AlwaysAisle

Hilton Hiroshima has started accepting the reservation for a stay starting Sept. 1, 2022 and beyond.

English website does not have any information, but the Japanese website for Hilton Hiroshima indicates Sept. 1, 2022 opening is a soft opening. There will be some facilities not open on Sept. 1 soft opening. The Japanese website for Hilton Hiroshima indicates the details of the soft opening will be out later. The Japanese website of Hilton Hiroshima indicates the grand opening, with full hotel facilities in operation, will be somewhere in mid October 2022.

Hilton is expanding in Japan, recently Hilton Nagasaki and Roku Kyoto, LXR Hotels opened in Japan. Other Hilton hotels planning to open in Japan are:

Hilton Garden Inn Kyoto: December 2022 opening
DoubleTree Toyama: 2023 opening
Hilton Yokohama: 2023 opening
Hilton Miyako Island Resort (Okinawa): 2023 opening
DoubleTree Osaka Castle: 2024 opening
Hilton Sapporo: 2024 opening
Hilton Kyoto: 2024 opening
Waldorf Astoria Osaka: 2025 opening
Canopy by Hilton Osaka: 2025 opening
Waldorf Astoria Tokyo: 2026 opening
Conrad Nagoya: 2026 opening

The _Banking_Scot

Hi

thanks for that alwaysaisle

Maybe we will be allowed back to Japan by 2024! Without going on escorted tours

The osaka ones look interesting for expo 2025 and hiroshima is on my to do list

Regards
Tbs

Nagasaki Joe

The hotel has been open since September 2022, really surprised that there have been no reviews yet. It looks like a nice property and I may get a chance to stay there this year. Does anyone care to share their impressions of their stay there?

The _Banking_Scot

Hi I am in the early stages of planning my next trip to Japan in the first 2 weeks of May ( then realising it is golden week).j was thinking of basing myself in hiroshima for a week and exploring the area. The hilton is reasonably priced so will probably stay here.

regards

tbs

PS : Found a review by loyaltylobby here

Review: Hilton Hiroshima (Japan) - LoyaltyLobby

taken in october 2022
although there is not that much written description the photos do look good ( the room photos are of the King 1 bed suite).

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

Have booked the hotel for 7 nights during golden week . Booked a king premium room for Y37k pn inc the tax and service charge. Room is 35 Sqm ( entry level room is 28 sqm ) per the website.

From the 7th the only room showing as available is the deluxe room ( maybe in preparation for G7?)

Deciding where to go for my last few nights between 8th and 11th May

(1) Two nights in Nagasaki then internal flight to Tokyo and 1 night on 10th ( flight back to Europe leaves 11am on 11th) Nagasaki hilton at Y27k
(2) Shinkansen to Kyoto ( via Himeji) for 2 nights ( 2 nights at Hilton Garden inn @ Y 35k) then shinkansen to Tokyo for final night.

Regards

TBS

partickboy

Recent stay here, our second, and found the service levels very high. It's a welcome addition to the Hiroshima hotel scene. Location-wise it's a little isolated, relative to the Sheraton Grand anyway (which is adjacent to the JR and Shinkansen station at one end of town) and though there's a bus stop to the station in front of the hotel it's not near any of the tram lines either. The area it's in is pretty residential but if you take a 10-15 minute walk along the Heiwa Odori (Peace Avenue) and turn right you'll be near enough to the main shopping areas, not to mention the Peace Park, and in the process of which you'll walk past the Crowne Plaza which is starting to look pretty shabby in comparison. As a lowly Gold a booking for a base room got us upgraded to a junior suite and lounge access. The photos in the Loyaltylobby review noted above cover everything. About the service; lots of little things that all add up to make for a pleasant stay; being remembered at check-in, escorted to where the toilets are, the wait staff from the excellent kaiseki dinner coming to the elevator and bowing as we left. To be honest it felt more like a Conrad level than a Hilton.

Nagasaki Joe

When you consider that the nightly room rate is around 15,000 yen on weekdays, it sounds like an incredible bargain, even cheaper than the new Hilton Nagasaki, which is smaller and with fewer amenities. Your review has raised my expectations, as I have a stay at Hilton Hiroshima this month and am looking very much forward to it now.

1200GS

Thanks for the reviews. Considering this hotel for an upcoming HIJ trip. I've stayed at the Sheraton many times but traveling with some colleagues who prefer Hilton.

kzjs

I'll be staying here for a couple of nights this coming week, checking-in on Thursday. Nice start to the experience so far, received a pre-arrival email from the Director of Operations this afternoon. Contained info on the lounge, transport, F&B options both in the hotel and nearby, sightseeing etc. I have high hopes for this hotel from the review here.

Will report back on my experience after the stay.

kzjs

Checked-in last Thurs and out on Sat. We arrived at the hotel around 1230pm and the room was ready. Location-wise, it's not that convenient for trains and streetcar. It's walkable to the Hondori shopping area (10-15min) and Peace Memorial Park (20min), but there isn't much in the immediate vicinity. We flew into HIJ and caught the airport bus to Hiroshima station, then finally a cab to the hotel. The cab fare was around 1300 yen. On the day we checked out, we wanted to get a cab back to the station to catch the Shinkansen. The hotel tried to call one but we were told it would take 15min. Ended getting a cab through Uber almost instantly, which came to 1300 yen again. We would not have made our train if we had waited for the hotel to get a cab.

It seems the locals are/were having some holiday, so the hotel was absolutely packed. Still managed to get an upgrade to an exec room, which is essentially the same as a standard room but on a higher floor. The rooms are nice and new of course, and felt spacious enough for two of us and our luggage. My only slight complaint is the tiny size of the vanity top. It was very narrow and not much space for both of our toiletry bags.

The exec lounge is on the top floor (22nd). Slot bookings were required for evening cocktails on the weekend we were there. Even so, the lounge was totally full and the food disappeared extremely fast. To the credit of the poor lounge staff, they did a great job constantly replenishing the food. However as a result, the hot food offerings varied during each dining slot. It could start with a pasta dish, then become grilled sausages and potatoes by end of the 1h slot. I noticed most guests attached the food nonstop in the first 10-15min, but not the drinks. So my strategy was to grab a glass of wine and wait for the crowd at the buffet to die down. The quality and quantity of the offerings were not bad in my opinion.

Breakfast at Mozaik was a little more peaceful, however the staff here were far less diligent in replenishing food. On our first morning, we went down for breakfast around 35min before the end, and found many things had run out. These were not replenished at all through the rest of breakfast. I suppose the staff might have done so if asked. Our favourite item was the oyster omelette from the egg station. It was displayed as an option on our first morning but not the next morning. I still requested for it and the chef knew what I was talking about, so it's should still be available even when not listed on the board.

The hotel does seem to treat Diamonds/Golds quite well. While there's no lounge check-in/out currently, in the afternoon there was priority line at the front desk for Diamond/Gold. Likewise at breakfast there was a separate line, though at the times I went the queue was never long enough to require that. We were also offered an exclusive menu of iced drinks and freshly prepared fried oyster (oysters being a specialty of the area), which was nice.

Staff were generally really nice. There was one instance where we paused outside the entrance to figure out our walking directions, a staff member noticed and came out to offer assistance. Overall, we had a mostly lovely stay, apart from the madness at evening cocktails which was out of the hotel's control.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

Thanks very much for the report kzjs.

I will be there for 6 night during Golden Week (Mon-Sun) in May so will see how busy it is. Weekend timeslots for lounges seem to becoming more widespread ( had an evening timeslot on a sunday in november at the conrad tokyo but did not need it on the other nights)

Regards

TBS

1200GS

Thanks for sharing! I'm a credit card gold so nice to hear about their golds treatment.

Nagasaki Joe

We stayed here for two nights on a weekday in late March. At check-in, there was a designated line for HH Diamond members. The check-in staff was international, and I conversed in English with staff, who were friendly and outgoing, from South Korea, France, and Ireland. The hotel lobby is spacious and has a small café located at its center. There is lounge seating off to one side of the lobby and a concierge desk on the other side near the elevators. Parking is a little pricey at 2,500 yen/day for hotel guests.

Entrance to Hilton Hiroshima

Lobby/Check-in Counter

Room
I booked a standard Twin Deluxe room and was “upgraded” to a Twin Executive Room with Lounge Access. Both rooms appear to have the same design and layout with 35 sqm of space, so I was simply upgraded to a higher floor. On our first night, the hotel was packed, so that may have limited the upgrade options. The rate for the Twin Deluxe was only 15,390 yen/night, very low for a new Hilton Hotel of this caliber. Since the hotel opened in October, the hard product is still new and attractive. The room was reasonably spacious, as were the bathing and bathroom, which is really where Japanese discount hotels fail with their claustrophobically small plastic unit bathrooms.

Twin Executive Room

Twin Executive Room

Washroom

Furoba

Dining
Breakfast is served in the restaurant Mozaik, which is spacious with self-service stand-alone buffet counters. There was also a counter near the entrance with bread and cereals and on the wall next to it were shelves on which salad, fruit, and yogurt were provided. The breakfast spread is fairly extensive with both Japanese and Western options and numerous beverage options. Overall, I would rate the breakfast as good and satisfying.

I found breakfast time to be somewhat disorganized. On the first morning, guests checked in at the desk and gave their room numbers, and were assigned to either the Diamond/Gold line or a separate non-status line. On the second morning, I tried to check in the same way, but a foreign staff member chastised me, loudly shouting so that all could hear that I must line up first before entering, as though I was trying to cut ahead of others who were already in line. Publicly shamed, I shut my mouth and got in line, which I was planning to do anyway after providing my room number, oh well…

We did not eat dinner in the hotel or outside the hotel, although we did have lunch outside one day while sightseeing. We did not plan it this way, but after attending cocktail time in the Executive Lounge from 5 to 7 pm, we found ourselves full after eating the lounge food, so we had no desire for restaurant food. Now, before anyone chastises me for eating hotel lounge food instead of going out for a hopefully delicious Japanese dinner, as a long-time resident of Japan, I’m not a tourist and can eat Japanese cuisine anytime I want.


Breakfast time

Breakfast time

Executive Lounge
The lounge is located on the top 22nd floor of the hotel, so the view is excellent. The lounge is a bright space with lots of natural light and plenty of seating. I was surprised to see nearly all seats occupied during our first evening there. The food options are various, with lots of small appetizers as well as a few more substantial dishes. There is a draft-beer machine and a few different wines including sparkling and non-alcoholic options as well. After an initial rush to grab food, things settled down and food was replenished as needed and there always seemed to be enough F&B throughout the two-hour cocktail time.

Executive Lounge

Lounge food

Lounge food

Lounge wine

Lounge F&B


View from lounge

Pool
We enjoyed the 6th-floor pool, which is large with a spacious jacuzzi built just above and at the head of the pool. There’s also a small sauna near the pool entrance along with a few showers next to the pool. Although the hotel was full on our first night, the pool only had a handful of people using it. The entire pool area is spacious with 10 or more reclining chairs set around the pool.

Fitness Center
The fitness room, which is located near the pool, is well equipped and spacious with five treadmills, rowing, cycling, elliptical, and stretching machines, and a free weight area. We used it in the morning before breakfast. We were the first there and only two others showed up by the time we left.

Fitness equipment

Free weights

Fitness equipment

Location
Since we drove to Hiroshima by car, we were not inconvenienced by the location. On our second day, we walked to the Sogo Department Store, a 15–20-minute walk, to meet relatives and then walked another 10 minutes to the A-bomb Dome where we walked around and toured the A-bomb Museum. Normally, I prefer to walk (for exercise) than ride if the distance is not excessive, so I did not consider the hotel’s location relative to these sights to be inconvenient. From near the Dome, you can catch a boat and ride it down the river to Miyajima (Itsukushima), which would have been a pleasant trip, but it was already getting late, so we nixed that idea.


A-bomb Dome


Peace Park

Overall
The hotel is large, shiny, and new with plenty of amenities for a comfortable stay. Unlike another reviewer, I would in no way put it at the level of a Conrad, it’s simply not there in terms of the quality of materials used, design, and service. That said, it is a very nice Hilton Hotel and perhaps among the best and most comfortable Hiltons in Japan (though I've never stayed at the flagship Hilton Tokyo, which first opened in 1963 in Akasaka before moving to its current location in Shinjuku in the mid-80s). Above all, I find it incredible that I could stay here for only 15,390 yen/night (19,130 yen after taxes). When you factor in the US$-JPY exchange rate, it’s even better at $144/night after taxes. If you are a budget traveler, I think it would be hard to justify paying between $90 to $100/night (after taxes) for an APA or Dormy Inn when you get so much more for only a little bit higher price. For foreign tourists with an Amex Aspire Card giving them Diamond status, it’s an even greater bargain.

The _Banking_Scot

Excellent report & photos Nagasaki Joe, thanks.

1 month to go until I get to Hiroshima and looking forward to my stay.
Have booked a King Premium room ( orginally at Y35k but reduced to Y24k pn all in )

The executive lounge food selection looks more varied and filling than the Conrad last November ( I found the evening snacks in the Conrad Tokyo to be limited and reduced compared to pre covid ie limited selection in small glasses) but the conrad would still be better ( as expected for the price)

Have not decided on getting to Miyajima yet ( either boat from the peace park which would be nice or train/ferry)

Have been occasionally checking prices to see if they fall further but now it is showing as sold out. However it is excellent value for money compared to the hiltons in tokyo now ( admittedly for golden week)- Hilton Tokyo Y55k, Conrad Y120k, Odaiba Y52k and Hilton tokyo Bay Y90k



How is the mask situation please ?-from the photos it looks like it is optional now and a mixture ( some wear masks/some do not)

Regards

TBS

Nagasaki Joe

The King Premium definitely looks nicer than what we had and had the hotel not been full when we arrived, I probably would have had a good chance of being upgraded to it.
Yes, I'd say that the executive lounge food selection was a tad better than Conrad Tokyo's and more attractively presented. But I think the Conrad lounge may be nicer overall, especially with its lofty bay view.
I think the price of 24k yen that you got for Golden Week is pretty reasonable considering the inflated hotel pricing in Tokyo. It may be difficult to get upgraded though, since the hotel may be sold out.
As you've probably heard, masks are not required to be worn in Japan now, yet I'd say a good 80-90% of people still wear them outdoors and indoors. Of course, people take them off when they are eating or drinking, but they put them back on when they finish. Still, you don't have to wear one and I wouldn't worry about not wearing one during your stay if you don't want to.