I hadn't had a vacation in a year and my favorite thing to do is to stay at an hotel in an oceanfront room. Since I didn't want to fly right now, I drove an hour away to Daytona Beach. When I found this Hilton online, I was pleasantly surprised that it had most of the amenities and room types that I like. I travel a lot, so I do my research because I am picky. To provide this review it would be easier to simply list the many frustrations. I will finish with a few positives.
- I called the front desk around midnight to avoid disrupting them when busy. I had specific questions that could only be addressed by onsite staff – or so I thought. I wanted to know the difference between the different towers and room types. There was not enough information online to make a good decision. They offered a room upgrade for $58 but there was no information on what you received for it. I asked the front desk clerk for more information and she couldn’t help. She said she had only received training when she was hired two years ago. Interesting that she shared that with me and that she had such a lack of understanding of the rooms. Pretty basic if you work at the front desk.
-I had also called the front desk the day before about something and mentioned “oh you have a spa” as it surprised me. And the lady said, “oh yes”. I found out after I booked the room that there was no longer a spa. One post online said it was closing in two days. I figured I could get in on the last day. Then I saw online that it had been closed since Covid. The latter was correct. However, you will see references to the spa (6 years later) on signs near the elevator re: spa.
-Valet was $50 a night. I’m used to the high price but not for this quality of a hotel.
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-While checking in the front desk clerk was kind enough to give me what he thought would be a better room. Even after all my research I still wasn’t clear on the different options with towers, ocean views/fronts, package deals, etc. When he changed my room, I no longer had free breakfast nor an ocean front room. It had an ocean view and was a bigger room but that wasn’t what I wanted. Remember I love an ocean front room so I can look and hear it while in bed.
--By 4 pm we really wanted to find someplace to sit for a drink as we missed pool time due to a business call. This hotel is pretty big, and we were directed inaccurately by the staff on where the pool bar was or any bar. They didn’t know their hotel either.
-Finally we stumbled on a bar/restaurant (Hyde Park) right at the elevator where we started our search. Lovely bar area. Restaurant wasn’t opened yet. One waiter could not be friendly and the other, Chris, was great. I decided to forgo our later dinner reservations to get the two-course happy hour deal. I thought the two-course idea was great. I started with the onion soup. Delicious. I was so full I asked to cancel the Chicken Milanese. I had planned to take that part of the meal to go when I ordered it. I was told it was too late to cancel it. That was fine but it took forever to get any waiter’s attention to get the meal. It couldn’t have already started to cook when I asked to cancel it as it took too long to get unless it sat under the heat lamps a long time. When I finally tried to eat it later it was absolutely disgusting. I threw it all away. It had a weird flavor and did not come with a sauce and only included three asparagus. No pasta or anything else.
-There are two pools there. One is laid out like it’s hidden (weird) and there is a wall, so you can’t see the ocean. The main pool was closed. I spent the next day at the isolated hidden pool. It was so old and moldy it was disgusting. Not sure how it passes any sanitation reviews.
-We had planned to watch a NBA playoff game in our room. As you can imagine we were shocked to learn there was no smart TV nor any USB ports. I couldn’t use one of my medical devices and had to share the cables with plugs we had. I called the front desk to find out if any of the bars would be airing the playoff games. She offered to put me on hold and find out. She came back on the phone and said, “yes at Don Rico’s”. Great. We go to the bar and sit and order drinks. Come to find out they had a TV issue, and the game was not on. I spent $25 on a short but delicious margarita. I could have stayed in our room and enjoyed my free wine. We ended up huddled around my phone to watch the game. Pretty pitiful.
-In our room one phone didn’t work and when I got out of shower and grabbed the towel bar it completely broke off. Extremely dangerous for a 65-year-old woman with two knee replacements. I shouldn’t have used the towel bar, but I didn’t realize how deep the shower/tub was and needed to grab something quickly.
-I went downstairs and asked the front desk respectfully asked to speak to a supervisor. It was quiet so I thought it was a good time to share my feedback. Erron, supervisor, listened while he kept looking at his watch and the surroundings. No eye contact. No apology or interest in what I was saying. He even showed no concern when I mentioned the shower incident. I guess they have great insurance. I did mention as a side note that valet (which I know is often outsourced) was expensive for that hotel. He said that was out of their hands. I replied, “I understand but it’s part of the Hilton experience.” He ignored that comment. Overall, he was “polite” enough and finished our conversation by handing me two free breakfast coupons. I wasn’t looking for anything but did think it was pitiful considering my input. I would have preferred some level of concern shown instead. I went to the restaurant, and the very unpleasant manager (Nicole) said it was still open. Since all I really wanted was coffee at that point I asked if I could simply get coffee. She said, I couldn’t and pointed me across the hall to a coffee shop. Come to find out later from someone who works with Nicole that my assessment of her was right on target from the staff’s perspective as well.
-Two out of the four elevators in main building didn’t work with no notice indicating they were out of service.
For the positives:
-Bell service was great! When checking in the first bell man provided information that was helpful as a new guest. Even in very nice hotels they usually don’t do that.
-Lunch at Don Rico’s was good. Fabulous chicken mango sandwich. French fries were perfect. All fresh. Servers Predrena (sp) and Anthony were outstanding.
Sadly, my first little getaway in a year was a major disappointment and clearly this hotel didn’t care. My first and last visit.
