We live locally and choose to do a “staycation” once a month or so all year long in the tourist areas. This time (in mid- October) we chose this Hilton hotel to enjoy the pool and any nearby restaurants/attractions. I rarely stay with Hilton, almost never timeshares, but we got a new Hilton Aspire card and will soon have a whole lot of points to spend at their hotels. However, I paid for the booking online, without points, and they offered early check in, if available, as well as late checkout, also if available.
When we arrived I noticed the lobby was empty except 3-4 staff. I probably should’ve chosen a different hotel because when I asked if we could checked in early, we were told this hotel “is different.” I wasn’t sure what that meant other than it’s not like other Hilton’s and they will always just say it’s not available. Well, they still took our information and said a text would be sent when the room was ready and we could come back and get the room key then. We still had to go to a different desk with a different staff person to pay for our parking in the garage. I learned this process is to put the sales pressure on for timeshare vacations of which I politely declined. Still, they kept texting us saying we were confirmed for a 10:00 for a presentation and then kept calling us from 9 am that morning. We never agreed to this.
We went to their restaurant by the pool and ate lunch. It was good, cooked fresh to order, and the waiter was very good with topping off the drinks.
Of course, we didn’t get early check in. Take note: their check out is 10:00 am. I have never heard of a check out that early !
The text that our room was ready came close to 4 pm. But I was surprised I had to wait in the line again, and this time they had 7 or 8 people lined up. It wasn’t the same person that checked me in, and even though I had my phone that they texted me, I had to have a picture ID to get the key. I had to go back to my husband at the restaurant and get it. They had to repeat the whole check in AGAIN. I expressed that I was unhappy as we already checked in, but she didn’t pay any attention. I got the room keys finally. Rechecking in again took another 10-15 minutes, so plan on minimum of 20-30 minutes for their check in if they don’t give you the keys the first time.
Mid- October is not their busy season. The check in process needs work. Just give me the parking pass at the same time too. Let people check in early, as there was no reason for not doing this- they weren’t sold out so the room went unused when we would’ve like to have had access to it.
We each received a paper coupon for a “free bottle of water or cup of coffee” from the small gift shop. I did not like this gift shop because none of the merchandise had prices - you had to ask. The manager said it was a “corporate thing.”There were a couple of t-shirts I liked, but I felt like they make the prices what they want, so I wasn’t going to be ripped off. Besides they had 1 person checking people out with 2 staff just talking to each other, so I tried to get my water but decided to come back. Went back later, still one person working and took 10 minutes to get a bottle of water. (The next day I went in to get coffee and never got it. 2 people ahead of me and the cashier took more than 10 minutes to check them out. I was done with this place!)
The 1 bedroom with a patio was very nice. It was clean and comfortable and only a 5 minute walk to pool. I did as they instructed and called right at 4 PM to see see if I could check out late the next day. I was able to get a noon checkout time “as a courtesy.”
There were plenty of chairs in the main area, but a number of umbrellas and lounges really close to the main pool were reserved with cards that had the last names of people who must have paid extra for this, but 20 or so went unclaimed the entire time.
The gift stop needs competent and quick staff. Put coffee somewhere else in the hotel. It took way too long to get service and this little store is cluttered. I left without my coffee and on my way home we stopped at Starbucks.
It has a timeshare feel to it. It has really nice pools/hot tubs, but there is not much there to justify the resort fee.
It’s an ok place. But I left very underwhelmed, and disappointed with Hilton that I feel lacked value, and next month I will look at the Disney hotels, or Marriott and Wyndham, for sure. They do much better. I’m not regretting getting this new Aspire card - because maybe the “different” that I was warned about from the beginning, could turn out to be a good thing.
