Honestly they are the one normal Hilton brand I avoid - or at least I did when I was doing non-stop business travel. Not because they are a bad hotel (they aren't), but because they are geared (and priced) towards families. If I'm on a business trip I'm already tired when I get off work, I'm not home so everything is different, I have "homework" to do, and the last thing I need is kids running up and down the hall laughing and screaming - and usually dripping wet from the pool.
The Hilton Garden Inn hotels are a step up in quality and price - usually with less noise. I still preferred the Embassy Suites, DoubleTree, or the Homewood Suites if I was staying more than a week.
If I was going overseas the customer always expected us to stay in a good, internationally-recognized, and safe hotel so I always stayed at a Hilton so I could get the upgrade (I was Diamond).
Notice I said "normal brand" at the top. I don't count the newer "trendy/woke/millennial" hotels.
I prefer the “Hilton” not the brand hotels. I agree with you on the Hampton Inn, I have stayed at a few and most are sub par, but clean. The Embassy and Gardens are decent.
Conrad would be proud of this move!
I always found most US Hiltons to be older - not up to date with the times, though I did really like the executive lounges.
The overseas Hiltons I stayed at (Sydney, Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo, Dubai, and a bunch throughout Europe) were much nicer and they really treated Diamond members well. Once I was on a really long Asian trip that included a week in Sydney in the middle of the trip. Unfortunately my contact's dad died just before I was supposed to go there. I was in the Shanghai Hilton at the time and needed help getting my paper tickets on China Southern airlines changed but the ticket counter at the airport wouldn't do it. I went back to the hotel and saw the manager in the lobby. He had cocktail hour with Diamonds so I recognized him, and asked him if he could help me. As soon as I told him what the ticket counter did, he called for his limo and told me to come with him. We went to the airport and chewed the ticket counter person's ass. They immediately fixed my tickets for me, apologized, and upgraded me. Then we went back to the hotel.
The manager didn't have to do all that - he could've probably just called them, but he did. He told me that's what he does - keep his loyal customers happy.
When I got to the Sydney Hilton I had an upgrade waiting for me - to the Presidential Suite (the whole week). I never had a bad stay or trip when staying at an international Hilton.
The one place I couldn't stay at a Hilton was in Jakarta, Indonesia. The President of the very large Indonesian bank (that had just gone public) we were working at insisted we stay at the Mandarin Oriental, and he would send an executive driver to pick us up for work and drop us back off each day, and take us anywhere we wanted in the evening. My suite was very high up, had an open-air balcony the size of a big hotel room - with bushes, a small potted tree, chaise lounges, and an outdoor table/chairs. The sitting room (by the door but not in the living quarters) had a couch, TV, table and chairs, a kitchen and bar, and the staff would bring in fruit bowls and English newspapers (multiple) daily - and refill the fruit before I got back from work if I ate any of it. That place was absolutely great.
Yes, a lot of the US “Hiltons” are dated, most have been refurbished several times. I tried to do the Bonvoy Brand but just can’t for the long haul some are extremely nice and some are a disaster. Ritz is very nice, but to pricey for me when not on the expense account.
Hilton has a good mix of rewards so I focus travel on them for the Bennie’s. It’s nice to book a standard and roll the fam into the top floor suite and all the amenities that go with status. Other brands are definitely not as generous without much larger outlays.
I've never had a bad experience at a Hampton Inn.
I'm glad to see they seem to be run by decent people.
Honestly they are the one normal Hilton brand I avoid - or at least I did when I was doing non-stop business travel. Not because they are a bad hotel (they aren't), but because they are geared (and priced) towards families. If I'm on a business trip I'm already tired when I get off work, I'm not home so everything is different, I have "homework" to do, and the last thing I need is kids running up and down the hall laughing and screaming - and usually dripping wet from the pool.
The Hilton Garden Inn hotels are a step up in quality and price - usually with less noise. I still preferred the Embassy Suites, DoubleTree, or the Homewood Suites if I was staying more than a week.
If I was going overseas the customer always expected us to stay in a good, internationally-recognized, and safe hotel so I always stayed at a Hilton so I could get the upgrade (I was Diamond).
Notice I said "normal brand" at the top. I don't count the newer "trendy/woke/millennial" hotels.
YMMV
I prefer the “Hilton” not the brand hotels. I agree with you on the Hampton Inn, I have stayed at a few and most are sub par, but clean. The Embassy and Gardens are decent. Conrad would be proud of this move!
I always found most US Hiltons to be older - not up to date with the times, though I did really like the executive lounges.
The overseas Hiltons I stayed at (Sydney, Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo, Dubai, and a bunch throughout Europe) were much nicer and they really treated Diamond members well. Once I was on a really long Asian trip that included a week in Sydney in the middle of the trip. Unfortunately my contact's dad died just before I was supposed to go there. I was in the Shanghai Hilton at the time and needed help getting my paper tickets on China Southern airlines changed but the ticket counter at the airport wouldn't do it. I went back to the hotel and saw the manager in the lobby. He had cocktail hour with Diamonds so I recognized him, and asked him if he could help me. As soon as I told him what the ticket counter did, he called for his limo and told me to come with him. We went to the airport and chewed the ticket counter person's ass. They immediately fixed my tickets for me, apologized, and upgraded me. Then we went back to the hotel.
The manager didn't have to do all that - he could've probably just called them, but he did. He told me that's what he does - keep his loyal customers happy.
When I got to the Sydney Hilton I had an upgrade waiting for me - to the Presidential Suite (the whole week). I never had a bad stay or trip when staying at an international Hilton.
The one place I couldn't stay at a Hilton was in Jakarta, Indonesia. The President of the very large Indonesian bank (that had just gone public) we were working at insisted we stay at the Mandarin Oriental, and he would send an executive driver to pick us up for work and drop us back off each day, and take us anywhere we wanted in the evening. My suite was very high up, had an open-air balcony the size of a big hotel room - with bushes, a small potted tree, chaise lounges, and an outdoor table/chairs. The sitting room (by the door but not in the living quarters) had a couch, TV, table and chairs, a kitchen and bar, and the staff would bring in fruit bowls and English newspapers (multiple) daily - and refill the fruit before I got back from work if I ate any of it. That place was absolutely great.
Yes, a lot of the US “Hiltons” are dated, most have been refurbished several times. I tried to do the Bonvoy Brand but just can’t for the long haul some are extremely nice and some are a disaster. Ritz is very nice, but to pricey for me when not on the expense account. Hilton has a good mix of rewards so I focus travel on them for the Bennie’s. It’s nice to book a standard and roll the fam into the top floor suite and all the amenities that go with status. Other brands are definitely not as generous without much larger outlays.