Westcoaster

Could be. It must be something relatively new, as we didn't get it when we stayed there last year. If I can't get the video to open maybe I'll call the hotel next week to see if they know what it's about. I like to call in advance anyway to ask for a corner room.

Edited to add: I tried opening the video on my tablet and it worked. I must have some setting on my laptop that kept it from working. The video welcomed me by name and showed the dates and room type of my reservation. It then described some of the basic features of the HHV, nothing I wouldn't already know from having stayed there. At the end it offered several links, including to the page that lets you order things to be available on arrival. They then had a survey asking for my reaction to the video. So I gather this video thing is new and they're trying to see if people like it.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

I stayed at the HHW twice in July ( each time booking the lowest category resort view room)

Stay 1 17th-20th July

I had booked 2 rooms ( for my mother and myself) as I had HH Gold.

At check in we found out we had been upgraded to the Rainbow Tower and were given rooms 705 and 728.

705 is towards the beach end of the tower and had great views of the beach and a reasonable view of Diamond Head (partially blocked by the other buildings.

728 is at the pool end of the building and has 2 balconies

We got a $10 resort credit per room per day and 2 bottles of water per room


Stay 2 28th -29th July

Again having booked the resort room we found out we had been upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite in the Diamond head tower ( 1663 and 1674)

The rooms were large and 1674 had a great view of diamond head and the beach. The room had a living room , a hallway with the bathroom off to the side and the bedroom with a large balcony with recliners. The floor below us looked as if it had a larger balcony.
We did not take full advantage of the room as we had to leave at 445am the next morning for a 710 flight back to LAX. We had booked the bellboy at the desk the night before and when I went to my mothers room the next morning at 440 the bellboy was waiting in the hallway by the elevators for 445am which I thought was good service.

Overall I was delighted with the room upgrades here as a gold on this occasion

Regards

TBS

edgewood49

It goes to show you this property is consistently in consistent ! But good for you!

Eujeanie

TBS, those are some nice upgrades, but since I book the exact room I want I've never left myself open to the upgrade gods. I'm never going to get a suite in the Ali'i Tower, but I'm happy with OV.

edgewood49

X2 actually they miscued a reservation once and gave us a suite in Ali"i but as you said a OV works well for us !!

The _Banking_Scot

Hi

We were not looking for any upgrades as we were not going to be in the rooms that often and were looking to lower some costs ( as the hotel prices went up in Ł terms following Brexit) rather than pay for ocean view rooms ( we had partial ocean view rooms at the Waikoloa village where we stayed for 8 nights) so we were delighted with the upgrades but if we wanted to guarantee a certain room we would of course book it .

Regards

TBS

Westcoaster

My pre-arrival email for an upcoming stay has the following:

"Enjoy a $10 daily dining credit for you & up to 1 guest. A debit/credit card will be authorized at check-in..."

On past stays they just deducted the $20 per day from our bill at the end. Has anyone here encountered the debit/credit card authorization they refer to? How does it work?

Thanks.

Edited to add: Maybe the 2 sentences aren't directly related and they are just saying that they need a credit/debit card at check-in for the stay. It's just odd that they've added these statements highlighted in red in the middle of the email. Anyone?

edgewood49

Ah Equity Capitol "maximizing" it's investment at it's best !

Andriyko

The two statements are related in that you get the credit only if you charge food to the room and your credit card will need to be authorized to make those charges.

Westcoaster

Huh? Assuming you mean equity capital I don't get the connection. Maybe it's too early for my brain to work -- need caffeine. Please 'splain.

Westcoaster

That would make sense. It's just something new since prior stays -- the message highlighted in red to stand out in the middle of the email, that is. Maybe people arrive expecting vouchers or something.

Last time we had a few credits left over at the end so we porked out on cookies at Pronto Pickle. Mmm good.

ultrasoul

Few thoughts from someone who has stayed in a number of Hilton and Conrad properties around the world:

1) If you have Diamond or even Gold status- AVOID this property at all cost. You WILL NOT get free breakfast. Instead you get a $10 per person ($20 max) credit which isn't too bad but when you are used to free breakfast at all other Hilton/ Conrad properties (such as Hilton Bora Bora or Conrad Maldives), not getting free breakfast can comes as a rude shock

2) No elite lounge and no free newspapers like other Hilton properties. They don't even use Hilton standard toiletries but inferior quality ironically in nicer looking packing (not sure if this is only the case in the "premium" Alli tower). No business office and if you want to do any printing there are charges regardless of status. Even worse, I had a replacement credit card expedited to me by my card company and the business office charged me $3 to pick up my letter. Ridiculous!

3) Upgrades are more a hit and miss. We came on a PAID conference rate (which isn't cheap at $375 per night) but still they messed up on the King room preference. No upgrades at all for our 7 night stay

4) Bad customer service all around and callous, rude, nonchalant staff from the pool to the lobby front desk (regular and Alli "special" tower) to the housekeeping staff that never straightens up the room properly or misses even the trash. Mainly staffed by mainlanders who shouldn't really be in the hospitality industry in the first place.

5) Hotel has 3,000+ rooms and becomes a zoo when there is a high occupancy which is most of the time. Don't expect a 4 or 5 star Hilton/ Conrad service. Quantity over quality seems to be the mantra here.

6) Expect huge push on their grand vacation timeshare presentations in exchange for 20K - 50K points per couple depending on your status. Even with AXON discounts, this can't even pay for 1 night at a Category 10 hotel.

Funny thing is that this is a Corporate property and they hardly follow any of the Hilton expectations set out for non-corporate owned properties- from the toiletries, to elite benefits like upgrades or breakfast.

Better to stay at a Westin or Royal Hawaiian with no status than stay at the HWV with Diamond status. You have been warned.

edgewood49

Welcome to the world of Equity Capital !!! Now good news is Blackstone is selling the Hyatt to a Korean business group which should bring back Service!
I know the employees at the Hyatt are excited .

Kacee

Did you read this thread before your stay? The property's policies are well documented.

I've always found the service here really friendly, but you're not going to get a boutique experience at a property with this many rooms. Some of us kind of enjoy the chaos.

And the beachfront location is probably the best in Waikiki.

Michael19887

Did you visit the website before staying? They are quite transparent about their benefits - http://www.hiltonhawaiianvillage.com...onors-benefits . If you didn't like it, you shouldn't have stayed.

Also, did you book Alli Tower, or were you upgraded to it? That is a great room, and if you booked it you may not have been upgraded because that is already one of the better places to stay within the resort.