Weatherboy

I've been vacationing at the HWV for years ...often returning multiple times a year. My last visit was in September during their Wheel of Fortune tapings... and before the recent cutbacks (i.e.: elimination of the Ocean Tower lounge.)

As it relates to breakfast though, I was there when they discontinued the breakfast passes to the Palm Terrace...and people were up in arms then. That's when they opened up the Gold Lounge in the Palace Tower and kept the Diamonds in the Ocean Tower.

In the time since the Palm Terrace passes went away (7-8 yrs?), the breakfast has never been anything to write home about --your usual mix of carbs, with an occasional island item mixed in (i.e.: macadamia nut mini-muffins.) The breakfast offerings have remained the same all these years at all lounges ...right up to my September visit.

And personally, if you're going to get a few carbs (or a small piece of fruit or two) get in the way of an overall vacation experience, so be it. I would often not use the lounges while I was there. Usually I'd sleep through the lounge hours... or I'd venture someplace else for a more substantial offering. To me, the Diamond Lounge was just some place I could grab a soda or a cookie or a few muffins or piece of fruit if I hit the time right. Otherwise, it's no biggie if it's there or not.

I just don't understand the uproar over people missing out on the "breakfast." HHonors doesn't owe you a hot, four-course breakfast... and it sounds like this property is giving what it has over the last handful of years, albeit not in the old lounge rooms. There are other HHonors places that do over-deliver on the under-promise of a basic continental breakfast, and three cheers to those places. But to say HWV needs to meet those same false expectations is silly.

If you're going to Hawaii and your vacation will be totally ruined by not having a few pieces of watermelon and a mini-muffin available to you each morning, I strong suggest you not go to Hawaii. Your mindset is just not in sync with the islands. On the other hand, if you have bare-bones expectations and look to be delighted by anything that comes your way, then Aloha! and welcome to Hawaii.

Now my $0.02 is based solely on the brewing breakfast debate here. Comments about lack of service levels, outdated rooms, and overall non-Aloha spirited employees should factor into your consideration set of whether or not you stay here though. And if those things are indeed suffering, you should go elsewhere. But if your only gripe is about how big your complimentary continental breakfast is, you need to re-examine your priorities.

cblaisd

Speaking of aloha spirit....

While you are welcome to your own particular kind of vacationing style at this or any property, I think to be so dismissive of these concerns is misplaced.

I'm actually more concerned with the other end of the day in re the Diamond Lounge. On most of our stays, we spent our money (often at the resort itself and its restaurants) on lunch. The pupus offered at dinner time could easily make a meal and that is what we most often did.

So this change represents a serious devaluation -- and rate hike -- from what had been the case.

Now, I would not want to be running a tourist-based business in Hawai`i right now; I particularly would not want to do so on the Kohala Coast. The vog and the recession have had terrible consequences.

But I continue to think this diminution of Diamond benefits is short-sighted on the HWV's (or Blackstone's) part. As noted by me and others, a reward stay often leads to paid stays (more than a dozen for us), and alienating Hilton's best customers is not the way I would do it.

But, regardless, folks "do" their vacations differently and for many of us this change is a substantial and unwelcome one, and I think "talking stink" about those who feel this way is misplaced and not very akamai.

AMA

You got that right. Private Equity answers only to themselves, generally has no long term interest, and will do 'whatever it takes' to suck out value before peddling whatever's left.

Add to that the current economy and the realization of how tough it would be to peddle a hotel company anytime in the next several years and you have a really bad recipe. Blackstone probably overpaid(relative to today's value), so that means they have to 'work' the company even more than they originally thought to 'enhance' value.

When Hilton was taken private by BS, I wondered how long it would take for things to start falling apart. Unfortunately for Hilton fans, it didn't take long.

I think a lot of what frequent hotel types have experienced over the years is likely on the way out, cuz the family connections(Hilton, Pritzker, Marriott) will be less involved going forward, and the tight, computer enabled monitoring of every $.01, combined with typical corporate mgmt. all leads to a lessening of all the goodies we like.

Dead? Not yet, but I don't look for much goodness in the next few years.

gsupstate

Hilton Corporate SHOULD care that a frequent Hilton guest is pissed, period, regardless. As I've said in airline forums, even if someone's in a seat (or room) on an upgrade, or paid with miles (or points), they most certainly have earned that, by repeated business to the overall corporation and should be treated accordingly. Treatment should be consistent across the board.

gsupstate

It just KILLS me that corporations, and their f**king bean counters can't see the forest for the trees. Make customers happy, and you'll enjoy the results. Don't, and you'll pay the price. YOU CAN'T CUT YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS.

NewsBruin

That bites. I had great staff at both breakfast locations -- the kind I would have to shoo away. The buffet staff were trying to plan my entire stay's activities at the expense of not bussing tables (a trade-off, but not a bad one). The Palm Terrace staff were quick and eerily friendly.

The desk staff was very helpful to all my requests, especially stowing my engagement ring in a safety-deposit box. The Orchid Cafe staff were kind, the gallery staff were friendly, and the tennis shop clerk was kind and really talkative, as no one was playing tennis in November. Housekeeping was quickly responsive and helped with my odd requests ("Help! I'm packing and I need an extra cardboard box to use for checked luggage!").

My only complaint were with the scattered or unstaffed concierge desks (non HGVC-stations), who seemed out of the loop at policy changes and the outsourced business office who disappeared for 40-minute stretches.

I wish some things would change, but the frontline staff were great troopers during November 2008.

NewsBruin

I wonder if the HGVC is providing too much competition for the Waikoloa Village and hurting its bottom line...

SixString

I kind of got the feeling that they were really understaffed at the Palm Terrace breakfast. Service was far too slow. And after really thinking about it, I was wondering if these plated breakfasts are at fault? In the past, these servers didn't have to do much for golds/diamonds besides refilling coffee and clearing plates since they'd all just help themselves to the buffet. Now servers have to take orders and put together meals for all these elites. Now servers have to go in the kitchen and wait for toast, wait for pancakes, etc etc. All these things take extra time, but if the size of the staff remains constant or is even reduced, then the customers will suffer the consequences.

allanchu32

Just finished a 7 night stay at the Waikoloa and wanted to update the breakfast situation. Two breakfast coupons are provided per night for HHonors members. There are no longer plated breakfast choices, instead you go to the buffet area and can have your choice of all the cold items plus hot oatmeal. Frankly the cold item selections were more than adequate including bagels, breads,cheeses, lox, deli meats, cereals, muffins, fruit, juice, and coffee. There was no problem using 4 coupons (since we were a family of 4), so we were able to all eat together for half the mornings. The only caution is to make sure to avoid the busy hours (8:30 AM and later) as service was stressed and items were not replenished quickly enough in the buffet.

We love staying at HWV and the breakfast situation would probably not have dampened our spirits very much anyways, however I felt that what is now being provided is a suitable compromise.

The property was very quiet in the few days before Christmas, seemed half empty. It did pick up Christmas Day and the few days afterwards that we were there.

cblaisd

That's a least some improvement!

Which restaurant is the buffet?

NewsBruin

That's actually a nice change in that they added protein items to the breakfast. Assuming this was in the Palm Terrace restaurant, how did they keep it separate from the remainder of the Ginormous Breakfast Buffet?

loomis

This new BK offering is EXACTLY what the Hilton Hawaiian Village does. For some HH members travelling to multiple islands it may be refreshing to see some consistency between these two hotels.

wbl-mn-flyer

Presumably the property receives some sort of money from Hilton Honors for each night of an award stay. They receive even more during a "Diamond Force" stay.

I have had several stays at HHV and HWV, though in each case it was more than a year ago. My last Hilton stay in Hawaii was Jan 2007 at the Kauai property - a very quaint place and not very special compared to the Hyatt and Marriott properties on the same island. However our experience with the hotel staff and guest experience at Kauaii was quite pleasant and I would not mind returning for a points redemption, even at the ALON2 level. (Just be aware, it is neither a HWV nor a HHV value for points, in terms of the grand hotel experience with swimmable beach etc)

I have stayed enough nights for "double diamond" status if there were such a thing, this year - plus as much as $10,000 a month on my hilton Amex. When I stay somewhere with points I certainly feel like I've earned that stay and should be treated as well or better than a cash customer for the same nights.

I always cringe when I read about people with millions of points in their accounts. I encourage you to burn your points as you earn them, having no more than a year's worth on hand - you don't know what changes will be made to these programs and in my 10 years of business travel, I have noticed the redemption level and services received go down rather than up.

I agree that the "giving away gold to anyone with a pulse" is a big part of the problem. Gold should be earned. Give away silver if you need to give away something.

wbl-mn-flyer

To each his own, but you and your sweetie had separate rooms while in Hawaii?

Don't expect to get the "Diamond upgrade" once you're married!

wbl-mn-flyer

in another message thread you talked about a cancelled reservation and a meeting with the GM - did you ever have that meeting and will you post something to summarize?