Usual UK Hilton hotel, OK location

100   Recommended
Room 126 , King Deluxe
January 13, 2020 by

 Map | 1 Review | 100% Recommended
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Hilton Maidstone Hotel
 Map | 1 Review | 100% Recommended

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Room 126

King Deluxe

Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
Stats
Room
King Deluxe

This seems to be one of the only Hilton besides that in Brighton in the Kent county area.  Spent the weekend here while visting the UK for the weekend.  Hotel in general is ok, and looks like they did (or still busy?) with a light refurbishment - what looks quite new to me was the new carpets of the hallways and some light touches in the room.

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Location

Hotel is located just off the M20, with a big Next store (and a Costa) opposite the hotel, and there is a what seemed to be quite a popular pub about 5-10 mins walk away from the hotel.  (a shorter way is to use the slightly hidden footpath access directly opposite the hotel lobby main entrance - it is shielded by a wooden board).  

I did see that if you want to have some good excersize, there is a footpath leading to Maidstone town centre, approx 1.5 miles away or about 5 mins drive away by car.  [Had wanted to explore the town centre, but since I had no change for the car park which the city charges 7 days a week from 8am onwards - even on a Sunday - I did not explore the town centre]

The hotel does have a parking charge of 5GBP per day, but I guess during the weekends it is not charged (which is much appreciated) - not sure of the policy.  Although without a car, I would say this property would not be that accessible and quite incovenient.

Check In

Arrived after 8 pm at the hotel and although there seemed to be a function going on, the lobby area was not too packed.  There was initially no one at the front desk but just about a couple of seconds, an associate approached from the back office.  

I already noticed in the Hilton app that I was upgraded to a King deluxe, which I was hoping for a further upgrade to the suite (since it was still available and being sold), sadly no such luck.  I was given a rundown of the hotel facilities and the elite benefits at the hotel.  The hotel does not have a lounge, although they did for elites provide a one time welcome drink voucher.

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Room

The room was located on the ground (or 1st floor).  The hotel only has another level - a two storey building.  The room was facing the courtyard which I was nice since this means less traffic noise.

Room size was just nice, big enough with a nice small sitting area and other amenities without feeling too squeezed.  It was your typical UK Hilton room (for those who've been to lots of non-London based Hilton's will know what I mean).  

There was tea/coffee making facilities available, although the fridge has been removed (the space where it used to be is now empty) - which for me is not an issue.  Room had 2 bottles (sadly plastic) of 1 still and 1 sparkling water, bathrobes and slippers provided.  As usual, all plug types were UK standard.  

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The room does not have the standard climate control, but basically, in winter you use the wall mounted heater (which was not too bad in warming up the room) or in summer the provided fan units (I saw a big one and a smaller one in the wardrobe) - which for me should be OK since summer in the UK never gets too extreme besides the different spikes.

Internet speed was ok - I was given a code but I also did try the normal login method - did not really notice a different in speed.  The TV does seem to be part of the refreshed item in the room - with the usual assortment of UK channels mainly (it did have much more channels, but quite a number of them either had no signal or was just not showing anything).

Bathroom size was nice and spacious - but again your typical UK bathroom.  There was just a sort of angular bathtub - which was spacious so this was good as you don't have the shower curtain "sticking" to you when you shower.  I was surprised that the shower curtain was quite efficient in preventing water from spraying out.  Water and pressure was ok - only what I disliked was the fixed shower head.  They did have a heated towel rack.  The sink area was ok - but this was obviously the part which they did not replace - though it did do it's function with at least a mix water faucet and not those typical separate hot and cold faucets.

All in all, sleep quality was good, hardly any external noise and the bed (might be too firm for some) was to me good - no complains in this area, which to me is the most important part.  

In addition, the hotel does have the option to deny housekeeping and you get every night a 5GBP voucher to spend at any of the property F&B outlets.  I liked this as normally I really don't need fresh towels or bed made up for me every night.  

Breakfast

The breakfast is served in the main restaurant of the hotel.  During this period, on both occasions that I visited the place, it was never too busy - I guess the hotel itself was not too busy. 

The selection was to me actually quite good, and very well presented.  I guess this helped without the crowd as the areas were well kept and dishes refilled on time.  Quality also seemed quite good.  You can order eggs from any of the staff - although they do have already scrambled and sunny-side up eggs as part of the buffett.  I believe the hotel at least does based on the occupancy rate estimate quite well the portions to put out.

On both days, I had two different teams, and as usual, one team was just better in terms of service standard.  All in all, for me it was quite a solid breakfast offering.

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Overall

All in all, a good balance of price to value received at this property for what I paid - basically your average UK type Hilton.  Staff in general were friendly and good.  The hotel did have a spa facilities, but I did not use it, but it does seemed to be used by quite a number of guests.  Elite recognition at this property is as what is on paper with just the addition of the welcome drink.

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