I had a 5-night stay on points at this property which was a mixed bag.  I was not overly impressed, but my stay was not terrible either.  I would return if I had to be in Surfers Paradise again.

Room

As a Diamond member I was upgraded to a relaxation room facing the ocean, just one floor (14) below the executive lounge (15) so views are nice.  I believe this room was possibly the best non-suite room in the hotel so it was a fairly generous upgrade.  The views from there are great particularly with the floor to ceiling windows.  The room is at the end of the hall way so not exactly a “corner” room given the shape of the hotel, but I would say an “end” room.  The room was spacious and the bathroom as well.  The bed was very comfortable and I had great sleep every day and I was not disturbed by noise at all.  There was a stain on the carpet in the corridor leading to the room however.  Nothing major but it was in contrast with the rest of the room which was bright and clean.  Water pressure was not very good in the shower. 

Location

The strong point of this hotel is the location.  It is right in the middle of the action with several shops and restaurants around; I do not think the location can be any better.  The Novotel is very close so equally desirable for the location.  The location of the Marriott is not as good because it’s a bit away from the beach or the shop/restaurant area, although still walkable.  But at Hilton you are literally right there.  Self-parking underground is 20 AUD per day. 

Dining

The executive lounge design is very nice with several different kinds of seating options, including a terrace outside, several tables inside by the window on 2 different sides of the hotel to enjoy the view, or larger tables for bigger groups away from windows.  There is also a meeting room within the lounge.  The breakfast in the lounge left to the desired.  The only hot food choice was bacon every day – no omelets or anything else.  There was smoked salmon which I had most mornings, but the rest was pretty standard western choices and nothing to be excited about, such as standard hotel fruits.  Since it was my first stay in Australia, I do not know if this is common in the country so I do not have a good benchmark.  The hotel does not offer free breakfast in the restaurant for Diamond members – you have to pay 10 AUD extra per person.  I cannot recall a Hilton hotel elsewhere that you do not get the choice of free breakfast in the lounge OR restaurant for Diamond members, at least not the Hiltons I have been to.  Evenings food choices in the lounge were not great either, but at least there were 2 hot choices.  The problem is that one of the two was vegetable samosas every day.  Only the second was changing, for example they had pork dumplings, cheese tarts, fried chicken, etc.  The salads were nice so it could serve as an appetizer.  They had one choice of red wine, one choice of white white, and they had sparkling wine.  I only went once in the afternoon and they had good sandwiches and some desserts.  So I think afternoon tea is actually better than breakfast and evening canapés.  Service in the lounge was sometimes friendly, and sometimes completely absent particularly in the morning, on occasion there was no staff at all for 10 minutes straight (access to the lounge is via key card).  So bottom line the lounge is so-so but if you stay in another hotel, you might not even get a lounge, for example Novotel or Marriott, so a lounge is better than no lounge.  Room service options left to be desired but with so many restaurants around the hotel, it does not matter much.

Amenities

This hotel is a bit stingy in terms of amenities in the room.  Refills were hard to come by, 2 water bottles were provided on arrival but never after, no mouthwash available, etc.  Also you also cannot get a water bottle from the lounge to take to your room – only water from the lounge is in a large container to fill your glass.

Gym

The gym was surprisingly small for a hotel of this size, including several floors above the hotel which are for Hilton Residence guests.  There was only one free weight!

Pool

There are two outside pools and one indoor pool.  The pool areas outside were ok but nothing special so I would say the Hilton is great to go to the beach, but not so much to enjoy the pool.  For some reason the bar at the pool was closed when I stopped by, even though it was mid afternoon.  You had to call the restaurant if you wanted a snack or a drink.

Internet

I rarely comment on the internet connection when I visit hotels, but for this one it was as bad as I have experienced since I visited Beijing two years ago.  It was slow at all hours of day or night, but fortunately no outages so usable for e-mail at least. 

Overall

Overall at this hotel I can say great location and good room upgrade.  Perhaps a few minor issues might make me investigate other destinations than Surfers Paradise for a vacation, but if I had to be in Surfers again, I would probably pick the Hilton again because I am not sure there are better alternatives in the Surfers Paradise area at least from hotel chains one might have status.