Is $40 Worth Missing Out on 1,750 Points?

Over Martin Luther King Weekend, I am taking a little trip south. The sole purpose of the trip is to use my 2 free Hilton night certificates that were expiring from my Hilton Citi card.

My free night certificates cover the first 2 nights of the trip leaving me to pay 1 night out of pocket. The cost of the 3rd night is about $175. On Saturday and Sunday, the cost of the room was about $250 a night, not a bad use of the certificates. My dilemma is how to pay for the 3rd night at the hotel.

My choices are my JetBlue American Express and Citi Hilton Hhonors Reserve Card.

You may be wondering my JetBlue American Express card. Its an odd choice. American Express has a great promotion known as AMEX Sync, which offers cash off at particular merchants if you spend $Xs. One of my offers is $40 off if I spend $175 at a Doubletree.

Since my stay is at a DoubleTree, this is a great time to use this offer. The downside of using my JetBlue AMEX is that I won't earn HHonor points for the money put on the credit card.

On the other hand, if I use the Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve card, I will earn Hilton points on my credit card spend for the hotel night. With the Reserve card earns 10 points per $1 spent at the Hilton portfolio.

My $175 hotel room with earn me 1,750 points. However, by using my Reserve card, I lose out on the $40 savings from AMEX.

Therefore, I ask...$40 or 1,750 Hilton Honors points? Which one would you choose?
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Average Hotel Room That Deserves 5 Stars

On our trip to Colorado Springs, Chris and I decided to stay at the Doubletree and not at the conference hotel, Cheyenne Mountain Resort. Looking back, we probably should have stayed at the hotel and saved us late night car rides back to the hotel

The Doubletree is located right off the exit for 25, which one takes from the airport and sandwiched between many big box stores. It’s a fairly large hotel.

The weekend, we were in Colorado Springs, happened to be the beginning of the Wounded Warrior games. It is a great event and one can learn more here.

The Doubletree happened to be one of the hotels that hosted families of the athletes participating in the games. Therefore, the hotel was crowded and had tons of activity in its lobby with various representatives of Veteran’s organizations having booths.

The hotel has two shuttles that pick-up and drop off to the airport.

Due to the large number of people coming in for the games, both shuttles were in use. Chris and I got a rental car for the weekend, but its nice to know that option was available, because the airport is about a 15 minute drive from the hotel. From what I saw, both drivers brought bottle water and the famous cookies for people to snack on in the vans. I don’t know if this is a normal occurrence or special for this weekend.

We check-in slightly after 2pm on a Friday. The check-in process took longer than expected because they were so crowded and many rooms were not cleaned. As we waited, the line behind us started to grow to almost 10 people waiting to check-in. Out of nowhere, three additional staff members came to check people in. To help the process, one employee went to those waiting in line to get their names and get the keys to their rooms ready before they reach the check-in line. This proactive service was something I saw all weekend with the staff at the Doubletree. We came back to the lobby 15 minutes after we check-in to leave for the conference and the line was gone…so their system must have worked.

Our room was on the 5th floor and had two double beds:

As you cans see the hotel room was average: a good sized TV, large desk, two comfy beds, and plenty of easy to reach electrical outlets. The room served its purpose, a place to sleep, shower, and dress. What more could one ask? The refrigerator and microwave were nice touches, but we did not use either.

Another major plus was the glass door. The hotel is located right next to a major road, but we never heard the noise. At night, I heard nothing except the sound of Chris snoring. The immediate view was less than desirable.

But step out on the balcony and look left and all I can say is WOW!

Yes, this view amazed me. I am a city boy, so we don’t get these views from a hotel balcony. Both Chris and I were awed just looking up to the sky and seeing the stars. It’s the little things that amaze us.

As Gold members in Hilton's loyalty program, we got two bottles of water and daily breakfast buffet in the hotel restaurant:

The buffet consist of hot and cold items:

The food was average and not very good. However, they had a wide choice of food which was appreciated. 

Right off the lobby was a business center with a Mac computer, 2 PCs, a printer and fax machine:

Keri from Heels First Travel, who stayed at the hotel, mentioned that their was a pool, but it was closed for renovations.

Why might you ask that I gave this average hotel 5 stars? The answer can not be shown in pictures: it was the service. The staff at the Doubletree was amazing. Absolutely, amazing. The hotel was extremely full which normally would throw staffs off their game. However, many of the guests staying this weekend had special needs. From those checking guests in and those working the restaurant, the staff went above an upon the call of duty to help everyone. For example, one morning, I saw a staff person help a blind gentlemen food from the buffet. Another time, we saw a staff member give a dog bone to a service dog.  

On top of that, every single staff person I interacted with greeted me with a hello and smile. The hotel had a warm feeling throughout. Even thought, it was an average product, the staff made it feel like a 5 Star Hotel.

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DoubleTree Introduces New Social "DTour" Platform - Offers A Trip Around the World

The DoubleTree brand of Hilton has launched a new platform on YouTube called, "DTour."  The new page is new social way to plan your next vacation. The page has a map that features DoubleTree properties all around the world and it has videos associated with certain properties.

It also features tips and videos that are submitted by users around those properties. The goal of the "DTour" program is to help you plan your next vacation by knowing what there is to do in any location around the world. The feedback of what you should do, where you should eat, or where you should stay will come from users who will submit their own tips or videos on the subject.

I personally think this is a great way to move into the "social" aspect of travel and move just beyond the typical TripAdvisor report of an area. We know that people are more likely to go to visit a certain place, restaurant or stay in a certain hotel if they can get a recommendation from someone who has gone there before and has a good review of the place. Bringing this "social recommendation"element of travel planning and conveniently featuring DoubleTree locations nearby is a great look at the future of the use of social media and social platforms by hotel brands. They don't just view their customers as looking for a place to stay, instead they want them to be social and to view the hotel as a means to their vacation, not the end goal.

As a part of the launch of the "DTour" program DoubleTree is giving away six (6) around the world trips to those that submit a video of a vacation they loved on their "DTour" page on YouTube.

Would you ever consider looking at something like this to plan your trip? Or would you rather go the traditional planning route?


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DoubleTree Campbell Center Dallas, Tx

At the end of January I traveled to Dallas, Texas for a few days of work meetings and stayed two nights at at the DoubleTree Campbell Center. The hotel is located on the north east side of Dallas and is close to the NorthPark Center shopping mall and has a hotel shuttle that will take you anywhere within a three-mile radius.

I arrived after a bumpy flight in from DC and an even bumpier taxi ride with the craziest driver I have ever seen. There was one moment when we were in the far left lane, the next moment using the exit ramp on the right side to bypass traffic. But all that stress ended when I arrived at the DoubleTree. I was warmly greeted at the desk and given a delicious cookie (as always) and was given a corner king room on the top floor.

The lobby of the hotel is very Texas. Country music was playing (which I was OK with) and there was rustic looking wood floors all over and lots of big leather chairs in the lobby. The wood flooring extended to the elevators.

It looks like the latest updates to the property were to the lobby area because the room seemed kind of dated to me. But I was surprised to see that it was a very big room on the corner of the hotel that faced downtown Dallas. The room had floor to ceiling windows and gave me four windows to look out of.

When you walked into the room there was an open closet and then the bathroom which was a light stone color and was very simple.

When you walk into the main room the bed is on the left and has a full view of all of the windows, which was pretty cool to wake up to.

Bed 

In front of the bed is a nice big arm chair and to the right of that is a desk with chair.

Arm Chair and Desk Chair 

 Next to the desk is a dresser with a nice flat screen TV on top. Then next to that was a fridge and a coffee maker which I took full advantage of in the morning.

Desk, TV and Coffee Maker

 The room overall was very nice and nothing to complain about, until I tried to go to sleep later that night when I noticed that the deadbolt was missing a piece and so I couldn't fully lock the door. By this time it was late, I was exhausted and needed sleep so I just locked the other deadbolt and put a chair by the door (I know, that wouldn't have worked). I reported the problem the next morning and it was fixed by the time I got back and I had a message apologizing for the problem.

The best part of this hotel is the staff. They were always so nice when I needed something and they were always willing to fire up the hotel shuttle to take me to work and dinner every night. They also have great recommendations for restaurants in the area so be sure to take advantage of that! This was the perfect business hotel and I would stay here again in a heartbeat.





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European Holiday: Is it a Queen or a Double Bed? The DoubleTree Westminster

Introduction 
DCA - JFK
Radisson Martinique on Broadway 

JFK - Milan Maplensa 

Lake Como and Dinner in Milan

Park Hyatt Zurich

Zurich (Uetilberg Look Out and Lake Zurich Cruise)

Intercontinental Geneva  

Is it a Queen or a Double Bed? The DoubleTree Westminster  

The Hyatt Regency - The Churchill

First Time in First: AA LHR - JFK

After an eventful trip to the Geneva airport where our cab was almost driven off the road by someone merging without looking and an EasyJet flight where no one on the plane abided by the seat belt sign, electronics off during take-off or seat backs and tray tables up we finally landed at London Gatwick.

After clearing immigration and customs we followed the signs for the Gatwick Express we boarded the train for the 45 minute trip into London. The trip ended up being around an hour because of track work that was being conducted near London Victoria where the train terminates. We then hopped on the Victoria Line of the London Underground and got off at Pimlico and walked to our hotel for the night, The DoubleTree Westminster.

The hotel is just a short 10 minute walk to Parliament and about a 20 minute walk to the West End of London so it is a great location if you want to be close to the action but not pay the ridiculously expensive prices of a West End hotel. We were able to get the £40 a night because of a half off promotion that Hilton was running at the time.

When you arrive you can tell that the hotel is relatively new, it had a very modern feel to it and modern furniture to match. We went to check-in but as it was around 9:00 AM we fully planned on dropping our bags and heading out to explore till a room was available. The woman checking us in was wonderful and so kind. She indicated that we had been upgraded because of our Hilton Gold status to one of her favorite rooms in the hotel on the executive floor, but it was not ready yet. We asked about possibly having a room with a view of the Thames as the hotel was only a half block or so away. The woman said she would put a room on hold for us, but she didn't know if we would actually want to switch since the room we had was a very nice room. So we told her not to bother and we would take the original room...more on that later.

So we dropped our bags and headed out for a nice walk until our room was ready. We headed down Milbank Street until we reached the Houses of Parliament and then walked down Whitehall to St. James' Park up to Buckingham Palace and then to Green Park to hop on a number nine bus to Hyde Park to visit my absolute favorite pub, The Queens Arms (Which I've Written About Previously).

Elizabeth Tower and The London Eye

Sir Winston keeping watch

Aspall Cider...The Best

Beef Burger and Chips 

Classic Fish and Chips with Mushy Peas 

After taking the tube back to the hotel we were checked in by another person, who was not nearly as nice as the woman before and didn't seem to have time for us. But she indicated that we were going to be on the "Executive Floor" in a Executive Queen room which is what we had originally booked. We heded up to the 10th floor and all the way to the end of the hall and into our room. The room its self was very nice. The bathroom was a bit small and to the right when you entered. It only had a small shower and no tub, but no big deal for us. The bedroom its self had a built in closet and mini bar area against the far wall and a desk with a brand new Mac that is present in ever room in the place of an actual television. I actually liked this because it made for a big computer to surf the internet on. The one thing that I quickly noticed that the bed was not a queen bed, but instead a full bed or a double bed as it is often called. I was sure I booked a queen and looked again on my reservation to confirm. So I went down to the desk to confirm that we had not been put in the wrong room.

This is where the fun started....the man who I enquired to at the Hilton HHonors desk could not have been more rude. He didn't even look up to say hello or ask what I needed when I approached the desk. When I told him the problem he typed into his computer and said, "Nope it's a queen bed" to which I responded "I understand the computer says that, but we have a double at home and it is clearly the same size" and he responded with, "Well the computer says its a queen." and left it at that. I figured it wasn't worth my time so I headed off and tweeted at DoubleTree and Hilton's twitter accounts and got very quick responses from both of them that they could look into the problem. About 10 minutes later I had an email from someone at DoubleTree in Dallas offering to help out. We went back and forth a couple of times and he indicated that the hotel markets doubles as queens and that it was just a difference in size between the US and the UK. I can totally understand this, but when I booked online I was offered a double or a queen and I booked the queen to get a larger bed. The DoubleTree rep said the only thing they could do was put us in a king room for the night, but it would be the same sized room so it would mean less room to move around. By this point it was dinner time and I didn't feel like sitting around in the hotel and wasting the night so I thanked him and said we would just stay. Before signing off I had one final email where he indicated he would follow up with the hotel and me after our stay to figure out what went wrong with the man at the front desk.....from there I never heard from him again even after emailing him two weeks and four weeks after our stay. I didn't actually get a resolution to the situation till I mailed in the survey that Hilton sent me after the fact and they were very apologetic and offered up 30,000 Hilton HHonors points to apologize. This was WAYYYYY beyond anything I expected, but that's just another reason why I love Hilton, they always want to make it right.

"Queen" double bed

Sitting Area and Closet

Mac Computer/TV

Bathroom

Overall the hotel was a very nice hotel and I would stay there again, but this time I would know to expect a double bed. The only downside was their staff which, besides the one woman who first checked us in, were not very nice. But the location of the hotel and its proximity to some of the best attractions make it a good place to consider if you only have one or two nights.

Hotel Review: Crystal City Doubletree

My second night of my most recent mattress run landed me at the Pentagon City Doubletree. Pentagon City is located on the Blue and Yellow Line and is home to a large shopping mall. The Doubletree is located a short walk from the metro and is located on Army-Navy Drive.

The building does not scream hotel. However, there is a big oval shaped saucer on top of the building.

You will enter through the bottom level, also where the valet is located. You will need to take an escalator to the main level. When I arrived, only the down escalator was working (I questioned if this was the DC Metro - have one escalator working and have it going down???)

The check-in desk was left of the elevator. There was a short line of people waiting to check-in and only two     people manning the desk. After waiting for those in front of me, I was greeted by a young gentlemen  who could not have been nicer. He explained to me about the property (not fully - we will get to that) and handed me an envelope with my breakfast coupon and internet code.

Since this is Doubletree . . .  I also got my cookie:

Then I turned to the back of the cookie and found out it has 320+ calories . . .  ummm....no thanks, that's 30+ minutes on the elliptical.

The lobby was decorated tasteful for the holiday season.

There are plenty of places to sit and watch TV:

There is a bar in the lobby, but it was closed due to low occupancy.

The hotel has two towers: north and south. If you are going to stay here, you want to be in the North Tower, as it faces the monuments, the Potomac, and National Airport. I booked a Washington Skyline View room and was given an automatic upgrade option (at no cost) which I choose. When I get into my room, I was given a South tower room that faced apartment complexes. 

The funny thing is I have friends that live in the apartments that I saw directly out my window. Hi friends, I know you weren't home or I would have invited you offer for a drink.

                                     

I did not complain, well because I wanted to save my complaints for something that matters, and also, I needed to get to the mall to buy a few items for my Tokyo trip.

The room was decent size:

Looking at this map, I doubt I got an upgrade (maybe a higher floor upgrade):

Great sized bathroom with a huge tub!

The pool was closed due to renovations, but there was no mention of this on their website or throughout the hotel. I only found out after speaking with a hotel employee. 

                                      

I was told I could use the Embassy Suites pool, the shuttle would drop and pick me up. However, that seems like a hassle to go to another hotel for a pool. I don't blame them for the pool being closed, I just think their lack of notification was terrible (The Washington Hilton, for example  was going to have the club lounge closed for a few days in December and had that message plastered all over the reservation page notifying people of this.)

The hotel has multiple places to eat:

Supposedly, the Skydome is an amazing club/bar. I had never heard of it, but Chris's friend mentioned that he frequents this place. I did not have the proper clothes or a desire to pay a $10 cover to go up there, sorry.

As a Gold member of Hilton, I am given breakfast every morning as an amenity. My breakfast coupon was apart of my welcome package:

 The coupon says that I could either have a continental breakfast or a $13 food and beverage credit at Cafe. Cafe to Go, the Lobby Bar or Skydome. The credit can't be used for room service and must be used before the end of the stay. This is a great option for a true mattress run, no need to stay the night. However, I did and went to Cafe for breakfast.

Service was terrible. It took 5 minutes to get a table and 3/4 of the restaurant was empty (I should have know then to walk away).

After browsing the menu, I asked what a Continental Breakfast was, since it was not list. The waiter told me, "they don't have one," just choice what I wanted. I went with waffles and OJ:

 It took 30 minutes to get my food, which was hard and taste of to much vanilla. However, the bill came to $19.00 and the waiter told me I was all set. Next door to Cafe is Cafe to Go, which sells snacks and coffee.

The gym is off to the right of the reception desk. I did not get any pictures as there were tons of people working out (its the holidays people, take a break!)

 On the main level, there was computers for quick printing:

 Down the hall was a business area with multiple computers, printer, and fax:

Also, a full office with a door, if you need to fire somebody:

The hotel has a shuttle to the DCA airport (every 15 minutes) and the Pentagon city metro (every 30 minutes). You pick up the shuttle on the lower level, where you entered:

If you are going to Metro and walk, here is the easiest way to do so. (Do not follow the directions on the website, it will take you triple the time). Once you exit the metro gates, go towards your right (the left will lead you to the mall).

Once you exit, you should see a CVS, Bestbuy, Marshalls. Turn around and walk towards the metro escalator and 12th street.

                                       

Walk down 12th street (the side of the Best Buy/Marshall Building) until you hit a light. You will see a paved walkway, below:

Walk down the pathway and at the next light....the Doubletree will be at 11 O'Clock, directly behind a Verizon building. The neighborhood is safe, so walking at night is not a problem.

 Overall, this a much better hotel than the DCA Hilton. I would have my family stay at this hotel. It was clean, modern and offered many amenities. I was disappointed not to get a better upgrade or at least what I booked. If you are going to close amenities due to low occupancy, an upgrade should not be a problem. My gut is telling me I got what I paid for (cheap room $50 all-in, the staff did not want to give me an upgrade).