brandinius2

Just left there last night.

$15 per night for park yourself, $21 per night for valet. They're pretty quick at getting it for you, but we opted for the exercise and $6 less per day. You can find parking pretty close to the walk-up if you look.

Akulashark

Just returned from a points stay, two nights ago.

Three of us in the room, they gave us a roll-away.

No diamond benefit, I booked the room I got so their claim I was upgraded is a lie. They used to have an executive lounge, that is gone now. Breakfast buffet is $26, not free for Diamond/Gold like other Hiltons.

All in all, no matter your status, you are just a number here. The pools are very nice, the lobby is really far from everything, the boats are slow and they only run a few of them. Plan on taking longer to do anything. They make you sign out towels and charge $35 if they aren't returned. You have to pay to park. Plan on your room keys not working when you first get there and the lobby is a long walk back. Do not expect an apology when your room keys don't work, do expect them to blame you for it.

I would say that for points the hotel is worth it, but if you are paying for the room with cash, it isn't. Spend the money anywhere else.

iahphx

C'mon, you had to know that going in. This is the ultimate mega-resort. Everybody knows that. Personal service isn't going to be their strong suit.

The hotel is what it is. It's certainly not "personalized." I agree that it's no place to drop a lot of money. I know I never have. It seems like many of the people staying there have done the same tricks, or are on some kind of corporate-sponsored "incentive" trip.

mnredfox

Looking for more clarification on parking. Does the local tip/trick really work? So you just "shop" at the art shop and then get them to validate (stamp?) your ticket?

If that doesn't work, what's the nearest parking that's cheap?

cayenne92

I am going to have to respectfully disagree. I just stayed on a points stay at almost the exact same time (Oct 14-16). I received outstanding treatment as a diamond. I received a real upgrade; I was put in a 1bd suite in the Ocean tower. I think the suite may have had more space than my 1bd over at King's Land. I received the $10 dollars x 2 x 2 for the "breakfast". I will admit the buffet charge was outrageous, but I was hungry enough to get my money's worth at least. The price for the buffet was almost the same a room service meal. That was amusing in a sad way.
My self-parking charges were comped. I received vouchers for two over-priced bottles of Fiji water. And I received excellent service from the front desk staff, greeted by name and they made it known they were glad to have me visit. I was able to get a 2pm check out also.
Based on my experience I will definitely consider going back.
I

mnredfox

What do you mean parking comped? Did you ask? Did they give it to you? If so, did you have a problem with the stay?

gozar

Did you get 4 certs per day? If so, did you have 2 rooms? I thought as Diamond we were entitled to at least a continental breakfast, since there is no lounge. Is the continental or cold buffet only $10?

cayenne92

Breakfast certs, there were two of us in one room. We received two certs for each day for a total of 4 certs.
The parking was comped as in it never showed up on the bill. I realized this as I was walking out to the car after checking out.

I did not have a problem of any kind. I was very happy with my stay and service.

denvertraveler

Staying xmas-new year on points. Promised Palace Tower/ocean view. Should I try for Ocean Tower if available? Any Gold perks? Any restaurant suggestions on or off property?

lasnowgirl

I stayed there in 2007. I had to pay to upgrade to the Ocean Tower as a Gold. I think it was $65 per night. Otherwise, all I got was some certs for continental breakfast which I didn't use since I just had breakfast at the exec lounge. Yes, I did pay to upgrade

CARose

Just returned from my 4th trip to this property.

325,000 Hilton Honor Points for 11 nights. It took a lot of money/travel to get this many points. Hilton needs to be cognizant of the fact that in order to accumulate this many points in a year, one must always go out of their way to stay at a Hilton property, even when it not the most convenient location or even the preferred vendor by one’s corporate travel coordinators. They should keep this in mind before they start messing with a program that rewards loyalty.

Check In Hilton Honor Desk:
This was my fourth time as a return guest. Not once have I ever been greeted as a frequent guest or a Diamond member. I get this basic recognition at Hampton or Hilton Garden Inn.
I was informed by Mike that they had me in an ocean view room in the Ocean Tower. I’ve come to learn that this is not an upgrade, but the default for all Gold or Diamond VIP’s. I asked what 3 available upgrades were available. A suite was available during the third night of our stay if I wanted to change rooms. Of course I agreed to change rooms. Not once during my previous stays have I ever been upgraded to a suite. All previous times, hotel occupancy was 40% or less.

In the absence of ANY VIP services (concierge lounge, free breakfast, etc) I was given an envelop of coupons as my Diamond VIP benefit.
22 - $10 Coupons (1 pp per day), 22 bottle water coupons (2 pp per day).
The Executive Lounge is closed. There is no continental breakfast offered.


Was given keys to my room in the Ocean Tower and proceeded to walk the long path to get there.
Arrived at my room, inserted the key and proceeded into my room. I was surprised to see our luggage already in the room. My husband quickly informed me that it was not our luggage and we were in someone else’s room.
Housekeeping was outside and we immediately informed them that we were given keys to an occupied room. They too were shocked. They let us in the room next door to use the phone. My husband was placed on hold for a good 5 minutes. Finally spoke to the hotel manager and informed her about our situation. 1 hour had passed; we finally received our luggage and keys to our room. Management issued 4 - $20 ‘Customer Really Matters’ Coupons for us to spend for any food & beverage on the property. Again with the coupons?

I’ve spoke to Ocean Tower Rooms in previous reviews, so I will comment on the Ocean Tower Suite.
What a difference! I can’t believe how this room changed our experience. It only took 4 stays as a Diamond VIP and my persistence at check in to get this upgrade. A huge living room with large oversized furniture and flat screen tv, a dinning room table, a large wet bar with fridge, all with it’s own separate sliding doors to the large private patio. Large Bedroom with King Size bed, chase lounge, desk, and flat screen tv, sliding doors that open to the private patio. Bathroom with 2 separate vanity areas, sunken oversized tub, separate marble shower. The patio had several chase loungers, dining table with chairs. There was also premium cable on the TV’s.

As usual, I brought my own inflatable pool mats and proceeded to the Kohola pool as I’ve done before to have them inflated. To my surprise, there is now a $2 charge for air.

Dining at the property is less desirable than ever. The one restaurant that offered a romantic setting with a variety of food (Donatoni’s) is now closed. Instead, they keep two Asian restaurants open. If you’re going to close one restaurant, why would you not close one of the Asian restaurants, so you could appeal to more palates?

The one time we did eat on the property – Provision Company—was the last. Overpriced fish with ambiance equal to a cafeteria. We were seated inside to be forgotten about by any server until 15 minutes had passed we asked for someone to come to our table. To our surprise, the GM (John) approached our table to ask how everything was. My husband spoke to the service issues we experienced. Without hesitation, John handed us his business card and wrote a comp for the buffet breakfast for the both of us. Thank you John!

Property:
Lush, meticulously groomed grounds.
Boats and Trams extremely slow. The trams stop for an extended period of time, especially at the Ocean Tower. If you happen to miss it, you could easily walk to the Palace Tower to catch the tram.
Temperature of the pools was adequate.
Locals can pay a fee to use the facilities (pools/waterslide etc), for the day. This was the first time I actually experienced hostility from a local. Not only was I at the receiving end of the behavior, it was observed by the waterslide attendant (a local too) who couldn’t bother to intervene. When one goes down the slide, you’re supposed to immediately move out of the way for the next person coming down the slide. As I came to the bottom of the slide, there was a large family congregated in the water tossing a football. I barely had room when I entered the water. As I proceed to get away, I was hit intentionally in the face with a football. It took several minutes before the boy apologized. I heard laughing behind me. As I turned around, the mother and father were laughing and happy that I got hit in the face. I asked them if they found that funny. Immediately, the father raised his voice and hands and told me to “mind my own business” and “go on my way”. I couldn’t believe this. Here I am a guest at this property for 11 nights and I’m being spoken to like this. Another on-looker couldn’t believe this behavior and commented to the man how rude he was. The water slide attendant observed the whole incident, in addition to not asking the family not to congregate at the bottom of the water slide, and never said a word. As I started to leave, the football was thrown at my back. I’ve read previous reviews from others about similar incidents, but never on the receiving end. Some locals have forgotten why these places exist.

Concierge Services:
Ocean Tower concierge services were excellent. I believe his name was Rick. You could call anytime and ask for reservations, and Rick would deliver. Very knowledgeable and offered suggestions for alternative dining reservations.

Now let’s talk about these coupons:
First of all, if I’m entitled to 2 bottles of water per day per person, just put them in my room. Why do I need to redeem a coupon for something as basic as water when I’ve worked hard all year for my benefits?
Keep in mind, this property is 62 acres. The last thing I want to do on vacation is plan out where I’m able to redeem my coupons, and figure out if the place will actually be open when I get there. This is really a joke.
I can understand cutbacks, but how difficult is it to provide a basic continental breakfast with some coffee, juice, fruit, hard boiled eggs etc? Hampton and Hilton Garden Inn do it. Instead, I’m reduced to a $10 coupon that barely gets you anything. If you buy anything less than $10, no change is given. If you buy something that exceeds $10, those charges must be posted to your room. We primarily used our coupons for drinks at the pool bars instead of using for overpriced coffee and bagels.
On our last day, we still had 3 - $20 Customer Really Matters Coupons and thought we would have the buffet breakfast. When I presented them I was told “1 coupon per person per day”. I informed the attendant that no where on the coupon did it say 1 per person per day. She agreed but repeated what she had just said. Needless to say, I didn’t feel like I was a “Customer that Really Matters”.

Gym:
Free for Diamond VIP, used a few times. Nice modern equipment with built in TV’s. Poor air circulation and too hot. No way to adjust the temperature.
Nice locker rooms with showers, lockers.


Customers feel variation more than anything else; a company like Hilton should know this. If I’m entitled to two bottles of water a day, just put two bottles of water in my room every day. Why do I have to hike across 62 acres only to find that a certain store is closed or a certain vendor doesn’t participate in the “free water” program? It didn’t come on vacation to have my time wasted. If I have $40 of unused coupons, just apply them to my bill (they wouldn’t). I would recommend the Hawaiian properties start benchmarking with the other properties that are still accountable to a high standard when it comes to rewarding loyal customers. Waikoloa Village used to set the bar high. Now, any Hilton, International or stateside, has them beat.

Bottom line—Show some appreciation for the loyalty that great customers bring you throughout the year! Getting rid of a loyalty program for VIP customers simply because you can’t seem to manage it is unacceptable and doesn’t fit the standard of other Hilton properties worldwide.

nycgg1

my family is planning a february vacation using hilton honors. we are torn between 5 nights at the el conquistador, or 7 nights at waikoloa village.
we will be with a 4 and 6 year old. aside from the fact that hawaii is a much longer trip ( 10 hours vs about 4 ) we would love any pros and cons anyone has to offer. both places look great, but very different.

nycgg1

this is regarding the puerto rico el conquistador, I see there are a couple.
thanks!

travelexpert

You do not mention why it has to be either one of these two properties.

Have you considered the Hilton in Cabo?

Spectacular property--but only half the distance to Hawaii.

And great weather in February.

I suspect you are using points--if so--you can get redemption at Hilton rates rather than Waldorf-Astoria rates.

ejfontenot

Just returned from WV late in October. This property is tired. The grounds are great, but I was less than impressed with the rooms. Was also there for the semi-annual delousing of the rooms. How exciting!

I say nay nay.