Stay Report: Hilton Budapest City King Executive Suite
In the city of Budapest, the two Hilton properties varies quiet drastically in terms of standards and attention to details, so after an impressive stay with Hilton Budapest, I decided to give this property a try. Before my arrival, I've already had some concerns regarding what I will be getting. Upon browsing their website pictures, I've noticed the relatively old-fashioned design and furnishings, however, unlike Hilton Budapest, the Hilton Budapest city is quiet generous in terms of suite upgrades. I've noticed the upgrade in the Hilton App to a King Executive Suite a few days before my stay.
The property is located right next to a huge shopping mall in the city centre of Budapest. I suppose they are focusing on the business travellers here. Here's some information regarding my stay:
Hilton Honors Status: Diamond
Original booked room: King Deluxe Room
Upgrade to: King Executive Suite
Floor Level: Three
Booking: Hilton App
Stay: One Night
Check In:
It's conveniently accessible by taxi and other types of transportation to this property and to my surprise, during my 3PM check in, there were roughly five people waiting to be checked in and the three agents were working diligently.
However, it seemed to me that each of those guests were taking surprisingly a long time since both the agent and the guests had a lot of Q&A sessions. I deiced to take the elevator to check in at the executive lounge. Unfortunately, their elevators require a keycard to operate, so I kindly asked the valet in the lobby to help me access the elevator to the top floor.
What I didn't realised was that their executive lounge does not has an agent manned at the desk at all time and the only person in the lounge was in a mood to make me feel inferior to her as I do not have a keycard to access the lounge. So after I sent her a signal though the window glass door. She opened the door in disbelief and told me:" You need to have access to be here." Seeing there was no staff in the lounge at all. I complied with taking the elevator back down to the lobby again.
The public area in floor level three.
I thought the line would disappear when I get down there, however, the same person are still there, I can assure you that it has been more than ten minutes after my lounge checkin to no lounge checkin rollercoaster experience. I started to wonder if there are some technical issues with their computer system.
After waiting anxiously for another fifteen minutes, it was finally my turn. It was a smooth check-in experience with (probably) the help of me preselecting the room in the Hilton App. She was professional and well-behaved on informing some information and after a few seconds, I was handed with a pair of room keys and headed to my suite.
The room:
The room itself is large and with a straight forward layout design which clearly used two standard guest room to constitute the suite.
With such abundant space, the shortcoming with their conventional furnishing design was ever more obvious. The living room looked sketchily furnished. With the single sofa around the corner, it does not set an inviting vibe to residents who could be planning to entertain guests here.
The bedroom area looked more thoughtfully furnished, with the big closet and king size bed, as well as the fact that you can move the TV closer to you with the adjustable handle system installed in the back of it.
The desk was large and the mini bar was conveniently located, things were not cramped into each other but rather sparsely placed there.
The minibar selection was well-stocked, both with quality and varieties, however, they seemed to forgot to include the two complimentary bottled water for Hilton members. Since I doubt they would serve Evian to everyone, after rang up the service center, it was quickly delivered. (not Evian)
Bathrobes and ironing kits in the closet.
The view outside wasn't exactly breathtaking compared to the other Hilton property in town, the traffic down the road was been busy day and night.
The Bathroom:
The shower amenities in the bathroom.
The bathroom has to be the only thing I could consider to be Hilton standards at this property. From the bathtub and shower separation as well as the well placed bathroom amenities. Although the suite did not feature a guest bathroom, it was on par with the attention to detail I was looking for.
Other Amenities:
The executive lounge is indeed primitive, with some sunlight shine right into the seating area, it really isn't somewhere comfortable to sit at during an afternoon where the sun is shining fiercely. I didn't get a chance to try their happy hour. I believe they do have a decent spread although the physical environment might be a little off.
There is a what looks like a newly renovated gym facility at the hotel right next to the executive lounge, I was so bumped out about some of their services that I just thought of dropping the idea of writing a review on this unimpressive property, as a result, I did not take any pictures of anything other than the suite I was staying at.
However, as I am typing this review at home, I figured this is exactly the purpose of this website - to tell both the good and bad of my personal experience with hotels and airlines, thus in the future, I assure you that I will give you the 100% experience of each hotel property and airline carrier I encounter.
Bottom Line:
Check In Experience: 5.8/10
Mainly due to the long waiting in line, also due to the fact that lounge check in was unavailable.
Status Recognition: 7.8/10
Very well-received. However, there was no recognition during breakfast.
Staff Experience: 8.1/10
Professional and always response within an acceptable time frame, the young lady working in the lounge spent five minutes of her personal time to cut a kiwi into pieces with a fork for me.
Room Experience: 5.8/10
Spacious but lack comfort and atmosphere.
Overall: 6.87/10
I wouldn't recommend this property unless you have some important business in the city, if you are here for leisure purposes, definitely stay at the other one as this property is more business-travellers-oriented.
