TL;DR – Awesome hotel; highly recommended
Introduction
I was in Auckland in early December 2015, and we spent 2 nights here using 60,000 HH points per night. I was a GOLD member at the time, and I used the Hilton app to check in to my room a day before arrival. It was nice since I got to choose my room. Naturally, I picked the highest room available on the 7th floor and what looked like the largest floor plan.
Getting to hotel
I was able to use UberX directly from the aiport. It cost $60 NZD (roughly $40 USD at the exchange rate at the time) to get to the Hilton.
The location of the hotel is great because it’s directly on the wharf. There are tons of restaurants nearby within walking distance. The ferry to Waiheke Island (a must do I think) is a 5-10 minute walk from the hotel.
Checkin
The lobby seemed to be under construction when we stayed; it wasn’t that big of a deal.
When I checked in, I was notified I was upgraded to a better room facing the harbor versus the room I chose. Awesome! I was also given 2 drink tickets per night I was there (so 4 in total) to use at the bar since they did not have an executive lounge. Awesome! And of course they mentioned the free breakfast for Gold members. The only confusing thing was that I wasn’t sure if I should have chosen the premium $20 NZD WIFI or the free WIFI; I could have asked later on, but I was lazy and the free WIFI was fast enough.
Room
I had requested on the app that I wanted 2 foam pillows, which were already in my room. They also had 2 complimentary bottles of water in the room already; when we left for dinner and came back 4 hours later, they gave us 2 more bottles. The next day, they gave us 2 more, and we had 6 unopened total bottles at one point. I love a hotel that is generous with the free water and toiletries.
Breakfast
I thought the breakfast buffet was great. They even had an omelette station, which I am a sucker for. See the pictures for yourself.
Overall Impressions
I thought the hotel was very nice. Service was great. Breakfast was great. Even the restaurant is in the top 5 Tripadvisor seafood restaurants in Auckland although we didn’t try it ourself. Later on, I was shocked that this hotel was in the same category as the inferior Hilton Queenstown. It wouldn’t surprise me if they raised the category of this hotel once the lobby remodel is complete.