Hilton Auckland — Hotel in Waitematā

I have stayed in many Hiltons by this point, and all in all, Auckland was a pleasant experience. I do however have to point out a couple of areas which I wouldn’t have expected from such an esteemed five star hotel such as the Hilton. Firstly, upon arrival, we parked in the valet car park as instructed by customer services prior to arriving (we wanted to park with the hotel). When we parked, we were greeted by two welcoming staff at the entrance. They confirmed that we wanted to park with them and we agreed. They valet staff member then asked for my keys and i went to hand them over, before I could do this, he asked if we had luggage, to which i replied with what bags from the boot we would like to bring in. He then instructed us to go grab the bags and head to the check in area. While this is not the end of the world, I most definitely would have expected the concierge at a valet car park to offer to bring the bags in for us. We collected our bags and the staff watched us fumble with our items and not offer any assistance, clearly pre occupied with hands full of belongings, they then asked for the keys again. I had to put everything down on the floor outside the front door so I could grab my keys. Once we headed in, we were again greeted by a very friendly staff member who swiftly checked us in. We had already checked in online and was offered a room upgrade as an honours member for a set price depending on availability. The staff member mentioned nothing about this and proceeded to check us into the initial room we booked (again fine, but some communication on the status of the upgrade would have been nice). Once check in was finalised, we would have expected concierge to offer to bring our luggage to our room, however, they again just watched us battle with our belongings as we made our way to the elevator. Another area which I would like to share is in regards to the cleanliness of our room. While on the surface, it appeared fine, we noticed that there was black mould in the grouting in the corners of the shower, and that the underside of the glass door had likely never been cleaned as it was leaving a gross black dirt stain on the white bath mat every time we opened and closed the shower. Lastly, and this goes back to the “valet” service, we could not help but notice that our car did not leave the space we parked it in when we arrived the whole time…. so for the “valet” service, while this apparently does not include help with luggage from the concierge, it does come with a $60 per night fee to merely keep a hold of your car keys, which i would imagine is something everyone is capable of doing themselves. “Valet” is a MASSIVE stretch, this is most definitely just a way of getting customers to use their designated spaces at a premium cost with no actual benefits to the customers of using a valet service. While again, these are not the biggest deal breakers in the world, they are however, 100% things we have come to expect from not only 5 star hotel chains, but most definitely the Hilton, and for this we left feeling somewhat dissatisfied and left wondering why we chose to stay 5 star when some decent 3 and majority 4 star hotels offer comparable service. (The three star ratings for rooms and service are indicative of what we would expect from a 5 star hotel, not a reflection on the service or rooms being...

I have debated whether or not to leave this review because when we made a complaint the staff at reception made a good effort to rectify the issue. So my reason for reviewing today is just to warm others NOT to pay for breakfast or eat at the fish restaurant.

Our first night we ate at the fish restaurant. Food was like something we could honestly make at home. Nothing to write home about and appalling menu for vegetarians/vegans. We’re in 2024 now, it’s not acceptable to have a menu that doesn’t cater for a vegetarian in a 5star restaurant.

We were the only people at the restaurant at 5pm and we felt rushed. We just don’t understand how the waiters were so stressed and were the only people there. Awful first experience.

The next two mornings for our breakfast were something else! One morning we weren’t even greeted we were shouted at by a young man “what’s your room number?” We weren’t brought to a table, we even had to set our own table. Both mornings we had to catch a waiters attention to ask for coffee and tea. The first morning my husband had two cold coffees, he thought the first was a genuine mistake and gave the benefit of the doubt. He mentioned it as leaving and the response was “if it’s cold let us know so we can replace” when infact serving cold coffee just shouldn’t happen in a 5 star restaurant.

The second morning my husband asked for hot coffee as it was cold yesterday only to then hear the waiter discuss how was their coffee cold. His coffee was returned and 30 minutes later I’m still waiting for my tea. All while watching a couple be seated, have an order taken and have their coffees brought over. The waiter spoke the same language as them and had two waiters running around them while we had to make a fuss for a hot drink.

I called them over to ask for my tea which they’d obviously forgotten. We saw omelettes and pancakes coming out so as I left I asked if they were included in the breakfast to which we were told yes if you have breakfast included (which we did) however we had never been told. How are we supposed to know if not told what we can order?

We don’t like to make a big fuss and so we just ate from the buffet for the two days which was nothing special. Nothing was full. Juice was always empty, waffles never there, hot food was cold. This is 5 star? We would have loved to be able to order an omelette.

There was ZERO service happening here. It was a reach or starve scenario. Unacceptable. Just a friendly face, shown to the table with 2 minutes to ensure customers knew what they had included. To return 3 minutes later to ask and get coffee/ tea orders…. Not much to ask for a 5 star hotel is it?

I understand good staff is hard to find, but your staff need a swift reminder that this is not their mother’s kitchen and people have paid for a service they just receive.

I may return to the hotel as that was great but we will NEVER eat in the restaurant again with so much great service and options in the viaduct.

Hilton, you have a goldmine at your feet with that restaurant and instead I say, it’s...

We came to Hilton Hotel expecting something great knowing how good is the reputation of the hilton hotels around the globe. My wife even had the pleasure to stay at the Hilton Hotel in Japan and during her stay in USA as well. We were naturally very excited about the idea to go together after our wedding to that prestigious hotel with such a wonderful view i have to admit.

However we were very dissapointed by the service itself except for the valet, the reception was long and kind of awkward with a receptionist who seemed to not know what to do and her manager that didn't even gave us a look like if we didn't exist ( Not even an Hello)while talking to her staff at the reception.

After that we went to our room with a very comfortable bed and a beautiful view and also very view spot to charge our phones and the ones next to the bed were not working....

It could stop there but no. We wanted after that first bad impression to try the restaurant of the hotel. Again I have to say that the service was way below the standard that we have the right to expect from such a place.

Multiple errors during our dinner. Wrong plates, waiters not even knowing what they are serving or also the beef that was supposed to be in my plate was forgotten in the kitchen. The worst in that ? It was not even that busy just a few tables, less than the number of fingers on a hand. Also we took some wine and the pouring was kind of childish leaving many marks all over the glass, I am sorry but me and my wife couldn't resist to have a sad laugh of deception.

However the food was not bad the entrée the crab cake was really good and the main was ok.

After that we go take a look at the pool because before booking it was says that the works would be over end of October so we are going to do some scouting at the pool just to see it closed, still closed.

After that new deception we came back to the room to enjoy the rest of our nights when I saw that there was no amenities, calling the reception I had to wait almost 20 min to get what was needed for me to call it a night and what a night.

To end my review I paid a certain price that I was thinking would be worth it but in the end I paid for a room that was ok for a service that was at most mediocre , a pool that it still closed and a dinner that was below the standards with a crew that seemed unorganised and overwhelmed to...