Hilton Hotel – Chongqing, China

Posted on Oct 15, 2016 in Accommodation

Staff are by far the best thing about the Hilton Chongqing. It’s in a strange location but not at all difficult as the metro is only a 5 minute walk. Certainly one of their older properties and even though it was obviously well built in its day, it is starting to show signs of wear.

We were warmly greeted by door staff on arrival and every time we entered/departed the building – very friendly and helpful. The same for Concierge. Check in was smooth but when we got to our room, we soon realised why the price was so low. Rooms are comfortable and clean but very tired. We were in a non-smoking room and it reeked of cigarette smoke. Halls were fine so there was no way they didn’t know there was a problem. Walls are paper thin so rooms are noisy. Floors are a timber-look laminate rather than carpet so they creak constantly which is also not great for noise when there’s more than one staying in the room. Windows are not double-glazed and street noise is excessive around 6.00am when the city is starting to move – not a problem if you’re up and out early but don’t expect a sleep in after a noisy night. Internet is almost non-existent and being an American company, they expect everyone to pay for the privilege unless you’re part of their Hilton Honours program. Being in the middle of China, I didn’t really expect too much connectivity but I find it frustrating when they advertise it as being a good service and in reality, it constantly drops in and out. We had better connections at cafes in the city.

Given the laminate floors, I asked if I could take a yoga mat from the gym to my room as the gym space wasn’t conducive to yoga but they flat out refused.

The variety of food at the breakfast buffet was fine. Quality was a little hit and miss at times and it took a long time to replenish items that were devoured by other guests. This often meant that whole stations of food were vacant for long periods of time. There were a number of lovely young staff at breakfast but this is the only place we came across a service problem. The room didn’t appear to be set up before service started – some days there were napkins on tables, other days the holders were empty. Tables weren’t cleared quickly, we had to help ourselves to coffee on a number of occasions… staff were friendly enough but there was a general air of carelessness that I expect comes from lack of training.

This is an old property and I would be surprised if it retains the Hilton brand for too much longer. We were here for business and other than that, the only reason I see for a visit to Chongqing is to hop on a Three Gorges cruise so I guess there are Hilton fans who will choose this property based on that. I’m not sure if I’ll have a need to return to Chongqing in the near future but if I do, I’ll probably choose a different property.

Visited: October 2016