As there was 2 Hilton group properties in this city, I decided to break my stay and spent 2 nights at this property - mainly because of the location and was planning to use the pool/spa.  This looks like one of the 3 full service and on the higher end hotel in the city (the other is the Brovania Boutique Hotel (hotel for football star spotting from the look of it)  and the Radisson).

Location

The property is located at the edge of the old city next to the river.  There's the old historical Swan Tower (which used to be part of the defense wall of the city).  Around the hotel there's lots of eateries and pubs.  The Second World war museum is quite close to this property.  For other tourist attractions, it slightly further compared to the Hampton.   

For public transportation, it is about 15 mins walk to the nearest bus/tram stop and 20 mins to the main train station. 

Check In

I had been monitoring the Hilton app if there would be any upgrades and sadly, I did not see any even on the day of check-in.  However as usual, since these days no matter with or without digital-key availability, dropping by the front desk is necessary due to the pandemic.  Mask wearing is compulsory within the public area of the property (and they do provide it if you don't have one). 

I arrived after 1600h and there was only 1 person before me, which lead to a few mins wait.  I enquired about the upgrade, and was told that the all rooms, river facing and suites (including the Presidential Suite) was occupied.  Since I had 2 nights, I did ask about the possibility of the 2nd night - which I was told only a riverview room was available - which I agreed upon.  I did have some additional discussion about benefits for Diamond since there's no lounge at this property - and informed of the following 

- a voucher of 50 PLN (no idea why it's so much lower now compared to what I have seen previously from other reviews)

- breakfast 

- I believe an additional 10% discount at the spa

I was not really impressed with this - but what was the thing that put me off was how the agent was trying to sell the above items as already great benefits and furthermore, selling the room that I had with a "wonderful park view room" (in reality the room I had was just facing some green lawn of the road divider).  At this point I did request to speak to a supervisor, (to be clear was not trying to play the status game, but was just so irritated with how the conversation was brough upon me) - was told that they will come back to me.  [And no, I was not trying to be a DYKWIA and that upgrades are based on availability basis]

Room

The 1st room was situation on the 5th floor - overlooking a larger road.  I was initially afraid of the traffic noise - but this proved to be non-existence (maybe since it was a Sunday morning the next day).  Actually the room size was not too bad - although to some extend the furnishing and deco was showing it's age but functional.

There was a large desk and a small sitting area.  There was tea/coffee making facilities and the minibar was filled up.  They also provided 2 bottles of water for all guests (which i don't think it is replaced - as it was not at the Hampton).  

Internet speed was stable and good - there is a selection between default and a premium one (which had a charge) - there was a small note that internet is complimentary for elite members - which I took to include the Premium one, and I was not charged for it.  The TV seems to have been replaced recently and again, a very nice feature (hopefully this gets rolled out to more hotels) is the ability to stream your device.  (I tried it and it did work, although not all devices seems to work, as I could not get my Chrome via my laptop to stream to it)  Other than that, it was the usual selection of local and international options.  Sleep quality was good - with minimal interior and exterior noise.  (the only irritation was during a short period in the nigh when they closed the fire protection door - which was located just in front of the room - and therefore, whenever guests access the area, the door will slam quite hard which could be heard clearly in the room - luckily it was a minimal disturbance for a few hours)

Bathroom size was good - there was both a (separate) shower and bathtub.  Amenities were the usual Crabtree&Evelyn.  The shower was good in both temperature and pressure wise.  Good thing too is that there was no water leaking out of the shower area, which is a good and shows good thought into it. 

2nd room:

On my 2nd night - I moved to a riverview room on the 3rd floor.  As mentioned earlier on the escalation during check-in, well, the hotel did manage to make this up satisfactory - by sending up some fruits and a bottle of wine and I was also surprised with an upgrade to a Riverview Suite for my next night (not sure how it became available since I was told it was not at check-in).  

For this room, as expected it was large in size with a clear separation of living area and a sleeping area.  The living room area was quite well appointed - although I would have maybe rearranged the position of the sitting arrangement in order to enjoy the view rather focus on the TV and minibar area.  There was also a nice area at the window to sit and take in the view - which they could make it a nice area just by adding a sitting cushion or just a sheepskin throw rug.  

Other than that, there was the usual coffee/tea making facility and the additional bonus of this room is a Nespresso system.  There were also 2 TV's - one in the living and the other in the bedroom.  The working desk was large and functional - with good position of electrical outlets (sufficient in my view around the room).  

The bedroom area was also functional and the bed was like the previous room - comfortable with minimal noise from exterior/interior.

Bathroom size was on the larger side - with double washbasin.  There was also a separate bath and shower area.  The amenities provided in the suite was from the same brand, but in larger bottles.  There was also another guest bathroom at the entrance hall.  

View of the room was good - towards the river and the Gdansk sign.  During the evening, it was nice to watch the activities along the riverside especially sitting at the window ledge. 

Breakfast

The breakfast was at the hotel's main restaurant - Mercato.  In my opinion, one of the better breakfast spread among the Hilton's in Europe - they had a chocolate fountain and Prosecco.  There was a also a nice area set up for children - which I found very thoughtful. 

The food quality was good and they did seem to manage to refill items quite fast, especially on busy weekends.  Used plates and utensils were also removed quite well even during the busier weekend (although they do have more staff during the weekends compared to weekdays).  There was also the possibility to do eggs-to order.  Outside of the buffet, they did have some items which were chargable - for example eggs benedict, although prices seems reasonable.

The only main complain here would be the service level from the breakfast crew.  I found it to be quite lacking and seems like none of them (quite unusual) did not really want to be there - none of them really actually had a smile on their face and trying to grab the attention of them was quite difficult - you had to really walk up to them to pass on your request, as they seem to avoid as much eye contact with tables.  And when they have not much to do, they would be talking among themselves.  Also, I found out only during my 2nd day that there was a sort of reserved area for Elite members - at a much nicer sitting area with a view - but this was never really proposed on any of the mornings to us (although I did see for some guests they did direct them to the area - so I have no idea how it worked).    The detail to attention also seemed to lack when ordering items - for example one morning I ordered the Polish Pancakes which should have come with whipped cream and fruit compote (as described in the menu), but it came out just as 2 pieces of pancakes on a plate.  

Bar

The voucher that was provided as a compensation of not having a lounge was used at the Mercato bar of the hotel (I had wanted to use this at the High Five Rooftop bar) but for some unknown reasons, it was closed on the Sunday night.  In general service here was much better, however prices where also slightly on the higher side compared to the outside bars.  The selection here was ok and quite usual for a bar.  For the 2 drinks (a glass of wine and a cocktail) I had, sadly this was not even sufficient to be covered by the voucher.  Also seems that the system is not really designed to work efficiently when a voucher is applied - as it took some effort at least when I had to pay - seems like some manual intervention was needed.  Anyway, the bar area had a nice atmosphere with a nice view of the river.

Pool

The pool area is located at the top of the hotel in an enclosed area.  From the photos, it looks quite big, but in reality it is actually on a smaller side.  It did get quite busy during the weekend with lots of families - so for a quieter time, it might be good to plan the visit properly.  I do wonder during the summer period, how is this handled.  Water temperature was good. 

Service

As for service, this is the part that I would say at least during my stay was quite a let down.  Room service from what I understood is also an on-demand service.  Other than that, I see so many possibility for hotel team to be more pro-active in this area, but it seems that if you don't say anything, it is basically just live with it.  

Also during my last day, just as luck would be for me, as I started a conference call, they did a fire drill at the property (I can tell you, even if you're someone that sleeps like a log, you'll get woken up).  I can understand this - however what I found strange was after every thing was over and I had to actually go get my key reactivated (as it was over noon) no mention of the drill nor any apologies.  I would have expected that even in such "surprising" drill, after it's done, they would bring it up and apologize for the incovenience.  

Overall

All in all, this stay was a mix bag of good things and failure.  Maybe my expectation was too high going into this stay which lead to especially what I see failure upon failure from the service point -  In the welcome letter, there's a mention of how they appreciate Elite guests - but from action point it seems to be otherwise.

I am not sure if it was just unlucky that in my case from soft product/service point it was just dissapointment upon dissapointment.  If I would return to this property - I would not say no, but to recommend it is also difficult (especially considering that I paid close to double what I paid for the Hampton and experiencing so many service failure) since the hard product was quite solid.  Therefore I would conclude for now - select either of the property based on value and depending on view, location and expectation aspect.