Anita K.
Yelp
The last time I stayed at the Hilton, I was about 8 years old. When you're 8, any hotel that has a pool is super-impressive.
27 years later (you do the maths!), and I was keen to see what my adult experience would be like.
We had a package which included valet parking, so we pulled in amongst the melee that was half-a-dozen cars packed into the slip lane out the front of the hotel. Lots of people, lots of cars but surprisingly the valet attendants were very prompt and super fast to book my car in.
Check in, again, was super fast and uncomplicated. Very direct and efficient, however they gave me the level we were staying on but not the room. Perhaps not the be all and end all of check in, but it would save frantic searching on the check in slip as to what room we were in.
The room itself was a King Deluxe. It was clean, and neat. Not huge, but for one night in town we didn't need anything palatial. The minibar was neatly tucked away, and as per usual highly priced. We were lucky to grab a bottle of bubbly as part of our deal and this was delivered to us within 15 minutes of checking in, along with 2 champagne flutes. Again, very prompt and friendly service.
We spent the evening out on the town, and therefore did not dine in. However, we did avail ourselves of the buffet breakfast at The Brasserie in the morning. Highly popular on a Sunday morning, we had a 10 minute wait for a table. This wasn't a huge problem, however the conduct of some of our fellow guests were. Specifically, their children, who some parents seemed to have no problem allowing to roam free-range around the restaurant. Now I am the mother of a 6 year old, so I know that kids can be difficult to keep still for more than 5 seconds, let alone 5 minutes. However, I do believe that if you are taking your children to such a restaurant, you should exercise some restraint with them. Pushing in at the hot buffet and helping themselves in front of you is not only bad manners on the child's part, but moreso on the parent's! The same goes for putting hands over food, and running in front of people with hot beverages - both things that I saw more than once. It doesn't take much to keep your kids in check. And if you can't, then don't frequent these places! That aside, the breakfast was decent buffet fair. There is the option to order some items fresh, and if you don't mind paying the (considerable) extra, you can have a freshly brewed coffee.
Check out on a Sunday morning is somewhat fraught with danger. People everywhere, and much pushing and shoving. A lot of unfortunate staring too by some clientele (mind you, we do look a little out of the ordinary). Amazingly the staff remain cool and calm under pressure, and are quick to process check outs.
Picking up our car was fairly simple (ringing through 15 mins before we checked out). However, there was a traffic jam in leaving, as someone parked at the front of the queue had obviously ordered their car and not bothered to collect it. Again, the staff jumped into action, and moved the offending vehicle.
I am an Adelaide local, so I didn't have to ask for recommendations, but by reading through some people's reviews it appears some of the staff are light on for local knowledge. Perhaps the hotel should invest a bit of time in bringing them up to speed, since this is an internationally renowned hotel chain.
All in all, an okay stay at the Hilton. The staff are definitely friendly, and I couldn't fault them at any stage. However, the clientele did put me off a little (no fault of the hotel of course). Not sure I'd go the distance again on this one.