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Curious if anyone has been here recently as a diamond member and what one could expect? Seems like plenty of rooms when I want to get there (Sept) but first time being diamond. Will be paying with cash.

est-gratuite

Stayed here recently as Diamond and was not impressed for the high price paid.

PROS

-Very central location near the famous "via veneto" street and other major tourist sites. Trevi fountain 5 min walk away.
-Metro station "Barberini" (Line A) is only 1 min walk away. Main train station "Termini" 2 stops away.
-Windows can be opened for fresh air
-Hotel looks very elegant and fancy
-Modern rooms with walk-in showers
-Acqua di Parma soap and shampoo
-Free mini bar in room (no alcohol, and not restocked)
-Friendly helpful staff

CONS

-No nice views no matter which floor you are on, or which direction you face. Waldorf Astoria Cavalieri is a million times better in terms of views.
-As diamond, booked a "king prestige" room and got exactly that....it was a corner room, but no real upgrade and no welcome letter. Waldorf Astoria Cavalieri again always upgrades me well.
-Pool on rooftop is quite small (Waldorf Astoria has a huge swimming pool)
-No bar on rooftop...only a restaurant. If you just want a drink you can't go there.
-No turn down service (maybe I had to request it ??) (WA wins again in this regard)
-Breakfast is "nice" but nothing too fancy (WA wins again)
-Rates are sky high even for the most tiny rooms with no balcony (400 euro per night or more) for no other reason than the central location. Even just using HH points it's very bad value.


Having stayed multiple times at the Waldorf Astoria Cavalieri in Rome, it's quite shocking that this property is often MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE while giving a lot less. Smaller rooms, much smaller pool, smaller breakfast, no views, less staff. Waldorf Astoria even asks for LESS points for a free night than the Aleph. Apart from the central location I can't see anything that justifies these insane prices.

Both the Westin Excelsior and Marriott Flora which are only a few minutes away from the Aleph have lower cash rates, bigger rooms and more services and staff.

miadeals

This hotel games the Hilton Honors system so it's time to figure out how to game it back.

They block out all Comfort Rooms (Standard Awards) except for the next few weeks. They literally disappear March 1 until the end of time. At that point they call the base room a Comfort Superior Room so you can't book free nights. If you look at the picture, the rooms are identical, but in the superior room, they move the curtain and open the window lmao. Even the price is *identical* for the next few weeks as they open non-"Superior" inventory (so you can't book ahead.) Also, they only allow one person in the room. There isn't one single 2 pax redemption for a Standard Award *ever.* They just don't exist. They literally figured out how to make all their rooms "Premium Award" reservations (save for 1 pax rooms for the next few weeks, rolling I imagine) so you can't use free nights and game the Hilton system.

The problem is I have 3 free nights and need to stay 2 days in June and am traveling with people with limited mobility. So yes I could stay at the WA, but this is a perfect location.

hugolover

Ha you spotted this too, I was going to write about that.

You can complain to corporate. I would PM William and ask them to look at the hotel. The one person occupancy has been that way for ages.

It’s pretty obvious they’ve blocked off the standard rooms. A simple tweak, they could just say they’re out of order. WA Edinburgh was (is? I haven’t checked lately) doing the same.

Are there any properties systemwide that only have premium rooms?

miadeals

Who is William?

I do not know of any hotels here in the US that do this, but there are thousands of them so I have no idea.

EDIT: I found another one in Europe, Hilton London Bankside, they blocked out all standard rooms from *exactly* June 1 through August 31st lmao. Every single night in May and September has a Stand Award available, but every night from June 1 to August 31 every single base room is booked? Cmon. Its so transparent, but they obviously don't care. Its funny that Hilton extended all the free nights and now these hotels don't want to allow any during summer vacation when people can travel. Its weird, they haven't waived any of the $450 fees/yr we have been paying to buy those free nights...

There is absolutely no reason they can't allow 2 people to stay in a queen bed, nor is there any chance at all, literally 0%, that all of the 1 person standard rooms just so happen to be booked from *precisely* March 1st to the end of time. If they don't want to be a Hilton, they should leave!

My wife is a Diamond member, but between the only Hilton closing in Athens and this garbage right here me thinks its time to downgrade the credit card to the no fee option, burn our points and move along (if we could find somewhere to burn them lol.) We are spending 23 days in europe this summer and can find a total of 5 days of worthwhile hiltons to stay in across half a dozen cities. Unfortunately here in the US, there aren't very many nice ones (we live in Miami and there literally isn't a single decent one) either so I end up wasting points/nights at terrible hotels randomly.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi
William is the Hilton Honors Ambassador on this forum.

Which cities are you looking at in and when ( for example there are good hotels in Berlin, Rome, Paris for mid july). Hilton may not have the same number of true luxury hotels as Marriott does and in many places in Europe, they may not have a hotel ( same with other chains)

Regards

TBS

manstein58

Booked here for 4 nights next week. Any insights? I am Diamond so is an upgrade in store? TIA

hugolover

Don't expect a massive upgrade

GaJaDreams

Rather not. Went there, while they had way less than 20% occupancy and got a small room with "courtyard" view. For the price they want, the property is a joke.
For the same money - usually even few € less - you can also stay at the Waldorf.

Here some impressions in this

est-gratuite

Yes, it's true...this hotel seems to block all standard level rooms for points redemptions, making only premium redemptions available.

I'm not sure if this is "allowed" under the Hilton Honors rules.....but even if standard level rooms WERE available, the points required still make this property way overpriced for what you get.

Go to the Waldorf Astoria Cavalieri instead.

GaJaDreams

There are quite some hotels blocking the standard level rooms these days. WA Maldives is another example or the AlRayyan Doha Curio.

And I absolutely agree: way overpriced in this case. If you want the location: go to the DoubleTree around the corner. If you look for something to burn money, but get something instead: the Cavalieri it is - impressive views you get.

Goldeneyeuro

This happened to me as well when I was booking hotels last June for an October holiday. No standard room availability whatsoever for the entire month either at this hotel or at the Curio in Naples. But I continued keeping my hopes up and just kept looking and looking until I found standard room availability a month before my holiday. BUT... even though the room showed up on the website (desktop not mobile website or app) as bookable for 80,000 points per night, on the booking window, it showed up as only allowing me to use up to 24,000 points per night and to pay the rest with money. I had to call the 1-800 Honors helpline and the agent was able to see and book my reservation for the proper 80,000 points per night. In the end it all worked out (even for the better because I could stay in Rome for longer rather than travel back and forth) but it shouldn't be this difficult. I get that the hotel has a very small number of rooms, but can't help but think it is a coincidence that award availability for the standard rooms opened up in November, right when shoulder season for tourism ends...

As for my stay itself, it was a nice hotel. I chose the Curio instead of the Waldorf Astoria since it seemed to be in a better location for tourism esp since I was relying on public transport (the WA seemed to be more like a resort style "stay at the hotel and never leave" place?). Very close to Barberini metro station so easy to get to/from the tourism sites and a relatively quick walk from Trevi Fountain. Hotel is down a quiet side street from the metro station but is very close to where one of the Italian political parties had offices. There was a protest in the streets one evening where they were sitting down and blocking the side street kiddie-corner from the hotel (I was told by the hotel staff that there was nothing to worry about, it happens with some level of frequency). Was never in any fear, just curious. But anyway, the staff were excellent, very accommodating and happy to provide service. Not over the top but a good upgrade from the Doubletree down the street (I stayed there as well during my holiday). Especially kudos to the bartender at the rooftop bar who took the time to showed me what the rooftop bar had to offer even though it was completely empty and was scheduled to be closed a week after my arrival (again, end of tourism season). Didn't have a drink here, wanted to get to dinner.

I was not upgraded as a Gold member from my base level room, and the furnishings were very premium. Clean, modern, bright, and lots of white and cream colors everywhere: floors, doors, walls, bed/headboard, bathroom, the lot. Very comfortable bed, and the room did have a (very) small balcony that you could walk out onto. Couldn't help but think how much bigger the room could be if I didn't have to walk down a long hallway from the entrance and if the closet were smaller, but anyway... Breakfast selection was small but everything was good though wish they opened earlier than 7:00 AM. (I know breakfast in Italy is nothing more than cappuccino and croissant but still) When I had breakfast there was at most myself and one other guest there, with at least 3-5 staff members in the restaurant (who came to serve you when needed and were not intrusive).

So it's a nice hotel. Great. A clear upgrade from the Doubletree down the street (1 km away). But cash rates here were about 445 EUR per night, or about twice the rate of the Doubletree. Worth it? With cash, I'm not so sure. It may be a great deal for 80,000 points per night because of the high cash rates, but until Hilton fixes or improves the standard room availability problem here, good luck redeeming them.

miadeals

It sounds like you got a small upgrade if you had a balcony? Others reported their base room was on first floor by a service entry with no view. But your review is what I expect from this hotel and what you said about the WA - its the hotel to choose if you don't plan on exploring rome - is how I view it too.

Two questions - what was the bed size in your room, and were you the only one staying in the room?

GaJaDreams

The standard room here is the Single Person Room. This is shown of course only if you try to book for one person.

miadeals

The problem of course is that it is never shown until one month in advance because they block all the standard rooms the rest of the entire year, even for one person