Hilton Helsinki Airport — Hotel in Helsinki sub-region

I stayed at Hilton Helsinki airport in the past and often found it to be a solid airport hotel. In general I also like to mix things up and explore other properties from time to time, so I briefly considered booking a night at GLO hotel instead. However once I saw the higher rates at GLO combined with the fact that rooms are much smaller, I decided to play it safe and return to Hilton again and had another pleasant stay.

Hilton is not directly linked to the airport and requires a walk outdoors. That said the walk is quite short so even with heavy suitcases I never found it to be a major negative, and when weather is cold thankfully we don’t freeze outside for too long. Nonetheless GLO is within the airport terminal so its location cannot be beat and is probably one of the reasons why they command a price premium over Hilton.

One of Hilton’s weaknesses is that room upgrades are hard to come by, not because suites are not available but simply because the hotel is not overly eager to upgrade Diamonds. However for a quick night before a flight it is rarely a big issue for me so I never pressed the issue hard especially since basic rooms are reasonably nice.

For my latest stay I was originally upgraded to an executive room which probably does not mean much if at all, considering that as Diamond I would get lounge access anyway. I asked at check-in if something better would be available and I was given an upgrade to Exec Plus which is listed as 38 sqm instead of the regular exec rooms which are 28 sqm so in this case the upgrade was worth something.

The Exec Plus room was as nice as the smaller version of the rooms where I stayed before thanks to hardwood floors instead of carpet which is a plus, also the bathroom had a stand-alone shower in addition to the separate tub which I appreciated. The bathroom also had heated floors which is great in Finland’s climate, and best of all, it had a sauna. Many of Helsinki’s finest hotels in the city don’t even have private saunas in the rooms but a Hilton at the airport does – it further shows how above average this hotel is for airport hotel standards.

The executive lounge is fine but I mostly enjoy it during non-happy hour times when I want to spend some time away from my room while waiting for my flight. The décor is nice and comfortable, however the snacks in the evening are entirely forgettable with mostly fried stuff and some veggies plus sweets. The drinks were ok because there was sparkling wine and some liquor, rather than being limited to only beer and wine.

Overall Hilton HEL is a good airport hotel which rarely disappoints except if someone expects a large suite upgrade as Diamond. However the alternative GLO hotel has tiny rooms less than half the size of the standard rooms at Hilton and GLO’s biggest room is only 23 sqm so even with the best possible upgrade at GLO it’s still not going to give more space than Hilton without an upgrade so I will continue to remain loyal to Hilton...

I stayed at this property multiple times in the past, usually before taking a return transatlantic flight to the U.S. I remember cozy rooms with plush pillows and both the supple breakfast and inventive dinner dishes.

Prompted by a sudden change of plans, I didn't hesitate to book a connecting flight on Finnair with an overnight connection, and reserved a room at this Hilton. Upon my already delayed arrival just before midnight I was greeted by a line at check-in of at least 20, maybe 30 travelers, and soon enough the line ballooned to 50 or more. This was the aftermath of Crowdstrike software update taking out computer systems around the world and the hotel was brutally affected. However Crowdstrike happened on a Friday morning and this was Saturday just before midnight Sunday, so the mess had been going on for 36+ hours and the hotel only had two staff to deal with irate travelers?

Front-desk staff ended up manually assigning rooms by requesting to see a traveler's own confirmation of their reservation, the hotel had no access to Hilton's central reservation system these 36+ hours after the mess had started. Sometime during my post-midnight wait to check in a supervisor arrived, Miret, and she was instrumental in getting things to move faster; the total time in the check-in line for me was almost exactly 1 hour and I got about 4 hours of sleep.

The hotel, however, did have access to the payment system and didn't hesitate to charge travelers for the full amount owed (copied from the traveler's own record of her reservation). Revenue comes first, all other things later, eh? Fortunately when I got to the assigned room, there was no one already sleeping in it. Breakfast was ready at an early morning hour and was plentiful, varied, and satisfying as usual. A week passed since my stay and I received neither a receipt nor Honors points for the stay, and the hotel isn't answering the phone!

I sure hope this disruption can be put behind all of us and am looking forward to the same Finnish hospitality I retained...

staff was unhelpful, we travelled internationally into Helsinki with 4 large luggages. When we asked whether they have luggage service we were told they are “very busy” at the moment and so cannot help with our luggages. I have never in my life been told by a hotel (let alone a Hilton hotel) that they cannot assist with luggages. they charge you for every single thing. If you want room service, it’s an extra 15 euros service fee just for them bringing up the food. This is obviously in addition to already paying for room service priced food. I have never seen an extra charge for room service just for bringing up the food - is the whole point of room service not having the food brought up to you, which is why the food generally costs more than they would if you were to buy takeaway yourself elsewhere. We were told that we may be able to pick up the food ourselves in the reception to waive that fee, but they were not sure and told us to check with the restaurants ourselves. If the fee was 5 euros I can live with it but 15 is extortionate, when the simplest pasta with tomato sauce on their room service menu costs 26 euros and a pan fried breadcrumb sole (basically fancy way to say fish and chips???) costs 35 euros. The water in the room is not complimentary unless you are a diamond gold or silver member, which is fine - but they cost 6 euros a bottle, which is not. The hotel is a bit of a walk from the arrivals. Beware if you have a lot of luggage as you are walking across a pavement covered in tiny little rocks, so you won’t be able to just push along your luggage- do grab a trolley and do not be fooled by comments saying this is a short walk. Also, a short distance of the walk is not under cover. Not sure what service this hotel is providing other than stuffing you in a room with a bed, but whatever little “service” they have (I can’t point to any...