Thanks. You try waking up to this every morning!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3618889...7619301375608/

Linkto Google maps and Needham's Point / the Barbados Hilton.

We arrived yesterday, with a booking for a Deluxe Non-smoking King Ocean View ($USD262 + taxes and service, AAA rate.) We took a taxi from Grantley Adams International (you check at the kiosk, get a chit with the price - regulated by the local government - and get assigned a taxi.) For two with baggage, BBD $42.00 for the trip, perhaps 20 minutes with little to moderate traffic, much longer if you get caught in a jam.

On arrival, we were greeted with cups of cold, very sweet punch. The HHonors desk shut in our face - the two staffers told us to go check in at the main desk. Ah, yes, we are in the Caribbean, mon, no problem. We were received nicely there and were given Lighthouse tower corner room x01 - spacious, balcony balcony facing Oistin side (parking lot, views of bay and oil tank farm,) with room views of the lighthouse, pool and bay.

The room is very spacious, bed comfortable, large Phillips LCD flat screen (but CRT) television with some jaggies in the signal, small closet and smaller chest of drawers (space for lots of clothing does not exist here,) desk with HSIA (BBD $22 daily, iirc,) strange couch with no back in the center section, stuffed chair, minibar (expensive!) and table.

The main color is a yellow, warm not sickly, and the room has very efficient air conditioning. The location is subject to some noise from downstairs party activity, and people walking or cleaning upstairs can be heard. I recommend an 8th floor room if available (but sometimes it is not - this place has five floors of executive rooms, two in one tower and three in the other.) The overall impression is warm and inviting, if somewhat Spartan.

The bath is huge, with marble counter and double sink, large bathtub, large glass-enclosed shower, and a tiny dark WC. No ventilation is provided, so a hot shower or "other activities" can leave the bathroom moist or "fragrant."

The Lounge (we were indeed granted access) is spacious, but it can easily get crowded - remember, five exec floors, plus others seem to be granted access (Diamonds and maybe people on"mates rates?")

The lounge is open extended hours for some soft drinks, juice boxes and San Benedetto still and sparkling waters, enjoying the views, computer use (a separate room is used by most computer users out of courtesy it seems, but there is no requirement to do so.)

We go early to brekkies, when the lounge opens at 7:00 AM, so few problems - and currently during the low season (which ends o/a Dec 15) there are not so many people anyway. Breakfast consisted of watermelon, honeydew (not so ripe) and pineapple chunks, cereals (including a hot farina), breads, turkey and cold flying fish fillets (OK) and a very mediocre ham and cheese to make your own "cutters" with provided rolls. Three juices, good coffee and a selection of teas round out breakfast (no hot items, but plenty to make a meal of.)

Tea (desserts, teas and coffees) are served ca. 3:30 - 5:00 PM, and hot hors d'oeuvres and canapes are served 6:00 - 8:30 PM. These latter are sufficient for a light supper, and can include excellent ceviche, samosas, chicken wings, hot dog bits (really!), a selection of cheeses, crackers / biscuits, Hardy Chardonnay and Merlot from southeast Australia, Banks beer, etc.

Later in the evening brandies and cordials are apparently served as well. The lounge is well run, but remember you are in the Caribbean- staff are attentive, helpful and chatty - but that chattiness may "hook" a staffer into lengthy chats with a customer, leaving everyone else in the lurch.

That's pretty much the case in most employee transactions - on a small Caribbean island, enduring social contact with friends and family is much more important than strange ideas of "customer service" for people who are transient and often aloof.

WiFi in the lounge (which is what I am using) is available free of charge - a chit with a six character access code is good for eight hours, and is available from the lounge attendant. A chit is also required to access the single guest computer, and is good for thirty minutes. The WiFi speed seems good, though many users will slow it down; it is good with five users for VOIP communications.

Other members have shared considerable information on places to eat, and the hotel is not far from Bridgetown itself, such as it is - tours, rental cars and more can easily be arranged, and if one is moderately adventuresome, one can take busses or minivans about . (Be aware traffic can move v-e-r-y slowly - narrow roads and yes, there is a rush hour, can interfere with the best laid plans.)

The beach is nice, and has a sheltered spot - but beyond the fingers of the breakwater it can get rough, and it can be windy (they call these islands the Windward Isles for good reason.) Check the Fort, a historical place in Bajan history, and get the flavor of Barbados - it is nice, but it is not what one expects if they have been in less traveled St. Vincent / Grenadines, more upscale St. Lucia, etc.

We'd not make Barbados a trip on its own - we have spent some time here, but usually connecting through - this time, to the MSY Wind Star, which we watched arrive this morning. At the cruise dock, she was dwarfed by two massive cruise liners - her four masts nearly lost among the white bulk of these floating cities. Two nights gives us a chance to relax, enjoy and adapt easily to the four hour time difference from home.

At this hotel right now - no upgrade as Diamond, as it is fully booked. Beach looks beautiful. Lounge is way too crowded. We are on the 3rd floor and staying for 10 days - is it worth asking to be moved once an exec. floor room opens up or are they the same anyway? Thanks.

If your bed is hard like a rock, its probably the same if not... stay where you are.

mike

Hehe...can't complain at a rate of $ 149.25 plus tax!

So, being a Flyertalker and thus always on the hunt for upgrades, I couldn't resist to ask politely if some upgrade was available...as I checked today online and saw this for the remaining 8 nights of our stay:

BEST AVAILABLE RATE BEST UNRESTRICTED RATE (more)

469.00 USD 1 KING BED EXECUTIVE FLOOR OCEANVIEW
469.00 USD 2 DOUBLE BEDS EXECUTIVE FLOOR OCEANVIEW
749.00 USD 1 KING BED 1BDRM SUITE W/ 2 BALCONIES OCEANVW
1,049.00 USD 1 KING/ 2 DBLS 2BDRM SUITE W/ BALCONY OCEANVW
749.00 USD 2 DOUBLE BEDS 1 BDRM SUITE BALCONY OCEANVIEW

So I went to the front desk and spoke to a (nice) lady there, asking if "something had opened up in terms of upgrades"...said that the room was ok and that we were having a good time anyway, but that I could not resist to ask if an upgrade was possible when I saw all these suites available (I said this half-jokingly).

At first, the lady said that there are no rooms available, but when I politely stated (having expected this response) that that would be surprising as I had just seen all that availability online, the nice lady went to the back and after what seemed like half an hour, she came back and said that "they had to shuffle something around", but now they could offer an upgrade to a suite...BUT...not complimentary. The upgrade would be $ 300 per night.

Upgrade to an executive floor room was not offered.

So I politely thanked her for her efforts and said that that would be a bit much. I guess I could have negotiated a lower price for the upgrade, but at that point, I didn't really want to bother. I guess the times where there was a differentiation between Gold and Diamond and you would have an actual chance to get an upgrade to a suite as a Diamond, even if that is not guaranteed in the rules, are definitely over.

No big deal. The only part I don't like is when you see availability for upgrades (even if only for those you should be getting, based on the rules, online and they don't offer you an upgrade, saying that they have no availability.

Bummer...

I was in Barbados Nov 12-17 and stayed at the Hilton. Even though a lowly HH Gold, I was given a complimentary upgrade at check-in to one of the Exec Floors (6th; pool side) with access to the Exec Lounge and all the perks. Although that was more than a week ago and the hotel might have gotten fuller since, I have the impression that you were shafted, especially since it appears that you are a HH Diamond. I say this because I have regularly run into the situation where I'd request an upgrade and I would be told that one was not available, but then I'd tell them that unless the hotel suddenly got full since I'd last checked, there should be something available. They'd ask me to wait while they checked and almost invariably something would turn up. I think it is better to get an upgrade at check-in than after you'd been checked into another room because then an upgrade would not likely be complimentary. The moral of the story is that do not take "no" for an answer when you request a complimentary upgrade at check-in; it might just be a policy for guests to be occasionally told that complimentary upgrades are not available until you push a bit for it. I am on track to make it, for the first time, to HH Diamond by year end, and I will definitely make sure that my loyalty over the past year is recognized with complimentary upgrades next year unless it is absolutely clear that none is available (e.g., popular hotel/location during busy season).

Obviously, this is an unfortunate story. As you know, you are not entitled to a compliementary suite upgrade, although that would be a nice thing for the hotel to do. As a Diamond, you are entitled to an upgrade to the executive floor given that it is available. I wonder why they would not offer this. I only stayed at this this property once, but was upgraded to the executive floor.

Thanks for all of the posts on the Barbados Hilton. I'll be there 12/20-12/26 with the family (2A/2C) on an award stay. I am HH Diamond. Sounds like I should:
-Politely push for an upgrade a checkin.
-get extra wifi codes in the lounge.
-expect a crowded exec lounge.
-expect OK, but not great food.
-expect and OK, but not incredible experience.
-be sure to venture off property several times for dining.

Sounds like a case of "expectation setting" . . . I'll start "positioning" it with the wife now Thanks for this, it will make for a much better experience if I set her expecatations low

One last thing: I gather that there are two "towers" or "buildings", any recommendatoins on which one to stay in??? Any other suggestoins appreciated.

I am still at the property. I didn't bother to keep trying to get an upgrade. I must say, though, that the management of this property has obviously not understood the HHonors program and why it would make sense to keep Diamond members happy. There does not seem to be any distinction whatsoever between Gold and Diamond. After I inquired about the upgrade, there would have been plenty of time to come back and at least make a gesture for the last few days to say "we would like to upgrade you" - plenty of availability on the exec. floor and suites as well.

Most of the staff are friendly, but some of the employees seem to be uninterested or even have a bad attitude, too (especially around the pool and at the pool bar). The food at the pool bar is not bad, it's terrible (I ordered Pasta and it must have been cooked for like 30 minutes without any salt in the water, I better not talk about the sauce).

Also, our minibar has not been restocked once in 8 days. They also did not supply new shampoo and soap without asking. Sometimes a newspaper (local) would be there and sometimes water would be there, sometimes nothing.

Anyway - the hotel is still nice enough, the beach is great for body surfing while the beaches on the other side (behind the parking lot, Pebbles Beach, part of Carlisle Bay) are already part of the much calmer Caribbean waters, which is much better for snorkeling - and the island overall is great. I would definitely recommend to rent a car.

Some things we did:

- Snorkeling cruise (Cool Runnings): This was the one organized "touristy" thing we did (booked through the hotel). Very nice crew, attentive and good selection of drinks and surprisingly good food, but I had hoped it would go to some deserted bay, instead the boat just went to spots where all the other cruise boats happened to go at the same time. They feed some turtles, so you get to see those, but for my taste, too many people on the catamaran. In Carlisle bay, they led us to a couple shipwrecks with some nice fish around to watch while snorkeling. This was good, but they try to keep you in a group while snorkeling and call you to come over when you go astray, which is a bit annoying. All in all, definitely fun, though.

- Bridgetown: I didn't like it very much, it's okay if you want to do some duty free shopping, I guess.

- Bathsheba: Had breakfast at the Round House (historical house from 1800something, great view) - the beaches on the eastern coast of Barbados have much higher waves, different sand and are quite different from the "bathtub" beaches on the Western side of the island. It's a nice change of pace. In the afternoon, you can watch the surfers try to ride the waves. For some reason, I did not see one single kitesurfer or windsurfer even though I would have thought conditions there are really good for them.

- Andromeda Gardens (at Bathsheba) and Flower Forest (in the "highlands"). Nice flowers and tropical plants/trees if you are into that kind of stuff, but nothing spectacular.

- Some Thai/Indian restaurant for dinner which was very nice, I think in Christ Church (?).

- Brown Sugar: Walked there one day - nice, with some live music. Food was not bad.

- Spago: I would really recommend this place with Italian food close to Holetown on Settler's Beach. Very romantic setting below palm trees practically on the beach, they have good (unobtrusive) live music there as well.

- Crane Beach: Tried to book Sunday brunch at the Crane, but they were fully booked. We did go to their beach which is on the eastern coast, thus higher waves, good for bodysurfing, not so much for snorkeling

- Bottom Bay: Great beach, looks really beautiful, but apparently dangerous currents - were there during the day and were the only people on a huge beach.

These are just a few things from the top of my head. I couldn't get too worked up about the upgrade thing as I rather spent the time discovering the island. If you spend all the time at the hotel on this beautiful island, you make a mistake .

I can't seem to get reward stays here for the end of 2010 (Nov/Dec) - is that normal??? Thought there were no blackout dates?

Thanks for the info, I am Diamond member and call it selfish but I expect the upgrade if available. This property will be off my list if I choose this Island for vacation this winter.

Just returned from a short trip to Barbados that included 3 nights at the Hilton near Bridgetown. We booked a "executive floor" room on the Visa 25% discount (room and tax about $540/nt) and upon check-in were issued a non-executive level room with access to the club room. Upon further request, they willingly upgraded us to a 1 Br. Suite that was very nice although on the 1st floor, above a noisy lounge with late night thumping bass. Great beach atmosphere and nice pool area. The club room was very busy as the hotel was sold out and the staff tried very hard to keep up with the hungry patrons but the food always ran short. Overall a nice stay but for any extended vacation I would suggest considering renting a local house or vacation unit.

TT

I just booked a Barbados Hilton rewards stay for a week in April. I could not do it online but the Hilton representative took care of me over the phone, also with a points stretcher reward code.

Questions.

Is it really worth getting access to the executive lounge? The lounge reviews are not good.

If given access, do you have to eat breakfast in the lounge or is the main dining room also available for complimentary breakfasts?

And last but not least. Are adult beverages complimentary in the executive lounge?

Thanks

To answer your questions: (1) I think it is worth getting lounge access; (2) breakfast is in the lounge; and (3) yes to adult beverages.

Now, however, comes my question: Point Stretchers??? Are you sure? Last I checked, there were none of these. Says that right here: http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/...ntstretcher.do I'm just thinking that you meant a VIP award.