Unique Hilton and well appointed rooms

Since I had two one night stay at this property within a span of 5 days in between and assigned two different rooms, will combine both rooms review here.  

This property for me has got to be one of the most unique Hilton hotels I've been to especially from the point of size - it is really huge and because it is incoporated into Hawks town and next to the Fukuoka dome, it is quite a unique location and property.

The property is located in more or less it's own area away from the 'center' of Fukuoka - which to me is around the Hakata and Tenjin area.  Around the hotel there is a mall, about 5 mins away from the hotel (you can cut through the hotel's small shopping mall via the dome to the mall - MarkIs.  It is quite a large mall with a variety of shops and food outlets.  Close by is also a nice beach area with a nice beach pavilion (sadly I did not have the time to walk there and especially the heat+humidity during my visit).

From the airport, the most direct route is to take the airport shuttle (Hearts) - which I believe has 2 pricing, there seems to be at certain hours a direct bus from the airport to the hotel and other times, it goes through the city center (with a couple of stops).  The direct bus routing is quite expensive (for the 15-20 mins drive), 1000 JPY o/w.  Alternative option would be to take a combination of bus+bus or subway+bus (both combination should be ~ 500+ JPY pp) if you want to be at the doorstep of the hotel.  The cheapest would be to just grab the subway and stop at the closes stop to the hotel and walk about 15-20 mins to the hotel (300 JPY).  Unless you are really into walking, walking to either Hakata/Tenjin will take more than an hour or more.

The hotel does have a shuttle to the nearby subway station - but sadly not the most useful service as it is only provided during the weekends and starts at 10am and ends rather early, ~ 7 pm.  In my opinion, quite useless.  I would have expected the hotel knowing that it's far from every thing, have better arrangement in this point of service.

On my first night, I arrived just after 7 pm.  There was nearly no one checking in, so I was helped immediately by a very friendly front desk associate.  At this point I already saw in my app that I was upgraded to a Twin Premium Deluxe room from the basic room.  However during check-in I was further upgraded to a Twin Executive floor room (which actually turned out to be a junior suite I believe - as it was never referred to as a Jr Suite) and informed that it was one of the few renovated rooms.  I am not quite sure what prompted the further upgrade - which was very much appreciated - but I suspect it was due to my surprised (and dissapointment that the executive lounge even hours were over).  I was also offered a welcome drink and provided with vouchers to use the sauna/steam room facilities.  I was given than the usual run down of the services and benefits as an elite member.  When I was done, I was actually asked to wait as the front desk manager wanted to also meet and welcome me - but after checking seems he/she was not around, so that did not (luckily) happen.

On my 2nd time checking in - I arrived just after 2 pm (on a Friday) and what a difference in experience.  The whole lobby area was busy with a quite some people needing the service of the front desk.  There was a separate island for HHonors members and even that was busy - manned by only 1 associate.  After waiting for about 10 mins, another associate came over and I was helped.  Since I was here a couple of days ago, during check out from my last stay, I had requested for a King Size bed (was not available when I was making my booking) and also if there was a possibility of being upgraded to a suite.  Since these were noted, during this round of check-in I was informed of my requests.  I was than presented on an iPad some photos of rooms and I saw that one of the choices was the afamous Panoramic Suite, which I selected.  Initially I was told that if I wanted that I would need to pay additional for it, which I declined, though I did remind the agent again that if it is available, as an elite guest it should be possible to upgrade me complimentary to it.  I guess after that, she checked the availability of the suite and since it was just a 1 night stay, I was upgraded to that suite.  This time around, I was again given a run down of the services and benefits - but no welcome drink vouchers this round or anyone wanting to meet me.  For this second time, I felt that the associate to be rather arrogant/crude and not very sincere (I did meet her again the next morning while checking out - which I am not sure if she remembered me or not) - but I had the feeling that she was taking revenge because I was 'demanding too much' by not wanting to process me but just stood next to another agent (not sure if she was training her or..) after she completed the guest she was busy with.  Took me close to 10 mins to do a simple check-out and zero apology that things were taking so long when I was being helped  (she did not even bother to look at me even though she was next to the agent helping me).  Very strange situation.

For the first stay, when I entered the room, I was really taken by surprise how big the room/suite was.  After the hallway, there was quite a large sitting/TV room with a working desk.  This was separated from the bed room by a door.  

The bed room itself was quite spacious with a small lovers chaise and from there it leads to a sort of walk in closet/powder room area and than the bathroom.  The room/suite was very well appointed and for me, I liked the design - modern yet functional.  

As for amenities, it basically had everything that you would need, a Nespresso coffee machine, water boiler for tea, quite a number of international plug outlets and bottles of water.  The drapes were electronically controlled.  The view from the room was towards the Fukuoka tower and the beach and bay area.  

The bathroom was spacious and as usual in Japan, had lots of amenities.  There was a tub or walk in shower.  I only used the shower, with very good pressure and temperature control.  The toilet as expected was equipped with the Japanese bidet.  

Internet speed and quality was very good, fast and stable.  TV channels were good as usual -  mix of international channels and most importantly easy to use.  After going out and coming back later, a welcome platter appeared in the room - consisting of different Japanese desserts - very good quality and as usual presentation.  Sleep quality was very good - hardly heard anything from either within the hotel nor traffic outside.

All in all, a very well appointed room and yes, the room was very well renovated (not sure how it was previously - so can't compare much here).

For my 2nd stay, I had the Panoramic suite on the 24th floor.  I believe all floors have this type of room as it is located at the point of the building where it converges.  Truthfully I was actually quite dissapointed especially with the size of the room (and amenities).  I believe due to the shape of the room, there is not much space to work with.  In fact I would not even call this a quite but just call it a Panoramic room.  

The entrance was actually the biggest area of the room, with the bed room to the right and the entrance to the bathroom to the left.  Just after that was the living room area and directly after the panoramic view which had a lover chaise.  The room was actually so small that there was hardly any space to even place your luggage (they had the fixed luggage rack in the wardrobes - but it was only big enough to fit more or less a cabin sized bag.  In the end I just used the entrance area to open up my bags.

The bath room size was the actually very spacious - it was following the long-ish design of the 'sail' but what helped it was covered in all white marble with a long ceiling to floor windows, so there were lots of light (and view).  Ironically, it was only the drapes in the bathroom that was electronically controlled (the drapes in the room itself you had to manually open them).  Compared to my previous room, this room had no international electrical plugs.

For me, the main attraction to have this room is the view which is close to 180 deg of the bay (though in summer, the room really got quite hot with the drapes open, so it was nearly impossible to sit in the area to enjoy the view during the afternoon period as it was like being in a sauna).  

Other then for the view, there is really nothing much special for this room - if I return, I would not actually go for this room and even maybe 'downgrade' myself to a normal room if offered this room.

For my first stay, I had breakfast down at the main restaurant.  The main restaurant is really very large and I believe it is used also for weddings as there was a chapel just around the corner.  The location of it under a very large dome really made an impact to reflect how large the place was.  This is needed I guess to accommodate all the guests whern the hotel is full.  One very nice thing of the hotel is how they do value the importance of HHonors guest.  They had a separate waiting line for HHonors guest (they did have also for groups and non-groups guests) and also a special area with additional dishes (including freshly made onigiri).  The offerings in the main restaurant was as expected in Japan, good with a mix of western and Japanese choices.  Staff were in general friendly and quick in clearing up dishes or refilling items.

On my second stay, I tried the breakfast at the lounge.  As expected the choices in the lounge were much less than in the main restaurant, but I would still say it was quite good with a mix variety of Japanese and Western items.  It does seem that you can have items such as different styles of eggs ordered and every day they have a "dish of the day".

The lounge is open daily from 6am to 10pm.  Throughout the day, there will be different services, breakfast, snacks, tea time and evening hors d'oeuvres.  For the evening coktail hour, this is one of the properties which I've experienced to start really early and ends early, from 5-7 pm.  For me this timing is not the best - not sure why it is timed in such a way.

During my 2nd stay, as expected, the lounge was quite crowded during the evening service, luckily there was still 2-3 tables open.  Most of the items are really fingerfood - a mix of Japanese and Western type.  There were a variety of spirits, wines (2 reds and 2 whites including 1 sparkling wine and 1 Processco) and non-alcoholic drinks available.  All in all, the variation of dishes available was ok - only 1 hot item was available which was the soup.  Other items included breads, cheeses and desserts.  For those wanting to make a meal out of it, it might be quite difficult.  Items were replenished - sometimes on the slower side.  

From what I observed, it looks like that you can check out (not sure if check-in too) from the lounge.  However the services at the lounge does not seem to be full service like at the front desk.

All in all, for me the hotel was a mix bag of experience.  It is indeed a very interesting hotel from experience point of view, however for the biggest downside is the location and to a certain extend the service.  Besides that first encountered of the first day at the front desk (which really felt of a sincere welcome), I found the rest of the staff to be ok - just doing what they need to do and that's it.  What I also found rather strange was the inconsistency of Elite recognition - for example I had some nice sincere welcome amenities when I arrived for my first stay, but on the 2nd stay, a total different experience.

As for services - especially the shuttle bus service - it is really quite pathetic that it is so limited,  (yes I know this information is there on their website), but they themselves knowing that the location is not the most convenient, should think of alternatives to still improve services to guests.

I would say this property is OK if you are able to accept the location and possible average service.