DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Alice Springs — Hotel in Desert Springs

We were very disappointed with this hotel having booked two nights in a 'Deluxe King Room with Mountain View' and paying more than we had for any other hotel on our road trip from Darwin to Alice Springs. We were very much looking forward to this at the end of our long journey. To our disappointment we were assigned Room 261 which was on an corner of the building such that our view did not have a mountain in sight - just many palm trees and the adjoining wall of the hotel as it turned a corner was our view. We went straight back to reception and pointed out we seemed to have been given the wrong room only to be told, more than once, that Room 261 is designated a 'Mountain View Room'. We asked for a refund in the difference between the extra we'd paid but were told they couldn't do that as it was designated a Mountain VIew Room. We mentioned this again at checkout and were told we should have mentioned this at checkin as they've have moved us. We pointed out that we had and they hadn't moved us. We were told that all we could do was give feedback online as they couldn't refund us the extra we'd paid for for the non mountain view. ||Breakfast was also disappointing in that both days the bacon was served cold - not lukewarm but cold. The potatoes were also cold. Cold potato slices the first day and cold hash browns which were all cold crisp exterior and no potato the second day.||On the plus side the room was nice - good, king size comfortable bed with nice lighting in the room. Sockets either side for charging phones, etc. The bathroom for clean with decent towels and toiletries but curiously the toilet was very high. Too high to reach the floor with your feet except on tiptoe when sitting down. Quite odd.||The lobby area was very vacuous with little charm. The restaurant, where we only ate breakfast, was essentially in a draughty corridor area. There was another restaurant called Hanuman which reception were keen to tell us did not belong to them but to a third party. We did eat there and found it was owned by the Crowne Plaza hotel next door. ||The pool looked pleasant although we didn't use it. The car park was secure although in a bit of a building site at the side of the hotel.||There was a laundry which was payable by card - $8.30 for the washer and same for the tumble drier. Plus washing powder was available to buy at reception. ||We were planning to return to Alice Springs a week later after our trip to Kings Canyon and Uluru but had such a poor experience at the Doubletree that we booked a different (and better/cheaper) hotel for our...

We have stayed here multiple times over the last decade. tl;dr: Rooms are nice, property looks tired, you’re not near the civil unrest.

The room updates since we last visited in 2019 are nice. The common areas received an update as well, and while you can tell it was an older property that got updated (much like other Doubletrees in the US of this vintage) it is overall nice. However, the AC would not cool below 20, even though we set it to 18.5. We ended up sleeping with the sliding glass door open to cool the room. Outside temperature during the day was 25, so there’s no reason, other than they want to be cheap, that the AC could not have cooled to that temperature. Lastly, the 120v outlets in the bathroom don’t work — or never have in any room we’ve stayed in.

As others have stated, the grounds are very sad. It shows the remnants of a once resort-style property that needs serious investment. The pool heater was inoperative (we knew before we arrived) but the spa was still functioning. The pool bar — in the 4 times I’ve been here since 2016 — was still not open.

They have made cutbacks since our last visit in 2019 that were noticeable. As a diamond, we received chocolates and wine in our room each prior time. This time there was nothing. In fact, at breakfast this morning we were told the diamond benefit also does not include any hot items, including eggs, from the buffet. It’s clearly self policing, but the differentiation shows an intent to “nickel and dime” rather than provide value for Hilton’s top loyalty tier.

The gate entry is terribly placed as others have noted. They should fix that.

We found only nice and polite staff here, and were greeted by housekeeping and maintenance when we passed in the halls.

The civil unrest is mostly happening downtown from what we saw prior to our visit. We went to ANZAC Hill and saw nothing scary even after dark. I was not concerned for my safety at the property or elsewhere in Alice Springs, but did not go out at night, either.

This property has so much more resort potential than what it lives up to, which is disappointing. But I will return without hesitation should I decide to visit Alice Springs again.

(Hanuman is owned and operated by a different company, from best I can tell. Reviews for it don’t...

I have down allergies. Despite giving the hotel advanced warning of my allergies and requesting non-down bedding (which was clearly shown on the confirmation paperwork), the bedding was down.

1. After asking for the bedding to be replaced...they did replace the pillows, but, the next morning, we discovered they had left the the down comforter.
2. At his point we asked for the comforter to be replaced and for the room to be vaccumed. This took three hours. Yet, I was still nasally clogged and developed a chest cough. Why? 3)Because later that evening (this is the now the second night of a two night stay) we discovered that the original down pillows had been shoved in the closet.

Needless to say I was miserable the entire stay. I'll admit I after this third incident I carried the down pillows to the lobby and threw them at the night manager (underhanded, mind you, not a full throw).

My wife has a serious onion allergy - as in keep the epi-pen handy serious. At Saltbush:

1. Her first salad came with onions. 2)Her second salad came with onions. 3)Her third salad came with onions, but, this time, under the cheese. 4)Her fourth salad never made it to the table as the waiter realized it had onions. 5)The fifth salad was safe to eat. By then my father and I had finished out respective meals.

Based on the above, I'd give this hotel one star. Literally endangering the health of your customers is just not the way to run a hotel. Both of the lists above should have been taken care of at item 1.

The second star is given because the Hanuman restaurant was amazing, and served the best curry I have ever had. Also, the peacock wandering the grounds is pretty neat.

I shall sum up my feelings as follows. My wife teases me because I take take pictures of the exterior facade, lobby and our room of every hotel we stay at. Except for here. Lots of pictures of the peacock, nothing of the actual hotel - for the first time in ten years. In fact, my memory keeps trying to place the peacock and Hanuman in the hotel we stayed...