can't compare it to other properties, but I'll give you my impressions:

The hotel is located about 4 blocks from the 8th & Pine MetroLink station and about 3 blocks from the Gateway Arch.

The staff were plentiful and courteous, from doormen to check-in to the restaurant. We arrived on a Saturday around 11a (I think check-in is at 4p) and were told our room was ready for us. The lobby was spacious and well-appointed, with a casual restaurant and bar both in the main lobby area, but somewhat separated. The building is a former bank and two of the vaults were preserved next to the front desk: One is used as a gift shop and the other as the business center (complimentary, 2 internet-connected computers and a color laser printer).

The room was also well-appointed, with tall ceilings, comfy chair and ottoman, 3 phones, full-sized hair dryer, iron, ironing board, etc.

We had lunch in the restaurant, and found the menu selections very creative and reasonably priced. I had some sort of free-range southwest Missouri / Ozarks raised burger with parmesan fries ($10) and a huge side caesar salad ($4). The waitress noticed my fiancee stealing a couple tomato wedges off my salad and immediately returned with a plate of tomato wedges for her. After filling up our water glasses countless times, the waitress brought us two bottles of water to take with us when we left. Very nice touches all around.

No complaints, would definitely stay there again.

dlwalt

I'll be in St. Louis for a six day stay and am debating about staying at the Renaissance Suites or the Hilton. I am silver with Marriott and gold with Hilton. What are the opinions of the hotels?

GregL

Both are fairly new hotels (< 5 years). The Renaissance Suites is a renovation of an old 1920s hotel while the Hilton is the renovation of a similarly aged bank building.

I've stayed at neither (since I live in STL) but I've eaten at the restaurant at the Hilton and loved the lobby.

Greg

365RoadWarrior

Any recent stays? I'm particularly interested in the fitness center/gym and Diamond treatment. Thanks!

Nosmo King

I've stayed there a number of times and, while it's a fine hotel, it lacks some Hilton Hotel basics.

For instance no exec floor, exec lounge or suites. And upgrades are limited since all the rooms, aside from those on the corner, are about the same. Gym is minimal but functional and the pool is a very small indoor one. Free breakfast coupons has always been included in the check-in package -- never had to ask for them. And I guess the free breakfast is about the only HH Diamond benefit. Lobby is very nice looking with much of the original marble from the building's previous incarnation as a bank still very much evident. Nice touch is the use of the walk in safe (check out the safe door!) as the business center.

All that said, the Hilton St Louis Downtown remains my first choice when staying in StL. Probably because it has the distinct feel of a botique hotel. A far better choice than the re-badged (ex-Marriott) Hilton Ballpark a couple of blocks away.

Mr. July

Was there last month for Frozen Four. Agree with Nosmo King's observations. On the plus side - free full buffet breakfast, very friendly staff, nice older renovated building, with an especially nice lobby. On the down side, it's a small hotel and so the extra perks that you might get elsewhere simply aren't available. I'd stay there again if in downtown St. Louis, but would tailor my expecations - I'd check the "what kind of unusual or exciting upgrade might I get" anticipation I sometime have going into the bigger properties.

365RoadWarrior

Thank you! Very helpful. I'm now debating between the Hilton and the Westin.

Nosmo King

Oh you didn't tell me you were looking at the Westin!

If cost is no object (or someone else is paying) the Westin would be my choice. But I have no status with SPG and I can never seem to find a reasonable rate at the Westin.

CANNOT beat the location ofthe Westin if you're going to catch a Cardinals game. It's across the street from the stadium -- and also almost right on top of a MetroLink stop.

TechGeek

I have to say I stayed here for the first time this week and the service was awesome. Here are the details and I have my profile set to + points so all of this was additional to my point bonus.

Was given a very nice room on the 8th (top) floor. Two free waters were put in my room.

Got full breakfast coupons.

Here's the kicker, was given 2 free drink coupons for the bar good for $10(per drink)! I had a couple of very very nice single malt scotch for free.

Everyone was awesome, the bartenders are great and they basically stay open until the bar empties, one night was after 2AM. They free pour a very nice drink, better then most Hotel bars.

For the US this makes my top five Hilton's easily.

mgcho

Really nice hotel. I was allowed to checked since 11:00 AM .
Nice room with high ceiling, great bed. Very clean. Courteous staffs.
Hotel is walking distance from several shops, Bamboo Bistro right across the hotel has great buffet. Went there twice.
I will stay there again whenever I am in St Louis.^

One note: If you rent a car, you have to pay $16/day for car parking for nearby parking levels as there is no space for parking around this downtown hotel.

work4fun

I'm guessing the recent renovation of the Hilton at the Ballpark (which used to be a Marriott and is a couple blocks away) has lead to the decline of this hotel. While the room was nice and fairly quiet (once I unplugged the fridge), and the building is nice and historic, I took issue with the following:

1 - Cheapest Gym equipment I've ever come across in a Hilton. It's the brand they have in Hapmton Inn's, not Precor, which is in most Hilton properties these days.

2 - No Executive Lounge

3 - No Executive Floor

4 - The bar is in the lobby, and they allow smoking in the bar (boo!) which also gives a smoky smell to the entire lobby.

5 - Valet parking is available, but not popular, so it took a long time to get my car on Monday monrning. I switched to self park.

6 - Room service ends at 11 PM, as does food service in the smoky bar.

7 - Room service took an HOUR (burger & salad) , and was not that good, and somewhat cold when it arrived.

On a positive note:

1 - the staff was friendly enough
2 - the bathrooms have been recently remodeled. and the shower head was high.
3 - comfortable beds
4 - In lieu of executive lounge, you get breakfast certs, which are good for the bountiful buffet. Oh, and 2 free drink coupons.

Sterlingguy

Went to STL for business for five days.
As a HH Gold guy, I always try to book a Hilton family hotel.
Booked the Downtown Hilton for $103/night.
Upon arrival via the subway I was immediately struck by the lack of people. The hotel is 4.5 blocks from the nearest subway and there were literally no people on the street at 8 PM.
There was no line as well as no one in the lobby at 8 PM. As I was being checked-in I asked if I could have a view of the Arch room and was told that the hotel didn't have any view of the Arch. They didn't acknowledge my HH Gold status at all. My room, 515, was on a corner facing a parking lot. The room was small, with a small tub and no room for the luggage stand anyplace in the room, so I had to put the luggage on a chair. The cable TV delay between changing channels was superlong and many channels were blank. Kinda annoying. After putting my stuff away, I went to check on breakfast with the front desk. They checked my room number and gave me the breakfast coupons (good for continental only). They also gave me a coupon for a free $8 drink in the bar. The breakfast in the 400 Olive restaurant was one of the worst buffets I've ever had- nasty looking chopped-up fruit, boxes of cereal, and barely drinkable coffee. Terrible service, with servers just standing behind a screen talking with each other. Good luck getting cream or a spoon (both not on the table). We skipped breakfast a couple of days and got something at the convention center. Not much is near the hotel itself. Seems like half the buildings are empty with "for sale" signs on them. The room was small, dark and dated (I understand that they are refreshing the rooms in Dec. 2013, so that will improve one aspect of this hotel). All in all, one of the worst Hilton Family hotels I've ever stayed in.