Hilton Newcastle Gateshead {GBR}
 

Just telephoned the hotel res about opening rates as it is due to open tommorrow (16th Oct)but was told the opening has been delayed until Jan 2003 due to "contract problems between different parties with Hilton being piggy in the middle"!!

Cheers

Alan

Shame! I was going to give it a try before Christmas. Great location overlooking the river and Tyne Bridge. Drove past it the other day and it certainly looks like it's near completion. However, I saw on the local news the other night that they've had lots of complaints about deferring the opening date as apparently they've taken quite a few bookings for Christmas dinners and parties from companies. The companies are now having difficulty rearranginging these at such short notice!

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Chris

The website for this hotel has just changed to 'opening in Spring 2004' instead of Jan 2004. After driving past it the other day, it looks pretty finished to me. Must be issues with final fit out.

http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/hotels/i...tyhocn=NCLHIHI

Yes, I was trying to book there for the first weekend in Feb.

Called and was told the hotel's owner is dissatisfied with the quality of the contractor's workmanship, and will not open the hotel until it is fixed.

Hilton NewcastleGateshead
 

The new Hilton NewcastleGateshead officially opened today... finally 10 months behind schedule, but neither Hilton.com or Hilton.co.uk seem to be showing this hotel on their systems.

Hilton Newcastle Gateshead hotel Trip Reports and Reviews
 

Hi there. Just back from a weekend stay at the newly opened Newcastle/ Gateshead Hilton.

First impressions of the hotel was crossing the Tyne Bridge and it did look impressive.

There is a car park under the hotel and as an added bonus the barrier was broken in the open position which saved us £8 right away!!

Nice cheery young lady on reception welcomed us and had our check in card ready as i had already phoned for directions and spoke to the same person minutes earlier.

Pre assigned room was waiting for us on the 5th (Executive)floor and was modern,clean and fresh which is to be expected for a hotel that opened at Easter.

Went along for delicious Afternoon Tea in thye Exec lounge and then off to the Living Well Leisure Club to burn it all off (Okay relaxing in the Spa pool!!).

Back up to the Exec lounge for a Coke about 5.00pm but noticed Alchoholic drinks were already being consumed (they are in the same coolers as the soft drinks but staff did'nt seem to mind them being taken).

Official "Free Drinks" are from 5.30pm until 11.00pm with a good selection of beers, wines and spirits. Overdid on the Champagne and "retired" approx 10.00pm for a room service meal as the food offering in the lounge was poor unless you like potato chips!!

The room service food was nice but slow to arrive as the restaurant was fully booked when we arrived mid afternoon so obviously most guests went for in- room dining!!

Breakfast was great in the restaurant with a good choice of cooked and continental items and the added plus point was it was open until 11.00am which considering my head was just right.

Occupancy at this hotel is already fillling up and staff said it is almost full at weekends for the next few months.

If you need any more info let me know.

Cheers

Alan

Thanks, Wudy15! I've been thinking about a visit to check this place out, just for a weekend away. Your report sounds pretty positive; I guess I'll give it a go next month..

As a local and having watched the hotel being built, we decided to make a visit for one night for our wedding anniversary to give the new hotel a try. Got upgraded to the Executive floor to a room with a balcony overlooking the river and Tyne Bridge. As expected new hotels always seem very pleasant and the room was a decent size with robes and slippers. Surprisingly, we had to sign a disclaimer to get the door opened to go out on to the balcony. Must have thought we were going to jump!! Never had to do that before. Also got free parking and enjoyed the executive lounge prior to having dinner in the restaurant. After a very pleasant restaurant meal, back to the executive lounge which finished the evening off very nicely. Breakfast was very busy on the Sunday morning around 10.30am but a good selection available. Had a look, but didn't try the gym and pool which I thought looked on the smallish side. After checking out, we left the car in the underground car park and had a walk across the bridges and along by the quayside market, which is on every Sunday morning on the Newcastle side of the river. BTW, if anybody is trying to locate this hotel, it only appears at the moment to come up on the Hilton website as under the location "Gateshead." I know it's address is actually in Gateshead, but you think they would have their database bring it up also under "Newcastle," especially as they call it the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead. Anyway, we did enjoy our stay there.

New Hilton in Newcastle UK - worst Hilton ever !
 

I'm a visitor from elsewhere on FT. I'm sorry, you regulars on the Hilton forum, but I'm just back from a couple of nights in the brand new Hilton Newcastle. And I have to say, for a purported quality hotel, it's just not up to it. I'm writing to the manager about all this, but just to share it.

The Hilton Newcastle has been open about 8 weeks now. Every taxi driver in Newcastle tells the story of how it was opened 6 months late, about how all the Christmas banquets etc that were booked were all lost because it couldn't open on time. So every taxi driver is giving out an anti-message. And now I have one. But as a guest.

1. They completely lost my reservation. I was only there because my regular Newcastle UK hotel, and some others, were full. So something big going on in town. But it will be nice to stay in a Hilton again. Arrived at the desk late, only to be told they denied all knowledge of me. Fortunately they had rooms for "walk ins". But when my secretary tried to follow this up the next day, it was a case of "Yes you booked, I don't know where it went". And that was how it was left. A lack of management.

2. Overcharging at checkout. There was a strange package deal offered to me as a "walk in", with dinner inclusive on the first night only (when I was arriving at 11 pm, by which time the restaurant was closed). But room service was OK apparently, I was told at check in. Trying to order this, however, I was told the room service meals menu was not OK, only the snacks menu. So I had £11.50 worth. But when I checked out this was on as a separate charge. TWICE. Yes, £23.00 extra on the bill. I always get really hacked off about being overcharged for extra services at checkout like this. A lack of management.

3. Breakfast was awful. It's a breakfast buffet in the normal British style. Now the old stereotype is that in a cheap airport cafe they cook all the breakfast items at 05.30 and just leave them under the heaters. But that's just how it was ! And this at a hotel of "sophisticated style and service". On both days there were completely dried out foods there, like the bacon, or the potato cakes, or the fried bread. So hard and inedible in fact I had to spit them out. That is a dreadful thing to be required to do in the dining room of quality hotel, and I can't remember the last time it happened. Notably there was no one with a chef's hat on duty, only kitchen hands doing the work. A lack of management.

4. Evening snacks menu in the bar. A nice idea but a bizarre menu. Five main course ideas so the choices should be fine. The first was a kebab. The other four were - yes, kebabs. All items the same. Talk about a lack of inspiration.

5. The taxi service is a shambles. Apparently a contract has been let to one taxi company only. You come out at 0900 and wait maybe 20 minutes or more while the taxi is ordered and you wait for it. All this time taxis are arriving (including Gateshead taxis, which bizarre municipal rivalries insist have to be used there, all arriving Newcastle taxis being sent away empty). But even from the same company, they are sent away too. No, you have to wait for your own one. And wait. And wait. Now I don't know how much money the selected taxi company is kicking back to the hotel (or someone in it) for this non-service monopoly, but it must be a lot.

I won't go on at length. But many of the staff are like 22nd Century automatons, immaculate in new uniforms (of course), completely corporate trained, quite inhospitable beyond spouting the training babble thay are required to speak, seemingly focusing beyond you as they speak to you. And the building itself, splendid position, looks like a prison though (a taxi driver told me others had said the same), entrance in a quite forbidding back street, awful cold, austere atrium foyer all in stone with a very unwelcoming and uncomfortable looking cold cafe area laid out in it - you get the idea.

Conrad must be turning in his grave.

Thanks for the warning, WHBM! It's too bad they have wasted so much good possible buzz by doing all this - late opening, poor management, poor staff training, poor data mangement, etc. etc. We'll stay away in droves, they will reap what they have sowed. :mad:

The breakfast is typical of every Hilton in the Uk I have stayed at, I also find
the hot selection is always cold, no matter what time you arrive. I stayed in the Hilton Coventry during the week and found the oj was warmer than the 'hot' selection.

Funny. I found the breakfast and meals very good. Granted this was at either the London Paddington, or Metropole. Perhaps out of London the standards are not so good. I am staying at the Hilton Swindon in 2 weeks time, I hope the service is not as bad as in Newcastle, I will let you all know.

As a regular user of UK Hiltons, I find the breakfast can be patchy.

Islington and Sheffield are damn good, so is the Edinburgh Grosvenor.

Kensington and Nottingham are pretty bad.

Sounds pretty bad, WHBM, but I still maintain that the worst Hilton ever is the NEC...

For 16 quid, the brekkie at the Grosvenor had better be damn good! :eek: