Hilton Garden Inn Milan Malpensa {ITA}
 

Hi all,

I have been watching for this hotel to start accepting reservations, and today, was able to reserve 2 rooms for 2 November, when I will be returning from Milan to SFO. They are now accepting reservations for mid-October and later. They have rooms available for $80 Euro, and it is close enough to MXP, that they have a free shuttle.

Cat22

Far out, this is great news, wish Hilton built an On-Airport hotel, but this will do. ^^^^^

A little too late for us as we will be leaving MXP in mid-september (and staying at the Crown Plaza by the airport), but a great addition to the Hilton familly!!

They were scheduled to open in July, so you might want to keep checking....

Cat22

The hotel is an independant hotel with its own website http://www.grandhotelmalpensa.com/.. i would suggest getting reconfirmation that it will be a HGI unless booked directly through hilton.

Hilton Garden Milan Airport
 

So Hilton is reopening this hotel in Jan 2009?
or this is brand new hotel?

May, 2009. One night stay in-transit
 

This is an edited version of a Trip Advisor review that I wrote: This hotel is new to the Hilton Garden Inn brand, but is itself ~ 2-3yrs old. The staff are newly trained in the service standards of the Hilton Hotels and it shows. The king room was a good size for a European hotel room. The bathroom was spotless. Cable channel choices on the TV were very good, and were in at least four different languages. Both wired and wireless internet are included in the room charge, the wired service performed flawlessly, there is also a business center, and it is possible to print to it from your laptop in your room. The breakfast was included in my room rate, it had both hot and cold choices and was quite good. I did have dinner in their Michelin recommended restaurant. In my two weeks of dining in both Italy and France, it was the most mediocre meal I had. They did make an error in the bill and offered to comp a drink from the bar as a result. A nice little bonus were the free bikes, with locks and helmets. The shuttle picks-up from the airport when you call the hotel, return trips are for every half hour, with reservation required.

Spent the night here on May 19. Was very satisfied with the service and amenities, particularly with the rate of 80 euros I booked back in January. Was travelling with my wife and 20 yr old daughter - had booked a room for two. Asked for an extra bed at check in and they upgraded us to a junior suite that had two bedrooms (one with a queen bed and the other a single bed). Got to watch a Red Sox home game on cable (with Italian commentators). Restaurant is just OK, but its pretty much your only option. I had a rental car and it was only about a 10 or 15 min drive to the airport (depending on time of day).

A unique HGI - in a very good way
 

I like this hotel very much. It's like no other Hilton Garden Inn I've stayed in. (I don't dislike them. I mean it's not like all the others.) Its primary design is circular, with the lobby at the bottom of a 10m diameter atrium open to light at the top. The front desk is at the center, with the lobby circling it. The whole place feels - smells! - like new, probably because it's always been entirely non-smoking. It seems like it's in the middle of nowhere, something they tout.

My room was large, though not a suite, and with a view of far off mountains. All the amenities of a full-service Hilton. A king bed (two singles together) with specially padded mattress and white damask-covered duvet. Floor was carpeted, not wood as shown in photos. ~40cm diagonal flat-screen TV. New ergonomic desk chair. My room had a shower, not a bath. Heated towel rack. Two free bottles of water.

Happy hour included a free small but tasty antipasti buffet. Can't comment on dinner because I overdid the hors d'oeuvre. Morning breakfast was a buffet with prosciutto, parma ham, sausage, bacon, eggs, sauteed mushrooms, beans, several sliced soft and hard cheeses, breads, pastries, yoghurt, several juices, and they'll make special coffees. It was all included in the rate. (NB: I'm a recently fallen-from-grace Diamond, so this was a surprise and very appreciated.)

Tip: If you're coming down from the lakes or Switzerland on the A8, don't take the first "Malpensa ->" turnoff. It'll take you through several small towns with lots of rotaries and farm trucks. Take the later highway access. And carry their phone number. I waited longer than I want to tell, thinking that their shuttle was regularly scheduled. The ride back to the airport departed immediately. (To clarify, I initially dropped off the car at the airport, and took the shuttle to the hotel.)

Like I said, like no HGI I've ever stayed in... :)

****************
The one problem I had, and just remembered, was with the wireless. As with most captive internet access, a username and password is required. You then land on the hotel's website. Which kept yielding a warning window that the website had a bad certificate. I'm probably too lax, but didn't quit it then (not doing anything confidential). But the real problem was that I kept having to re-up about every five to ten minutes. The front desk didn't know what to do any better than I did, and said they hadn't heard of the problem previously. The wired access worked fine.

Good to learn that HGI opens @ MXP.
Thanks for the reports and reviews. Sounds like a good addition to the somewhat limited choices of accommodation near MXP.
BTW, how long does it take the shuttle to get the airport from this hotel?

allset2travel, about 10 minutes in my cases, late morning, although one of the reviewers in TripAdvisor said they were delayed by traffic during morning commute hour. BTW, there are many customer reviews of this hotel there.

****************
The one problem I had, and just remembered, was with the wireless. As with most captive internet access, a username and password is required. You then land on the hotel's website. Which kept yielding a warning window that the website had a bad certificate. I'm probably too lax, but didn't quit it then (not doing anything confidential). But the real problem was that I kept having to re-up about every five to ten minutes. The front desk didn't know what to do any better than I did, and said they hadn't heard of the problem previously. The wired access worked fine.[/QUOTE]

I had the same problem back in January and I went down to the reception to complain and they allow me to go wired at no extra charge.
I thought it was a punctual problem but I am sorry to hear that it has not been solved 8 months after. :rolleyes:

Decent, good value - just a bit far from the airport

Parking free overnight or amazing deal of 6€ a night if you leave the car during your travels..

Recomend, especially if under 100€

Also good location for lago maggiore if you've got a car. Good location also if you are renting a car from MXP and arrive late and want a hotel near MXP

Horrendous internet--avoid if you need to do work
 

The internet was qualitatively horrendous and quantitatively the throughput (www.speedtest.net) was terrible and quality (www.pingtest.net) was a solid F. No way of getting any work done except for some asyncronous email, and don't even think of making a Skype call. This was both on the in-room Ethernet (wired) and the wireless.

Furthermore, the wireless was completely incompatible with any smartphone or iPad: you couldn't even read a newspaper online that it would ask you to re-enter the complex username/password. The timeout is set in milliseconds instead of several tens of minutes.

Pretty basic stuff, but certainly crucial to a productive stay. Avoid this property unless you're on a bus tour (I counted four the night I was there). And yes, it's a haul from the airport itself (about 20 minutes).

+1

I have now stayed 4/5 times at this property and everytime the internet has driven me mad. When I complain in reception, they say that I am the 1st one to complain(they cannot even remember that I have done it in every stay).

Shuttle - from MXP is not very good. I always have had to wait not less than 15/20'.