-
I was fortunate enough to jump on the Silverstone F1 rooftop experience redemption when it went live at the end of April. To recap, it was 125k HHonors points for two tickets with hospitality on the roof of the HGI overlooking the finish line. For context, a general admission ticket on race day was well over £300 and the cheapest hospitality I could see started around the £1200 per person level. 15 pairs of tickets were available – and all went pretty sharpish once HfP posted about it.
So, as reports over the hospitality from 2023 seemed a bit thin on the ground, I thought the following might be of interest – here’s what happened on my grand day out…
“Pre-game”
Fairly good e-mail comms with the team within a couple of days of making the redemption, checking dietary requirements, clothing sizes for merchandise and sort of confirming travel arrangements – but they didn’t really know what to do if you didn’t want to take their coach from Milton Keynes which was included in the deal. Living 10 miles to the West of the track, the coach was of little use to us – but am sure a welcome addition for most.
Arrival
A little bit of back and forth getting into the Hilton Garden Inn but fairly seamless. We were early and it was cold so we had a coffee in Starbucks in the lobby then my daughter spotted Lando Norris. She asked for a selfie and he duly obliged! We then tried to get into the general admission area to watch some of the F2 race before the rooftop facility opened but the stewards couldn’t get their heads around the ticket type we had. Access to the roof was available from 10.30am.
The facility
The rooftop function area covers the Southern half of the HGI roof. You take the elevator up to floor 5, walk past the atrium and they checked us into the facility. A very snazzy illuminated corridor takes you down to a covered area which can accommodate maybe 45 people at a squeeze then beyond this was the main bar, outdoors, protected by a roof and with temporary walls along the back and side. It had maybe 15 high tables with two chairs on each. There was also a ‘VVIP’ facility beyond this – not sure who was allowed in there. The roof also had an F1 car you could sit in for photo ops and the terrace at the front directly overlooked the Southern end of the pits, plus the grid.
The ambiance
This was a joint promotion with Monster, so came with a high energy DJ booth. Whilst I see why they want to cater to a wider audience, a lot of the time it felt like a rave with a motor race going on in the background, rather than hospitality at the UK’s premier motorsports event. The ball was dropped embarrassingly when the DJ set was still running during the start of the national anthem. After that the DJs turned the volume back up to 11 and there was no hope of getting any race commentary. Of the four TV screens in the facility, only one was showing the race, so we had to rely on social media to find out why key events had happened. On reflection I should have invested in a couple of those Silverstone radios you can get.
The F&B
There was an open bar, Nyetimber sparkling wine was freely flowing with staff walking round topping up glasses and other mainstream soft & alcoholic drinks were on offer. A selection of cold cuts, smoked salmon and a decent cheese board (some interesting stuff – this wasn’t just cheddar and brie) was laid out at a buffet from midday, whilst staff also circulated with high quality bowl food (think shredded duck, crab salad, etc) for a couple of hours. Food was changed up later in the afternoon – sushi & macarons on the buffet, (good) sausage rolls and cakes being walked round by staff.
The “merch”
Surprised with this but at the end of the day, everyone got a personalised Monster drinks top which I think would be best described as a hockey shirt. Will wear it next time I need to embarrass the kids. Also got a McLaren/Hilton baseball cap and two pop-art posters of the McLaren drivers, along with a Hilton/Monster dog tag – not sure what I do with that.
Summary
It’s fair to say this lacked some of the finesse i’ve enjoyed at other sports hospitality operations, having been lucky enough to experience a box at West Ham on many occasions and similar at Twickenham (on nowhere near enough occasions). A phrase that seems to be central to the modern Hilton marketing playbook is “this isn’t your Grandfather’s Hilton”. I think that would sum up this Silverstone experience, too – it’s probably not one for the F1 purist, but equally provided an excellent value redemption if you wanted to see the race live – and benefit from some much-needed cover as that massive storm ripped through around midday. It would have been bleak in the “cheap” seats and undoubtedly made for a rather special day out.
Very interesting review. Sounds like Hilton/McLaren knew what they were doing, but Monster (and the DJ) didn’t.
Thanks for the review. Would you do it again?
@The real Swiss Tony Appreciate the update.
@smitrax On balance yes I would do it again if I could get the tickets at that price, because my kids are into F1. It’s also a way more civil way of doing it rather than sitting in a potentially uncovered stand, paying £4 for a can of coke or £10 for a jacket potato. (We took a picnic last year admittedly). Oh and decent toilets with no queues, too!
But I’d also go equipped with a radio or at least my headphones to listen to the commentary via my phone.
Am very much a believer in experiences rather than material things. Sweet spots like this certainly help deliver.
Very useful, thank you.
We went on the Friday. 100k points for the experience.
There was early engagement from the team for shirt sizes, but it wasn’t until a few weeks before that the bus timings were confirmed. This was slightly inconvenient as we were training from Manchester and meant we couldn’t book as far in advance as desired. In the end 1030 was the scheduled bus departure time from MK, but ended up leaving at 11am.
There was a Hilton rep upon leaving the train station who pointed us to the bus departure point. There we were checked in and ushered on the bus. We waited around 30 mins to leave, despite everyone being on board, and then about a 40 min drive to circuit, and then 20 min walk to the hotel.
Once inside the hotel it was a slick operation. Free flowing beverages and canapé style food. Probably the best octopus I’ve ever eaten.
It was the right amount of busy. Getting a seat was always possible, and lines for food and drink where never too great. The rooftop is slightly setback from lower floors making the view a little obscured compared to what you might expect, but still possible to see all the tarmac of the racetrack when standing against the railing. There’s also an elevated platform for the people behind you to stand on, so they can see too.
Merch was good, a Mclaren hat, t-shirt and shell jacket. Only branded with Mclaren and Hilton so definitely not full F1 spec but still nice.
We also spent some time walking around the GA area, and despite only being a Friday could only be thankful to not have to deal with the crowds and prices for everything. It made the experience seem so much more valuable. It was only our second trip to Silverstone, but we’ve been to about 15 racetracks around the world, but this was busy. I’d say the GA area was unpleasantly busy….
Only complaint I’d have is the food could be slightly more substantial, given you’re there for 7 hours. Desert was put out about 3pm, replacing all savoury food too. It was fine, but could have been improved.
All in all, a great experience and would do it again every day of the week and twice on Sundays at the price.
Thank you Hilton and Headforpoints.com for letting us know about it!
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
