Jennlynd

We have been over memorial week every year except this year b/c we had other obligations. We always get upgraded to a jr suite...which we love for the kids. If it is a rule, it is definitely a new one.

Milhous Gloriosus

Any corona-era updates?

dmarge18

Walton County will reopen the beaches the first week of May for all activities but sunbathing (basically exercise type things). I tried finding a couple deals since demand is low but didn't seem to find anything special right now. Not sure if the benefits / breakfast has changed, but would assume there's not a buffet. Also spas are still closed and restaurants in the area are still take out only (if open).

aww3583

This hotel is 100% closed until at least 5/15/2020.

From the hotel's website:

SkyTeam777

Any recent updates? Diamond treatment or perks?

Jennlynd

We have stayed here many times and most recently in mid May. Continental breakfast continues to be included with upgrade to full buffet available for a nominal fee. Kids eat free, but I don't recall what age is the cutoff.
We have gotten upgraded to the bunk bed suites at times, but I generally try to just book that to begin with, if it is available for the standard reward. That depends on demand/dates.

aww3583

This echoes our experiences. Breakfast is above average.

We've been upgraded once in about a half-dozen stays. We got the Ambassador Suite. Amazing room, except it was on the 1st floor overlooking the dumpsters of the adjacent restaurant. This hotel proudly puts on their website "no upgrades at this time" and they are extremely hard to come by, regardless of availability.

The bunk-bed rooms are great for kids. The 4th of July activities are awesome, too. The spa is quite nice, too. Indoor pool is good on cooler days. Not sure if it's open due to C-19 restrictions.

Jennlynd

Indoor pool was open in May.

aww3583

Awesome! First Hilton indoor pool I’ve heard of being open in at least 6 months.

pauleeepaul

I have been in at least 10 pools in HH properties since March, mostly Homewoods and Doubletrees, but a couple of Hiltons too. Where there are options or I have flexibility it is a booking requirement. You have to check each property individually but at least it is now reliably available on Hilton.com.

dmarge18

I've had luck about 50% of the time getting them to waive the resort fee since I basically get everything as a Diamond (or don't use it as a local), and will try again next weekend when we do one last babymoon to get away for a weekend at a cheap offseason rate.

Anyone know if they're still giving Diamonds access to the wet portions of the spa?

EDIT: Diamonds do get spa access, and the breakfast is discounted (reasonable upcharge for the full breakfast). Breakfast was a great full buffet (with servers was the only difference). They're not doing room upgrades right now, but was able to secure a pretty good beachview rate as it is.

aww3583

Enjoyed a quick stay here recently.

• The "no upgrades" policy, while still displayed on the website, seems to be applied arbitrarily. While in line to check in, I overheard many upgrades being given out. Unfortunately, as 8-year diamond members with a double-digit number of stays at this property, no upgrade was granted despite availability and requesting directly. We had submitted a NOR1 upgrade request several days prior to arrival which did not help.
• Check-in remains painfully slow. They had 5 agents working the desks and it took us 15 minutes to get through the line. At check-in, each guest is given wrist bands, drink coupons must be filled out by hand, guests must sign a COVID-19 waiver, guests must swipe their credit card, keys must be made, and welcome packets are explained.
• Diamond members are given the following perks: wet spa access, $15 discount on the upgraded breakfast, two free drink coupons ($10 value, each).
• The room was perfectly fine as expected. Water pressure is strong. Nice selection of TV content. HVAC is underpowered and can't be set below 68 degrees.
• All pools, hot tubs, restaurants, etc. were open.
• Valet service was prompt and friendly.
• Breakfast is unchanged except instead of serving yourself, staff puts food on your plate. Continental is free for gold/diamond and $10 for everyone else. Full hot breakfast is $8 for gold/diamond and $23 for everyone else.
• The spa was open but the steam room was out of service due to a mechanical issue.
• Dinner at Seagar's was phenomenal.

dmarge18

Interesting on the wrist bands. I saw a sign about it, but all 3 times I've been to the property, I've never had a wristband handed to me (we do tend to go in off-season though). I agree upgrades are hit or miss. I've never gotten a suite, but 1/3 times I got a better room choice/view at least (1/3 times I booked what I wanted, the other time the place was empty and they still stuck me on a 2nd floor double--but did waive the resort fee at least).

TheMoops

Just booked a 5-night trip for next summer. Anybody stayed at this property recently with small kids? I’ll have a 2.5 and 6 yr old w me, and while there’s plenty to do between the pools, beach, and everything else in town, I’m curious if there are any official kids activities put on by the hotel.

aww3583

Just completed a recent stay.

Booking:

All standard rooms are 80,000 points at this hotel. We booked the "highest" tier standard room we could, a 2-double bed, 2-bunk bed partial beach view room. Per the hotel's website: Below is a snapshot of the 20+ grades of room available at this property.




Pre-arrival:

Seventy-two hours before check-in, we received an email saying we'd been upgraded (despite the hotel's website announcing no upgrades) to a 2-double/2-bunk full beach view room. About 3 hours before arrival, we used the messaging function in the app to ask about switching to a 1-K room, as two double beds weren't ideal. The agent messaged back saying "room change requests must be completed in person at the time of check-in".

Arrival:

Valet parking is $30 for all guests. Valet parking is complementary for electric vehicles.

At check-in, we asked again about moving to a 1-K room. In most instances, this would not be considered an upgrade, but this hotel's use of 20+ different tiers of rooms considers a move from a 2-D to 1-K an upgrade. The front desk agent immediately said "We don't have any 1-K rooms available." I pushed back saying "I just checked on the app and it shows availability." He clicked through his computer and said "Ah, we have a 1-K room in our older tower which hasn't been renovated." I said I'd take it, and we were promptly moved.

This hotel has a $40/day resort fee which, according to their website, includes: To most, the only one of those items that has any value is the free breakfast for kids.

As Diamond members, we were each given one $10 cocktail coupon for use at the hotel bar.

Dining:

There is only one breakfast option at the hotel, the main restaurant buffet. There is only one buffet option and it's $30 per person. There is no lower-priced option for cold/continental. The $15 F&B credit doesn't go very far. The food selection and quality was above average, though.

The $10 cocktail coupon doesn't stretch too far either. Bottled domestic beer is $6-$8, and house cocktails start at $16.

Ice cream at the pool side snack shop starts at $6 per scoop.

Room:

Our room was perfectly fine for our brief stay. A/C cooled well, water pressure was strong. The kids loved the bunk beds. There were no USB outlets for charging, and bed-side outlets were poorly positioned. We definitely understood the comparison between the newly-renovated and soon-to-be renovated towers.

This hotel is moving towards the refillable shower dispensers for liquid toiletries. The wall brackets had been mounted, but the bottles hadn't be installed yet.

Overall:

This is still a large, well-appointed resort property in a popular area. An argument can be made that the increased prices without corresponding enhancement in amenities and benefits has reached a breaking point. We were on-site for a weekend in early Spring, and the property was not busy at all.