Review: Hilton The Hague as Honors Gold with Upgrade to Executive Room w/ Lounge Access

Hilton The Hague Executive Lounge Alternative Terrasse

The Hague offers a nice combination of city and beach. Since we wanted to make sure that the weather would be good, we spontaneously (1 day in advance) booked two nights at the Hilton The Hague with Hilton Honors points.

For the spontaneous booking, 43,000 Hilton Honors points were due per night. The standard room cost around €200 per night on our dates. Not the best redemption ratio, but still okay.

Location

The hotel is located on the edge of the city center. Simply cross the canal, and you are right in Little Italy (at least there are many Italian restaurants along the street). The royal palace Noordeinde can be reached in about 5 minutes on foot, and the rest of the sights can also be easily and comfortably reached on foot or by bike. Near the hotel, the tram goes to Scheveningen and the beach in around 15 minutes.

Since we came by car, we parked right next to the hotel in the Parkeergarage Mauritskade. Not exactly cheap at €30 per day (24 hours), but parking on the street in the Netherlands in the cities overnight is almost impossible and also expensive. There aren’t much cheaper parking garages in the area, either. You can get into the hotel directly from the underground car park. If you don’t want to move your car (a lot) during your stay, you can use the hotel’s valet parking for €30 per night and exit.

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Check in

On the drive to the hotel, I checked the booking and was pleased to see that our standard room had been upgraded to an executive room with lounge access thanks to the Hilton Honors Gold status. I was also able to select a room close to the lounge in the Hilton app. The room card was not made available via the app, so we first had to check in.

The check-in was done quickly. A signature, select your breakfast times (due to Covid), and some information about the lounge. Unfortunately, the lounge was closed on the executive floor due to Covid. Instead, there is a substitute offer from 15:00 to 21:00 in the Spark Bar, which is currently closed to the rest of the guests due to Covid.

Room

The executive room with a king-size bed is beautifully spacious and stylishly furnished. In addition to the bed, there is also a desk and armchair. Everything is in a beautiful, rich shade of red.

Depending on the orientation of the room, you either have a view of the city or of the hotel’s inner hall. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Though it can get louder towards the street, even if the windows insulate well, you may have a bit of a view.

The bathroom is separated from the room by frosted glass. During the day it even gets some light from outside, but at night it also brightens up the room when you turn on the light in the bathroom. In addition to a bathroom sink, it has a bathtub and a shower. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of space left in the bathroom. The only thing to complain about was the small amount of storage space, a few additional hooks or bars to hang the towels and a rain shower head would have been desirable.

A kettle is available in the cupboard for tea and (instant) coffee. There is also a minibar, but due to Covid it wasn’t filled (that’s fine with me personally). The refrigerator was switched on and didn’t make any unpleasant noises.

The air conditioning can be adjusted in the room. We had switched it off completely and wanted to sleep with the windows open, but the air conditioning still switched on several times during the night and could not be switched off. Unfortunately, it wasn’t exactly silent and therefore annoying. The employees could not provide any real help via the chat in the Hilton app.

Cleanliness

The room was sealed on our arrival as part of the Hilton CleanStay program and was also excellently cleaned.

Internet

The free Wi-Fi for Hilton Honors members was excellent throughout the hotel, and connecting to a VPN was no problem either. I was even able to download the new iOS update (at least over 2 GB) without any issues and watch Netflix. That surprised me positively. In the past, I had often found that the free Wi-Fi is severely limited in Hilton Hotels because premium access is still being sold for €10 / day.

Breakfast

Thanks to the Hilton Honors Gold status, breakfast was included for two people. It is served in the Pearl restaurant. At check-in, we had to choose a breakfast time window of 45 minutes due to the Covid.

The selection at the buffet was good. There was a warm buffet with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, beans, oatmeal, hard-boiled eggs, fruit, cold cuts, and a selection of bread, rolls, and croissants. There was also a selection of juices. In addition to fresh orange juice, there was also a different fresh juice in small flasks every day.

You could also choose from an à la carte menu of egg dishes (omelet, fried egg, boiled eggs as desired, Egg Benedict and Poffertjes as well as Dutch pancakes. Actually, the form should be placed on the tables, but we couldn’t find it on any table. It feels like the kitchen wanted to save itself the work here, which I always find a shame, especially when you charge €20 per person for breakfast. So, we had to ask for one of these forms to be given to us.

The service was also sloppy when it came to setting the tables. On the first day, we didn’t find a table set for two people, but many with used dishes. When I asked where we could find knives and forks, they told us to take them from another table … Our breakfast time on the first day was from 9:30 to 10:15. Shortly after 10 o’clock, however, the buffet was cleared without notice. We were almost finished, but a brief note to the remaining guests would have been nice.

The service at breakfast after the second night was better. The tables were freshly set and plates were cleared quickly. But we were also there earlier than on the first day, and it wasn’t a problem to exceed our time slot of 45 minutes, as there weren’t many guests at the hotel.

Lounge

Unfortunately, the real lounge was closed during our stay due to Covid. Probably because the guests cannot maintain the required distances. We would have liked to have enjoyed the view from the terrace on the 5th floor, but the alternative in the Spark bar on the ground floor with a large terrace next to the canal wasn’t a bad location either.

Hilton The Hague Executive Lounge
Entrance to the actual executive lounge on the 5th floor

Only the opening times were severely restricted. Instead of 6:00 to 20:00, the alternative was only open from 15:00 to 21:00. In addition to some refreshments and alcoholic drinks, there was also a selection of bread, Ibérico ham, salami, olives, hummus, chips, and a warm snack (cheese sticks on both evenings). Not a large selection, but especially the Ibérico ham went well with the bread and was of higher quality than at the breakfast buffet. I generally prefer a small but high-quality selection – but this selection was really very small for a lounge.

Unfortunately, the snacks weren’t refilled either. After the bread and ham were out on the second evening, everything was cleared away shortly after 7 p.m. The exact times when there is something to eat were also not communicated. But the lounge dragon lady who looked after the lounge was very friendly, talkative and very service-oriented.

Hilton The Hague
  • Check-in / out
  • Location
  • Room
  • Cleanliness
  • Internet
  • Breakfast / Gastronomy
  • Service
  • Extras
  • Value for Money
4.61
Conclusion

We had a lovely three-night stay at the Hilton The Hague. The upgrade from a standard to an executive room was a nice surprise, and the location on the edge of the city centre was excellent. One only has to complain about the shortcomings in the service at breakfast and the small variety of food in the lounge with unclear times. Nevertheless, we would choose the hotel again for another stay in The Hague.

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