nldogbert

Hi,

Stayed 1 night at this property (due to my final leg of my QR flight being needed to be rerouted to Jordan instead of my original end in Cairo).

Location: At the Dead Sea hotel area (this is the area where all hotels are located). There is a mall (or rather more of a food court since there was only 3-5 non-eateries in this small complex). Other than that, not much else in the area.

Check-in: Arrived close to check-in time of 3pm. Had to wait about 10 mins before I was assisted even though there was about 4-5 associates working at the Front Desk and just another guest before me. One minor point here is that it is an open concept, so basically if there are more people waiting, it will cause confusion on how the system will work.
Associate was friendly and greeted appropriately as an elite member. Besides just mentioning that I was upgraded to an executive room with a pool/dead seat view, no other benefits mentioned. I was told that a concierge would help me to my room, but after leaving the desk, no one approached me, so I just walked towards them (strange situation)

Room: The hotel is divided into different building. I was assigned a room in the next building which can be confusing if it's your first time. A concierge helped to direct me to the room.
Am not sure what is special about the Executive room compared to a standard room - maybe just additional amenities, e.g bathrobe, slippers, etc.
Room size was ok, There was a sort of hallway in a L shape before the bed. There was a small balcony with a beautiful view of the pool and the Dead Sea.
There was coffee/tea making facility. Small (30ml) water bottles were provided (luckily they were replenished during turn down service).

Shower:
No bathtub, but only a shower area which was good in size (you can fit up to 2 persons and still it will feel spacious). The toilet is located in a separate room outside of the bathroom area. Normal Hilton amenities provided.

Pool area:
since I was there on a Saturday (I believe it is a Sunday for Jordanians), it was crowded. [I believe the hotel allows outsiders to use the pool - just my guess since I noticed the next day the parking lot was empty and not much people at the F&B outlets that evening). In general a beautiful pool, luckily they do have 2 pools, and most of the action was around the pool bar with other area of the pool slightly less crowded for those wanting a more peaceful pool experience. Staff were in general friendly and always fast in keeping the area in order.

Dead Sea area/Pontoon area:
This must be the best part of the hotel - to have it's own private area at the beach and the Pontoon area. There was not many guests using this area, so it was very quiet and calm. There is a bar and showering facilities down here. It is still quite a walk from the hotel to this area. They also provide the Dead Sea mud for guests (it is collected from the nearby area by the staff). There are some good advice on swimming in the sea (which you should follow as they are true).
Not sure if it is normal, but the sea got rather rough after 5 pm in the evening (never expected this), but from a nice calm sea, it because rather choppy after 5 pm and it is highly recommended not to swim (even though you will not sink, but the water will get all over your face easily and that is not pleasant).

Executive Lounge:
The lounge was not opened yet when I was there. I did get an email from Guest relations before I arrived on my benefits and one of them was because the lounge was not available, I was informed that I could partake in the buffet offered by the Spectrum restaurant (sit outside for a great view of the sunset and evening). This is where the only negative experience I received. When I asked about this initially, they first denied that it was the case, but still they requested us to take a seat which I did outside. I guess the supervisor called a few people and later a waiter came to inform me that I was not eligible which at this point I showed them the email. After this, the chap went away and later another waiter invited us to partake in the buffet, but I hesitated since I was not sure if he knew of our situation. After sitting for another 5 mins, the supervisor suddenly appeared and invited us to start. I was asked about my drink choice (we were already served water) and I said Red wine. After coming back from the buffet, I was presented with a bottle of wine (in the email it mentioned that I was entitled to 2 drinks per guest), so i thought since there was no other guest drinking, that's why the bottle was presented.
Took my time to enjoy the weather, view and food. The waiter serving us was very friendly and maybe a bit too efficient (he was basically behind your back as soon as your plate was cleaned or close to finish) - not an issue in general.
The spread was very good - a mixture of local/middle eastern and Western options.
My only issue in this whole thing was
- during the whole time, I felt that the supervisor was not very happy about this, and it was like he was watching out our every move. I noticed that everytime we went to the buffet he would be somewhere watching over us - came a few times to check on us only (he did not go to other tables at least those around my area). I did try and ignore this and enjoy the evening.
- at the end of the meal, as I was leaving, I casually asked if I needed to sign anything, and I was presented with a bill for the bottle of wine (charged 4x more than the retail price for the same bottle of wine at the airport duty free shop - it was a Jordanian red). I did not argue and just signed for it as it was clear no one in the hotel besides the Guest relation team knew about this temporarily perk.

Breakfast:
Complimentary and this was at the same Spectrum restaurant as the previous evening (minus the same Supervisor). Staff was again very courteous and friendly. Only that from spread point of view, it was ok. I did expect a bit more, still good.

General:
All in all, not too bad of a property. The property in general is beautiful with very beautiful deco and does reflect the local culture and area. Staff in general was friendly and helpful (ok except the incident - which has it's reasons I guess). I have followed up with the person of the situation, but sadly did not get a response at all.
Besides this incident, I would recommend this property. I only hope that they will be able to upkeep the place especially with the harsh environment it is in. There are still some work to be done - the landscape is still taking time to be grow and some of the facilites are not completed (e.g lifts, wirings sticking out, etc).

Cheers!

ps: the King Hussein Tala convention center is just a convention center - it's not really a hotel and it's located next to this Hilton property (as far as I noticed)

nk15

Thanks for the review. What is the cheapest way to get her from AMM? Do they provide free breakfast for Golds?

sam_goh

Stayed here this summer. It's a nice property. Only 2 wings out of 4 open. EL will not open from what I understand due to "lack of demand". We were not offered the dinner buffet and ended up spending about 100 JOD for 4 downstairs for dinner. Did happen to remark to the executive chef about it, and as a very nice kind gesture, he treated us to lunch at the Italian place the next day. Very good food there (and we had just come from Milan/Rome).

daruda

is the executive lounge already open?

ashkale

Some recent reviews on TA seem to suggest and also property is selling executive rooms with EL access..heading there in a couple of weeks report back!

nldogbert

I guess by using the taxi service provided. I rented a car and drove to and from AMM with a stop to visit the mosaic school. I drove via the mountains down and when going back to AMM via the highway.

Strange, but OTOH, not surprised as when I escalated my initial complimentary offer received via email (due to lounge closure) from the Guest service and did not receive it as per the email, guest service did not bother to come back to me even after a gentle reminder on the status of the issue (where I had to pay for the drinks). I did not bother to follow up, but did leave a bitter taste in how sincere the original offer was.

Cheers!

ps: apologies for only coming back on the response now, did not see this topic after my initial review.

daruda

Ok nice, i'll be there 20-22 October

daruda

Got following reply from the hotel. I guess a Diamond you can choose between regular breakfast or breakfast at lounge?

ashkale

Whats up with 2 alcoholic beverages per person as if am gonna drive after that? It seems a nice little ploy to force guests to use the Italian restaurant which as others have commented is good but super pricey. This isnt setting a right tone for lounges.

Forever in Seattle

I stayed here recently on a trip to Jordan. The Lounge is open, but I arrived late at night so can't comment on the 2 drink limit or what food they put out, and restaurant/bars were shut so no comment on that either. But there is a sign at the gate house stating that outside (alcoholic) drinks and food are not allowed, and as all your bags get x-rayed there is a good chance security will catch it - they made a fuss I had scissors and a razor, and had the have the manager to come over and tell the security guard that was perfectly ok....

They offered me breakfast in the lounge or restaurant as a Diamond, and went for the restaurant which was fine but nothing amazing. I thought of staying a second night, but really didn't warm to the place so moved on. They did upgrade me to a balcony room with a view, which was nice at night.

mike2003242

Would it be hard to get to this property from TLV?

hugolover

Fly or take ground transportation to Eilat. Take a taxi to the Aqaba border. Clear the border control and take a taxi from the Jordanian side to Dead Sea.

Perhaps worth it for a few days in Dead Sea.

mike2003242

thanks, I think we are going to add eilat and Petra into our itinerary and then head up to the dead sea!

ORD-TGU

Just returned from a one night stay. Diamond Member, redeemed 30K points for a standard Room. At check in was offered a King Suite, painfully had to decline since I needed 2 double beds and there was no suite available with 2 queen beds. Had a welcome pastry gift, 2 bottles of water and a personal card from GM. Room is modern, standard size, had a balcony.

Executive Lounge: Modern and spacious, only a handful of people when I visited. Afternoon drinks and snacks included Jordanian Wine, spirits, etc (No Limit), 3 hot items, plus cheese, hummus spread, fruit, etc. Enough for Dinner. EL is open all day with Espresso Machine, water and cookies. After EL dinner, we went to main restaurant terrace, they had live music (A guitar trio). We enjoyed a hookah, open up to midnight. Got cold, but Staff gives you blankets. Bill had 17% tax and 10% service fee.

Breakfast choice for Diamond is either EL or Full Service Buffet at Restaurant. I chose full breakfast and requested a table at outside balcony. Large Spread , many western and arabic choices, egg station, etc, etc. Service was fabulous overall and it was clear hostess knew I was Diamond and made sure that I was treated very well, gave me the VIP treatment. Overall highly satisfied.

Property: Security is taken very seriously. At main gate, verified our names and reservation, inspected our rental car with mirror, inspected trunk. Free valet parking. At main entrance, had to pass metal detector and scanned bags airport style. Hotel is new and modern, gorgeous views. This is one of the nicest Hilton resorts I have visited. (Hotel is very similar to Hilton Cabo, just more modern). I think all rooms are water front, unobstructed views. I had a small balcony, some had larger balconies and even private terraces. Large Fitness center open 24 Hours.

Hotel faces west, so fantastic sunset. I slept with curtains open and had a fantastic sunrise. Pool is great, many different areas to lounge. Kids area and kids club is separate. The beach area has a bar with seating area, multiple lounge beds and umbrellas. The beach is man made, meaning fine sand was brought in. This is nice. You can walk into Dead Sea. There is a floating platform pontoon that creates a Dead Sea Pool. Also, there is Mud Area, Showers, Free Mud Massage. Besides waiters, there area lifeguards and attendants that help out with towels, mud, etc.

Hotel is adjacent to Convention Center and next door is mall. We walked outside and walked to the Marriott (It has nicer pool, landscaping, but most rooms do not have unobstructed water front views, also there is no EL, no elaborate beach side set up, so I would say Hilton is Better, I am Marriott Platinum so had my choice)

One thing to consider is that from Lobby to Beach, you have to walk down quite a way through ramps and stairs, which I enjoyed, but there are elevators, so this is a plus for people with limited mobility. I would say if you are on a wheel chair, you can go with ease all the way down and up to the pontoon pool and take a dip in Dead Sea.

Overall a gorgeous property, opened in March 2017 so everything is new. Fantastic Diamond Treatment. Fantastic views, EL and Breakfast.

Only negative is that Spa is not yet open. I like properties that have hot tub, steam or sauna, so that was a disappointment, but to compensate for it , there is the mud massage area at beach which is free and of course the dead sea which is the best salt water mud treatment in the world!

Zephyr221