DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Reading — Hotel in Reading

I stayed at this property for one night and was thoroughly disappointed with the overall experience.

To start, my Gold status seemingly meant nothing to the check in staff, when I asked if an upgrade was available, her first answer was “sorry the hotels completely full” (we checked in around 9pm). After showing the front desk clerk the app and showing a 1 king 2 room suite with panoramic views available, her reply was “you won’t like that room, the standard king room is much better, when asking a second time she gave the same answer. Confirming the room was available but the room that they advertise and charge 250$+/night was not an upgrade but actually a downgrade compared to the standard room I received. This was at the start upon check in, I didn’t appreciate the manipulation tactic, and how my gold status was disregarded, one of the benefits clearly state upgrade available upon availability.

The second issue, the app says EV charging, while there is EV charging they are ONLY Tesla chargers meaning any other electric car cannot charge here. Extremely misleading and this should be specified the hotel amenities. The hotel also allows anybody to park in the charging spots as 2 of the spaces were taken by non EV cars, leaving only 2 available, but again ONLY Tesla can charge so come prepared if you don’t have a Tesla.

Third issue, the restaurant in the hotel Cheers. Not the most cheerful place, the food was unappetizing, with both the food quality and service leaving much to be desired. I ordered a Philly steak sandwich with nachos, what I got was greasy meat slapped in a bun with melted cheese on top that all tasted old and reheated. The nachos were warmed up Tostitos with a liquid cheese sauce that tasted like it was watered down and old, truly a disappointment for 38$.

Finally excited the morning came to check out, I receive a bill by email that excludes the 30$ food and beverage credit given with the gold status. This meant I had to call back and get them to adjust it, just leaving an overall bad taste in my mouth regarding this property.

There is clearly a lack of training, or perhaps this property just does not value/care about Hilton statuses.. which is an absolute shame because as everyone knows… they’re not easy to obtain. You have to ASK for your earned privileges and then you’re manipulated into thinking it’s not to your advantage. Overall, this did not meet the standards I have come to expect from Hilton properties, it has to be the worst Double Tree I’ve stayed in.

• updated reply email from management:

Unfortunately, at our property we do not have any upgraded room types for Hilton Honors Gold members. We could have offered you the king suite at an upsell price for $90.00 per night and that was a missed opportunity on our part, I do apologize about that.

Suite upgrades are technically excluded from the upgrade pool for Hilton Honors Gold members (they’re available for Diamond members). All of these upgrades are at the discretion of the hotel.

I do understand your frustration with the eclectic charging. The website does have us listed as EV location. If you go to our website and look up parking it does state "Tesla chargers available in parking garage adjacent to the Hotel.

Update to response from hotel: upgrade was never offered for a fee only from the management by email written above after I wrote this complaint... where they wrote me word for word “ We could have offered you the king suite at an upsell price for $90.00 per night and that was a missed opportunity on our part, I do apologize...

I was travelling with my mother to Reading for a two night mother-daughter trip to see Jokoy and celebrate the holidays a bit early. DoubleTree by Hilton Reading is listed online as a 3-star hotel and I stayed in a 2 queen bed room.||* Location: 4/5|I chose this hotel because of its distance to Santander Arena. We were right across the street from the venue, so it was very convenient. I'm not a local, so it didn't seem there was much to see or do in the area. The pagoda was closed for renovation, but you could still take pictures in front of it. In Reading, there seems to be a lot of museums, but nothing near this hotel, so truthfully, there wasn't much to do at this location.||* Check-In/Check-Out: 5/5|Check in was smooth and great! Since I'm an Hilton Honors member, I can check in early thru the app, but I still came around 3 pm. They asked for a $100 deposit in case there are any damages made to your room, but it gets refunded if nothing goes wrong. Check-out process went smooth and quickly as well. I absolutely love the DoubleTree cookies they give you during check in and check out!!||* Room: 4.5/5|I was assigned room 707, which window viewed the back of the hotel and some other rooms in the hotel. The room was spacious even though I didn't choose the "2 Queen Beds Larger Room." The bathroom was clean and comfortable. The beds and pillows were comfy. Overall, the room was perfect for two. Pictures advertised around the site, Expedia, etc. were exactly what you get. Beds had 4 pillows. Bathroom had enough shampoo, conditioner, and body wash provided for your stay. In addition, lotion was provided. You have the ask the front desk for additional amenities like toothbrushes or toothpaste, in case you forgot to pack your own. Both heater/aircon worked well during my stay.||* Service: 5/5|The staff at the front desk and the restaurant were really polite, welcoming, cheerful, and kind! I only had one issue that happened during my trip and it was when both my hotel card keys didn't work. It was around 8 pm, so there was only one person at the front desk. They sent a guy up to let us in our room, but I had to go downstairs for new keys. I still don't understand why our keys stopped working randomly. Luckily, the Hilton Honors app also lets you in your room with a digital key, but sometimes it's more convenient to have the physical key card.||* Amenities: 5/5|My room had a lot of the amenities that are listed online - Free parking, Free WiFi, Non-smoking rooms, On-site restaurant, Indoor pool, Fitness center, Pet-friendly rooms, Business center, and more! Not listed amenities that they had: Each room also had a mini fridge, coffee/tea maker, a closet to hang your clothes, and a safe. They also had a 24/7 front desk. They do not have a Free breakfast - it costs $15 - unless you paid for it ahead of time. I also did not use their free shuttle or taxi services because the Pagoda was closed.||* Pricing: 5/5|I expected nothing less in terms of pricing for a Hilton hotel. I've been to other hotels with the same price and had half the amount of amenities. There were a lot of fees, but the only one I didn't understand was the tourism fee -- since IN MY OPINION there's not much to see here. Otherwise, I really felt like I got what I paid for.||* Overall: 5/5|With everything tied in together, I had an great time at the hotel. I will definitely book again if I'm going to another...

I reviewed this same hotel before, and gave a much lower rating. I have bumped it up due to the general manager reaching out and expressing concern and the desire to make things right. I will say the hotel itself was very clean and that people were very welcoming. I am still not sure if there is a laundry on site, it was mentioned in the app I used to book, which was trip actions, but once I couldn't find one upon arrival, I checked the site for the hotel itself, and it is not mentioned. So perhaps just a error on the booking site I used, but if it is important to you, you might want to double check beforehand. Also there is no microwave in the room, which is a drawback when you're staying for a few days. But they're also not very big deals overall, the most important things being that it was clean and comfortable, and it was both. The main reason that I had rated so low was due to a less than exemplary experience with the restaurant, and an issue with the parking garage, but neither of those are the hotel itself. So I definitely give an overall five star, but the reason for the four star in service was due to the fact that I did attempt to call the front desk, the room service crew, and the restaurant on a few different occasions and was not getting the calls answered. But I understand that people get busy, especially in locations that deal with the public. But when you have called four times and still didn't get an answer, it starts to become frustrating. I would definitely stay here again though, nothing that I saw or experienced was that serious. I think it is a very nice hotel, and the lobby area is interesting and I love that they had numerous little areas that my coworker and I could meet and talk to go over work things and still be private, but not need to be in either one of our rooms which would be awkward. Also the staff was always upbeat and friendly, and you could tell they enjoyed interacting with us, even at 5:00 in the morning LOL. I was a little concerned with the location, as it is right downtown across from a stadium or concert venue of some sort. I was definitely worried about the noise from the traffic and other businesses close by, but I heard literally no noise from outside. There must be a train nearby, as there's a little note in a pair of earplugs on your nightstand letting you know that trains go through in the night, but I never heard a thing. I love the mattress, it was flush but still firm. And the pillows I believe were some sort of down alternatives, maybe with memory foam somewhere in there. There were four pillows on the king bed and two of them seem to be firm and two were more soft, which was a perfect combination for me. It's nice that they give one of each for each person, to try to make you the most comfortable you can be away from home. I also love that the bedding was white, so you know there are no stains and that it can be bleached. The bathroom was very clean and the shower had very hot water with good pressure. There's a safe and mini fridge in each room as well as the TV, a chaise lounge, flat screen TV and ironing board and iron. I would recommend staying here, and if you do just make sure you take in your parking ticket so they can...