My stay at the DoubleTree Edmonton Downtown was a perfect example how great hard product won’t matter if service can’t keep up. At check-in, there was no greeting at all. We were not told about any hotel amenities and facilities. We were not told about the breakfast details either,, and when I called down later to ask, the answer was “there may be a buffet but I‘m not sure” – how about you find out? We had to ask for a “brand-standard” cookie. If Hilton is this proud of the “iconic” Doubletree cookie to the point it’s everywhere on the app, I’d expect this to be proactively given out like any other Doubletree.
No upgrades were offered, and we didn’t bother asking since we booked a large enough room and it was just for one night. The lady who checked me in laughed into my face when I asked for a late check-out – the answer was a “No I can’t give you that because we don’t know how many arrivals we will have tomorrow” – very clumsy excuse, unless your PMS is genuinely that terrible. Either way, I don’t have a clue why the laughing part was necessary.
The hotel was located in the rough part of Edmonton’s downtown, so naturally we were on higher alert for unwanted interactions. A gentleman was hanging out in the lobby when we checked in. Turned out he was a bellman/runner, but he was not uniformed, nor was he wearing a name tag. If he showed up in front of my door I would definitely not have opened up.
Breakfast was decent, although service was VERY slow and the restaurant was empty. We had to make our own tea and pay $4 for it (I’m still amazed by this to this day) and our server didn’t show up once after delivering our food.
All those mentioned above could be called “minor details”, but these minor details are going to make or break an entire experience. I enjoyed the modern and clean room among a lot of other things, but now the only things I remembered and brought home with me were how terrible the service was and how worthless Hilton elite members were to some hotels. A shame if you ask me.
RealScore
Service: 4.0
Design and Room Size: 8.0
In-room Amenities: 7
Bathroom Size and Layout: 8
View from (my) Room: 7
Hotel Location: 6
Available Guest Facilities: 7
Food Quality: 7
Food and Beverage Service: 5
Executive Lounge Quality: N/A
Final RealScore: 6.48
Final RealRating: C
Hotel is built/opened: 2015
Total number of rooms: 255
Length of stay: 1 night
Membership level at check-in: Diamond
Room type experienced: Junior Suite
Hotel4Real! 