Nice refurbished rooms, good breakfast

I was always looking at the opportunity to return to this property after it's renovation and change from being a Hilton to a Doubletree - so when there was a reasonable priced room available, I took the opportunity to check this property out.  [Yes, sadly lots of Hilton hotels in NL after renovation seems to find a good reason to hike up the room prices quite a bit - the other is the Hilton Rotterdam].  

This property is situated about 20 mins from Utrecht, the closes big city.  I would say the main purpose of guests coming here to this property is to check out the nature (lots of forested area), rest and relax, a round of golf (this is in any case a hotel with it's own golf course) or visiting some of the Dutch royal family related attractions in the area.  

I would say this is not the easiest property to reach if you don't have a car - there is a bus service - which runs infrequently during the weekends and especially outside of peak hours.  The other nearest big city is Amersfoort - which is about 15-20 mins car ride away.  

As usual, from the Hilton app, I found out on the day of check-in that I was upgraded to the (predicted) Deluxe Golf view room.  I did do an online check-in although as usual in current times, you need to still run by the Front Desk to show all the different documentations.  I had arrived much later than I initially planned since I had some last minute changes to my plan that day - arriving only after 17h.  There was no one, so I was helped immediately by a friendly agent and welcomed as an Elite guest.  I did ask (even knowing already the answer) if there was any possibility for an upgrade to a suite, as expected the answer was no.

I was given a run down of the facilities (and procedures to book them) and breakfast (again with procedure/documentation to show).  As an elite, I was given my 2 bottles of water but sadly no cookies as they ran out of it.  I was told to check again the next day upon check-out.  What I missed was now that it has become a DT, the complimentary welcome drink vouchers (which was provided previously when it was a Hilton and they had no lounge).  Furthermore I enquired about the availability of EV charging station - and was told only 1 was available and upon checking - it was in use - but was told that she will put a note on both cookies and EV availability (more on this later).

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On my way to the room, it was nice to see that they did a good job with the renovation of the property - with a few familiar items still kept around the property.  The room was situation in the East wing (right side from the front desk).

The renovated room was indeed very nicely done and certainly an improvement over the previously dated (but functional) furnishing (during it's Hilton time).  Size of the room as compared to previous seemed to be larger due to the new furnishing.  There was a balcony (all rooms have a balcony) which just had a swap of furniture (although now it looks like they removed the table) but nothing further done to make the balcony slightly more inviting.  

They improved the room with some functional cupboard racks and a useful working desk.  There was also a nice 2 separate seater chair and table - which I found functional.  Sufficient electrical/USB outlets at the strategic places for charging.  Internet quality was good.  The TV was well appointed (although no streaming possibility) with the usual local and international selection.  They also upgraded the coffee/tea making facility with Nespresso (although I miss the biscuits that comes with them).  The mini fridge was available - and left empty for personal use.  

Sleep quality was good - with no interior/exterior disturbance heard.  Only minor complain was the climate control - was not really clear on how especially in winter temperature to work it - as there was a notice it was not for heating, (which did seem right - as even adjusting it to 30deg, the room never really warmed up - but I found out the next day it did slightly help to warm up the room but only after leaving it for > 1 hour on) - and with the rather thin duvet, it did get at times cold during the night.   

The bathroom was also well renovated - although the location of the different items were exactly where they were when it was a Hilton.  It was nice to see that they had double sink.  They retained the separate bathtub and shower area - with a good water and temperature control.  

For breakfast, you had to (strangely) show both your vaccination and ID before entering (I mean strange here because if you are a guest at the hotel, these were already checked during check-in).  But I guess - this is how confusion plays on interpretation of the rules set by the government.

I was surprised to see one of the previous worker from the Hilton times still working there - she was always the friendly and happy one - good to see that she still had the welcoming and happy mentality with her.  The whole setting was very similar to again when it was a Hilton - reminded me of those old times.  The variety of the buffett was good and the quality was surprisingly good - especially for a DT, so a thumbs up to the property for keeping the high standard of a Hilton.  You could also request eggs to order (although this was not written or mentioned anywhere),  

All in all, the breakfast service was ok, with some improvement points - used plates took some time to be cleared from the table (this did become a problem as I had the table for 2, and there's not place after getting 1-2 items), refilling of items did take quite some time (not sure if it was just not noticed or not well managed, and even if it was being refilled, it was done in quite an inefficient manner, for example, for one of the juices in those big containers was empty, they tried to refill it using a water jug of maybe 1 liter, so not sure how many times they will need to walk to refill that container) and other items after waiting for around 10 mins and seeing it still empty, I had to walk up to one of the associate to point that out before waiting again some time before it was replaced.   

Made my own Royal Eggs Benedict with one of the best salmon quality - not the usual supermarket quality - found at the Hiltons in NL in my opinion (but this was also the moot point - as they served it in a luxurious way - individually plated, so when it ran out, it took like forever to come out)

This is where maybe could be an improvement point for the property - what I noticed was that now that it's a DT, (or maybe just because of some new deal with a hospitality college) - there seems to be quite a number of associates which are clearly carrying out their internship at the property - you can just see it from the interaction and actions - which is a good step for the hotel to provide such opportunities.  However, management should still make sure that things are still executed correctly - clear example is during the breakfast service - I believe 80% of the associates were these interns, while only 3 from what I could identify were the permanent staff - this can only work if there is one of them in the lead, which clearly was not the case.

The other was also during check-out - since till the next day I could still not use the EV charging station (I woke earlier just to check, and the same vehicle from the night before was still charged to the station and I had to find an alternative outside of the hotel as I desperately needed to charge it - found one about 10 mins walk away from the hotel in the wet morning) - I brought this up to the agent working the front desk - clearly another intern (just something easily identified) as it was clear that he did not give any care about it even though he said the right words and acknowledged my complain.

What was also surprising is on the cookies - it was still not available the next day during check out - I would assume if the property wants to not make too many to reduce waste, they would know more or less the number of guests coming that day and adding a few extras and have therefore sufficient quantities - so not sure why can't these simple math be done.  And if it's out, they could have offered the guest maybe something else as a substitue.  I also found it rather amusing when it was still not available the next day that I was told jokingly that you'll get double the next visit - as if i will be recorded in some books so that you know how many cookies you "owe" me.  For me it just shows some lack of management and service recovery.  

All in all, I would say the stay was ok - mainly a big thumbs up to the refurbishing and the quality of the breakfast offerings.  However, at least for my stay,  some improvement can be done. 

What they can further improve is to add additional EV charging points - if that is difficult due to infrastructure, they should come with a better management of how long guests are allowed to use it (a simple padlock and registration concept would be all it takes).

Despite all the different shortcomings, I would still return to this property if the price is right but not go out of my way.