wilp888

Hong Kong Hilton in 1965. I also remembered staying at the Waldorf-Astoria in the 60s for $33.00 per night.

paul4040

Hilton Washington Reagan National Airport. 2005. Was with a large party on a military cadet exchange in the States.

We had a whole two floors booked out!

Didn't join HH until 2012 at Hilton Bradford (sadly now deflagged). On my 30th stay this year so am a brand new diamond.

cblaisd

In the fall of 2000, after having discovered FlyerTalk and the HHonors forum that summer, I took Adam Burke (the legendary original official HHonors rep on the forum) up on his offer of Gold after four stays and spent one night at the Doubletree Club at the Atlanta Airport. Two more stays that fall at the Doubletree Club STL helped clinch the challenge. Adam later helped me get a Mutual Fund account for my spouse and me.

aztimm

I'm guessing it was the Hilton Tucson East, back in July 1997.
I was doing a triathlon in Tucson, and actually did my reservation online (still a bit unusual at that time).

When I went to check in, the agent said, "Welcome Mr. aztimml, we have your usual room and access to the club floor."
I had absolutely no idea what was going on, but went along with it.

One advantage of having a common first + last name combo is that evidently one of their much more frequent guests had the same name. Someone must have seen my name, just assumed it was him, and put me in his room and gave me all his benefits (who knows I probably earned points for him).

It was a bit awkward bringing my bike through the lobby and up the elevator with the staff eyeing me... I'm sure this wasn't common for the 'other' aztimm

Lin Hang Ren

Hilton Double Tree Pudong 2012. Executive suite as a gold. Beautiful Property and nice gm.

treppenlaeufer

Hilton London Tower Bridge in 2009 - I had no idea of the hotel sector then, the Hilton offered reasonable rates for the night in question (probably because it was still brand new) and without knowing anything about the hotel sector the "Hilton" brand reasonated well.

Of course, the TB property didn't disappoint. I had a curious look up the "city terrace", with the Exec Lounge next to it, in which I walked around (early noon, no-one else around) and figured that it is probably not a space that I could use, but I did wonder who it was for. I settled on "it must be foa refreshment area for conference/meetings guests".

I had one more stay in the TB that year, and then only came back to Hilton when posted on a long-term project in London, where I moved into the then recently rebranded Doubletree Westend. I very much liked that property, and immediately signed up to Hilton Honors knowing that I would have many nights at that property without reading what it was all about.

Only when I made Silver shortly after, and received welcome letters stating my benefits, I started researching what HH was all about. The DT Westend was good to blue and silver members, I always got an internet code "as a valued HH member", and as a silver multiple upgrades even to their Duplex Suites initially (over time as other elites discovered the hotel my upgrade rate remained good, but limited to Exec and Deluxe rooms usually, ironically meaning that my best upgrades at this DT were as a Silver).

I was so blissfully unaware of HHonors and benefits that I didn't even make use of the Exec Lounge when upgraded to Exec and Suite level - just couldn't see the benefit of using a meeting room (which I believed it was - and ironically at the DT Westend now is I believe, having got rid of their EL).

The whole world of what's out there in terms of member loyalty schemes only transpired when doing an internet search on a particular property, and stumbling upon flyertalk...

Flyertalk also warned me just in time that there would be a huge variety in the quality of Hilton hotels, which surprised me and could have well caught me out.

lattymong

New York Hilton in 1968. I was 11 y/o and stayed with my mother and father. The FDA gave me a "swag-bag" to keep me entertained during our stay. I also met Steve Allen (first host of the Tonight Show) in the elevator.

We were on a high floor and I remember looking down at the streets and not believing how many of the cars were yellow

Tomphot

1975 - Chicago Hilton
Joined HHonors in 1987.

cs57

O'Hare Hilton--1979-- Interesting question!

Hilton Honors Ambassador

Hilton Chicago in 95' where they filmed "Home Alone 2."

TxTrav

1978, on our wedding night Two kids fresh out of college! We spent one night in the honeymoon suite before we took off for our honeymoon in New Orleans.

This hotel has been closed and in a state of decay for over 10 years now. Supposedly there are now plans to renovate it and turn it into condos and retail space.

CMK10

Interesting, I thought they'd filmed it at the Plaza in New York.

toomanybooks

Probably ~50 years ago, Palmer House with mom and dad. He's 83 and that's always been his go-to hotel in Chicago.

stanj

It would have been in the mid-60's. Probably the London Hilton, but could have been the Berlin Hilton or Hong Kong Hilton.

spear76

Really recent. Stayed at Hilton Union Square San Fran. Jan 14.

From Seattle, and watched the Seahawks vs. 49ers game in the lobby.