OfficeGlenn

Stayed mid week and the hotel occupancy was low

As a Hilton gold was upgraded to a premier studio with full kitchen which showed on the Hilton app two days before checkin although I suspect that is not the norm during regular occupancy levels. The room was exactly the same as the pictures in the review posted by Escape4.

Several a la carte breakfast options are now offered in lieu of the previously offered buffet see image attached.

They also have a great ski valet where you can pick up your skis in the morning and drop off at summit sport when you finish skiing for the day

As Hilton Gold, late check out of 2 additional hours (1 PM) was offered upon request, but subject to availability.

Resort Fee is still $25.00 per day plus taxes.

Self Parking still $34.00 per day plus taxes.

outgoing

Is there a way to avoid the parking fee here? i.e., is there a safe public parking nearby? We're thinking about going for few days after the border opens. Thanks!

craigthemif

Basically no. AFAIK you aren't allowed to park overnight in any public parking lot, paid or otherwise. (at least during ski season) Among other reasons, it's to keep people from living out of a car/van in central Whistler and to actually pay for accomodation...

It's been a few years, but there used to be a tiny section of the ski resort day parking lot that was dedicated to hikers doing overnight trips in the backcountry. In winter of course this is a joke and you would get towed, but if you were there before the snow you might just get away with it. YMMV and FWIW quite far from the Hilton...

I always found it easiest to book one-way car rentals with Avis. Often they'd give me the same car to drive back down to YVR...

outgoing

Thanks! We'll just pay then. We're going the first day we can from US on Aug 9th for 2 nights so I will report back on how things look like during the summer. We need to burn my Amex credit.

outgoing

Just came back from two night stay. Good property albeit one can see some wear and tear. It's not luxurious but it has all the necessities. We booked the Kitchenette Studio and this is what we got. No upgrade but when I checked suites were not available anyways. Got push on the app that room is ready at around noon day of arrival. We did digital checking and got the key but it did not work in the elevators so we had to get physical keys. Useless resort fee CAD 25 is still there and self parking is CAD 37 (both + tax).

Diamond breakfast was offered but note that it is only from 8 am to 10 am. We did not participate the first day b/c we wanted to hit trails early on. The next day we got two different sets (there are 3 to choose from) and it was good. Bagel in my eggs benedict was a bit soggy but other than that it was good and filling. The bill for two people was CAD 73 which did not show up on the check out bill. You can either eat in the restaurant or get it to go. We did the latter.

Hotel was pretty full (based on the parking situation) but you could avoid people if you'd want to. I'd say mask wise about 1/3 of people were wearing them. No COVID restrictions.

No issues with checkout and folio looks correct.

We're happy with our stay and will be back if the price is right. I'm mostly focusing on Marriott so we may stay in Westin (just across the street) next time if I need nights.

Edit: $250 Amex credit posted automatically after 2 days.

OfficeGlenn

Staying here for 5 nights between Christmas and New year.

As a Hilton gold was again upgraded to a premier studio with full kitchen but didn�t show in the Hilton app until the day of stay.

Breakfast buffet is offered although you could also choose takeaway options as well same menu as I previously posted.

breakfast hours have been extended to 11 am

ski valet is much less convenient now as you need to go directly to inside summit sports to pick up your skis and there is no drop off point near the mountainside anymore so you need to drop them back off inside summit sports. I understand that this is due to a lack of staff so may be brought back in the future.

Lack of staff seems to be a reoccurring issue at various restaurants and other establishments in whistler with a lot of staff calling in sick as well as being short staffed to begin with in a very busy time in whistler.

had major issues connecting to the wifi and then once connected very slow speeds. Had to use my iphones personal hot spot to get some work done.

Also being an older (although renovated) hotel there is a lot of noise transfer from room to room and from the hallway (doors closing sounds like they are being slammed and people talking in hallway)

they had a special room set up for Christmas with complimentary hot chocolate and popcorn and nightly Christmas movies playing which was a nice touch.

housekeeping refresh of the room is upon request and must be scheduled 24 hours prior so for example if you wanted a refresh the second day of your stay then you would need to book it the day you checked in.

evergrn

Yeah that's too bad about the ski valet. On the other hand, Westin is still doing it in full force at their usual spot right there the snow ends and concrete begins. I hope this is temporary.
If I were to be a bit greedy, I would also want them to not only collect the skis slopeside in the afternoon but also have them out slopeside in the morning. But it was never that way with Summit Sports / Hilton even pre-pandemic.

Daily housekeeping is now default... you don't have to request it.

I really like this Hilton. Considering the age of the hotel, rooms are in pretty good shape. The entire hotel just has a clean feel to it, which cannot be said about a lot of Hiltons.
The location is hard to beat.
The breakfast buffet might be the best I've had amongst all Hiltons in N.America. It includes good fruits (eg, pineapple), smoked salmon, both bacon & sausage, 2 types of benedicts, even cooked-to-order omelette for free. And the buffet is free for 12 and under.
I really hope they keep the standard award at 80k.

Btw, the snow is brutal. Weather's nice, but the snow is brutal. Super-icy, hard as rock in the upper half of the mountain esp if not exposed to sun. White concrete. Difficult to enjoy skiing in this condition. Skiied down Saddle, which is usually pretty straightforward, but this time around it was pretty damn scary. Sheer concrete.
My knees were shot just 3 hours in. Do even expert skiers get sore knees real quick on days like this, or do I get sore knees because I suck?

evergrn

Couple things to add, and this is a rant�

As I said above, I think this is a solid property and I�m thankful they�re there. But�

I asked for a noon checkout. The front desk lady launches into: �we normally don�t give late checkout during peak season. And we have a guest checking into your room later. But since you�re a Diamond member, we�ll grant you 12pm checkout. But 12pm is the latest we can do.�

The day after check in, I ask nicely if I could possibly have one more bottle of water. Front desk agrees, but not before �I will make a one time exception.�

Do they have to give me grief if they�re going to give it to me anyways? It�s not like I�m asking for the moon.

OfficeGlenn

Staying here again for a few days

Booked a rate on a third party site which included parking, and resort fee and was $200 per night cheaper than the best rate on Hilton.com and Hilton would not match the rate of the third party site.. So no Elite benefits or upgrades this time.

Daily Housekeeping is back, although you have the option to decline Housekeeping.

For each day you decline housekeeping you can choose between 2000 Hilton HHonors Points OR $20 credit which can be applied to the resort fee, parking or food and beverage.

banana0692

I'm currently also staying here too! Will be here till Thursday.

I booked direct with Hilton but 11 months ago and got a pretty good rate.
Full breakfast with no up-charge for elites included too! Full rundown coming later.

OfficeGlenn

Pleased to report that the ski valet is back with a drop off point at the entrance of summit sports steps from the whistler gondola.

However they will only let you drop off skis.

Snowboards still need to be dropped off directly at summit sports

Here for a couple more nights. I regularly frequent this property but this has been the worst stay out of all my stays. I�ll have more later.

banana0692

Its my first stay here and I'm having a great time. I guess I don't know any different but I think it could be my favourite Hilton property now.. I did just come off the worst stay ever at Vancouver Metrotown, which the contrast could be helping to have me see this place with rose tinted glasses. The snowboard thing is annoying which now I'm upset knowing they previously collected them outside however its not that big a deal, anywhere else I've ever stayed I have to carry it myself.

OfficeGlenn

are you in the south tower or north tower

we have had great stays in the north tower but this is my first time in the south tower and the noise transmission between rooms is horrible and the wifi is unusable (keeps dropping connection and when connected super slow)

banana0692

Oh ok fair enough. We are in the north tower. The wifi is the same, keeps dropping out and horribly slow when it's connected.

djsinc

I've stayed here multiple times in the past several years. The snowboard thing is annoying, but is not new, snowboarders have always had to bring their board inside and down the stairs.
So if they are taking skis now, that is back to what they have always provided. Not saying I understand it or agree with it, but it is what it is.
Honestly, at the end of the day, going down the stairs is not a big deal to me. Having to carry my board and wife's skis UP the stairs in the morning is the part that is a PITA.

This is just nitpicking if I had to say anything negative, because big picture I love the hotel, the location, and the rooms I've stayed in.