Bad room during this stay, breakfast still good

100   Recommended
Room 155 , King Premium
January 7, 2022 by

 Map | 4 Reviews | 50% Recommended
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DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Lisbon - Fontana Park
 Map | 4 Reviews | 50% Recommended

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Room 155

King Premium

Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
Stats
Room
King Premium

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.

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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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

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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.  

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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.

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