This is my 2nd time staying at this property, after slightly more than a year ago.  This round I found that the hotel to be quite stingy with upgrades for Elites - also the front desk associate that I interacted with to be less welcoming.

Location

As mentioned in my last review, the location is not the best, but also not the worst especially if you are going to do sightseeing as it is not really located close to the main touristic sites down close to Prace de Commercial.  There are 2 metro stations located close to the hotel - the best from my point view is to get out at Saldanha metro stop (as it is on the same line connected to the airport) instead of the next possible one Picoas (where you have to change lines).  Both are equally the same in walking distance to the hotel.

Other than that, there is a this airport express bus - but I have no experience with it and it's slightly more expensive than the metro.  

For both options, I felt it was doable even with check-in luggage.  On the other hand, Uber is available and if you are more than 1, prices is very reasonable and might be worth it.

Check In

I arrived late afternoon and was helped immediately as there was no one before me.  There was no option for online check in.  At check-in I was told that I was upgraded, which I did not ask to what room, but I believe it was just a one category upgrade to a deluxe from a basic guest room.  Was rather dissapointed with this as when I checked, they still had premium rooms and suites available for booking.  I did not bother press on this as it was just a one night stay.

Check-in took some time, ~ 10 mins, which is usual as they want your documents and they make copies of them, etc.

I was informed about the breakfast times - which I did partake this stay (skipped it the last time due to an early morning flight)

Room

The room was located on the 6th floor and was rather small in size.  The view was also not the most pleasant, as it looked out towards residential apartments and back yards of buildings.

The usual amenities were available - including tea/coffee making facilities.  The room did have electronic blinder/curtain system (although it is not the most logical to operate - there is a combination of switches that is needed in order to get it to open/close).  They did have 2 complimentary (glass) bottled water in the room for Gold/Diamond members.

Climate control in the room was good - room did manage to cool/warm up well with not too high fan speed noise.  Wifi in the room was stable and reasonably fast.  Sleep quality was good - bed was not too soft/hard and there were not too much noise from both interior and exterior.

Bathroom space was small, fitting two person was quite a squeeze. The water pressure and temperature was good, and luckily even with the glass protection, the bathroom floor was still quite dry.  Toiletries were the usual Crabtree &Evelyn ones. 

The design of the room (and hotel) I guess is very personalized - I liked the modern design which is quite unique for a DT property and makes it less of a cookie cutter design.  However from my last stay, I did notice sadly that there were quite a lot of wear and tear already on the furnitures and fittings around the room (and hotel).   

Breakfast

Breakfast is served at the main restaurant of the property.  The selection was quite good with lots of different hot/cold dishes and lots of local Portugese dishes.  The staff were very efficient and friendly during the whole service including picking up used plates and refilling coffee/tea.  I am not sure if they had eggs for order as this option was not presented and since I just took the scrambled eggs from the buffett, I did not ask further on this option.  

One unique feature of breakfast (not sure if it due to it being the 2nd day of Christmas) there was a solo musician in the corner performing live.  It was quite a nice addition to the breakfast area - although I guess some guests were not sure if they should clap after each piece or...no one clapped or acknowledged after each song finished.

One akward situation was that because the restaurant sits across the municipality market and office, in the morning there were quite a number of people opposite the road sitting and hanging around the entrance of the building - I had no idea what they were waiting for there (as the market and the municipality office was already opened) but quite a number of them would be staring into the restaurant.  

Overall

All in all, an OK property with OK staff.  I guess if you are an Elite member, it did seem like the recognition at this property has degraded compared to my last stay (where I was upgraded to a Suite and provided welcome drinks) and some gifts in the room.

For those that want to stick with Hilton hotels, there is not much other choices in the area. 

This is my 4th or even 5th stay at the property - again another 1 night stay since most of the time I am using Lisbon as a stopover point for my flights and due to convenience of public transportation from the airport and currently being the only Hilton profile hotel in the city (another Curio should be coming soon) with relatively still OK value for money - this is my usual go to hotel if I need a place in Lisbon.

Location

As usual, it's easily accessible by public transportation - on the way in, I took the metro to Saldanha station which is on the same Airport line.  For the return, I decided to take the bus, which was actually much more convenient compared to the metro - with a shorter walk to the stop close to Picoas station - and the ride seems shorter, stopping close to the Car rental centre at LIS.  This was also much more plesant as you could see the outside world.  I would say it's convenient too with non-cabin size luggage and the bus was not too pack (could be due to the current compulsory of work from home policy of the govt).

Check In

The plan was to arrive around noon to check-in, but due to a significant delay of my flight with TAP, I arrived LIS two hours later, so arrived only around 3pm at the property.  A couple of days before my stay, I already received via email a notification that I was upgraded - the newly introduced feature by Hilton - to a Premium room.  

The check-in desks upon arrival was free, so I was assisted immediately by the only agent free (the other was on the phone).  As usual, I had to present all the different documentation showing a negative test and ID.  I was given also a piece of paper containing all the Elite benefits and the afamous DT cookies (which was still warm).

All in all - check in was just OK - as in just doing what was needed.  (totally opposite compared to the much warmer welcome I received at the Hilton's in Porto).  I did not ask for any further possibility of upgrade as it was just for a night and I just wanted to get to my room as soon as possible so I could leave to do some exploring.  She did however showed me that I needed to take another set of elevators - as it seems my previous stays at the property did show up - since I was told the room was in another building from my last stay (back end of 2019).

Room

The room if I heard properly from the associate was that this is in the Executive building - from size-wise, it was sufficient.  There was a working desk and a rather longish bench for multi-use possibility.  There was a large mirror like frame - which functions as a TV and I guess main purpose is to give the room a bigger apperance.  The room faced a side road of the building - which was not much of a view - and this later turned out to be quite a disasterous room.

There was a minibar - which was emptied out and the usual tea/coffee making facilities.  The coffee making facility was an upgraded Krupps capsule system.  2 complimentary bottles of water was provided.  Internet access was based on a code provided - for non eligible guest, internet seems to be payable.  In the wardrobe was also bathrobe and slippers provided including an umbrella. 

Sleep quality - this is where for me failed miserably (and one of the worst in all my stays at this property).  I was already initially worred about the soundproof of the room after initially being in the room as I could hear the traffic noise from outside, but was hoping that at night it would be better due to less traffic.  This turned out not to be the case - as until quite late into the night and than later earlier in the morning - noise from the exterior was just clearly audible - with a garbage truck, cars, loading/unloading vans and people outside - everything was as if the windows were open (which you can't) and you heard everything clearly (the room was on the 1st floor).  I believe this went on until maybe midnight or so (especially with people chatting outside) and than early in the morning, around 5 am or so - the noise started again.  Furthermore, luckily for me it was not needed, but in the summer, if the climate control needs to be on, it was also another disaster - the fan noise even at the lowest speed was terrible, it was as if being in a wind tunnel.  In my opinion it is either there is only 1 fan speed - High (as I did not really hear too much different between low or high speed) or the unit needs to be fixed/tuned.  The bed in general was good - just that noise pollution this was terrible.

The other problem with this room (which I don't remember being a problem previously) was the bathroom.  In general it was ok from size point - although it was clear that usually where there was a (sliding) door to separate the bath area to the toile has been removed and not replaced.  First problem was the toilet roll placement - it was placed at the bottom of the resevoir which is so incovient to grab.  The other problem was the combine bathtub shower - I have no idea who thought placing the shower facility so close to the edge of the bathtub was a good idea - this lead to an uncomfortable position if you had wanted to leave it in the fixed handle instead of holding it - as you were just at the curvature of the tub and above the drainage (stepping on it means water will not flow out).  They did have a new device added in the shower area - a sort of timer where it will automatically start when you shower - the main purpose is to not shower too long and waste precious clean water - which is a good initiative. 

Elite benefits

This time around, I again noticed some changes in Elite benefits - I remembered the last time I did get some welcome drink vouchers, but this time around I did not.  However from the list of benefits, I noticed that parking for Diamond members are now complimentary - which is a great welcome.  Outside of these changes, everything else is as per the T&Cs of the program

Breakfast

i was glad to see that breakfast was the usual buffet style.  At this property, outside of the wearing a mask, you are also required to use plastic gloves when getting food.  The spread seems to be the usual spread back in 2019.  Again one of my favorite item here was their Portugese Nata - very crispy and not too sweet.  The staff working on my day were all very friendly and helpful - with hot drinks being on order basis.  They too had eggs to order - via one of the associate.  The breakfast team seems to really want to make sure you have a good time and enjoyable breakfast.  They seem to have a few long staying guests and remembered their choices/preference, which is always nice if you are staying long period.  

Overall

All in all, I am glad to see that not much has changed, and things are still holding up well at the property despite so many years and with the current pandemic.  Kudos to the breakfast team for the good service and friendliness.

However, this has got to be one of my most disasterous stay from room point of view - which I will for certain avoid if I return to this property the next time.  I was actually hoping that during check-out I would have been asked how my stay was, but since I was not asked, I did not bother bringing up these issues - which to me shows slightly the lack of concern about service level.