Hilton Snowdonia thread

[Navara]

Thinking of booking a couple of nights has anyone been recently?Any feedback appreciated

[memesweeper]

Not been recently but went last year. Very happy family. I’d recommend booking the activities you want ASAP as they sell out weeks ahead during peak times. Food in the evenings might be better taken in a local pub, at least one of which is walkable: the hotel menu was a bit limited when we were there. Again, book ahead of time, the pubs get full up.

[WillPS]

Went at Valentines. Room was great (just a basic one, no upgrade as the place was full). The Lagoon was drained at the time but it was a pleasant enough place to be regardless.

Breakfast was decent, had a Hampton-style waffle maker (but only 1 which meant there was a queue for it). There was a really good chippy restaurant in Llanrwst which I’d happily recommend.

I keep checking but the price never seems to drop below £125 which feels just a bit too high for me, for what it is.

[SteveJ]

See this thread

https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/hilton-garden-inn-snowdonia/

[DavidC]

Currently in the middle of a three night stay using Hilton points. Up graded to lagoon view room and very satisfied with all aspects of the hotel.

[The Savage Squirrel]

From 2021 (here https://www.headforpoints.com/2021/08/11/the-hfp-chat-thread-wednesday-11th-august/comment-page-2/#comments)

[ notes about below: Dodgy HfP regulars found loitering at the bar 😉 Have been back again since. Y Bedol and Groes Inn Hotel both very good pub food for dinner. Tir A Môr in Llanwrst for fish’n’chips likely the chippy referred to above – also great. ]

HGI Snowdonia. There right now; 4th day of 5. Overall positive but not perfect.
– location excellent in stunning Welsh valley and Snowdonia stuff all within 30 mins drive.
– Room finished to good standard and new. Passes HFP test with Smeg kettle/fridge and good quality nickable hangers.
– Toilet and shower mini cubicles opening to main room. Sharing a room with someone you wouldn’t want to see you unclothed would be tricky.
– Every room in the hotel is interconnecting – great for families with Hilton guaranteed interconnectedness; good double door soundproofing so downside minimal.
– View out front of surf school great and entertaining. View of bins at back. Given ever changing entertainment at front this is one of the few times that paying for view may be worth it.
– Crowd very family based. No sign of rowdy stag dos.
– Brekkie back to standard buffet. Solid but not special. Will do eggs and omelettes to order. Comparable to most UK Doubletrees I’d say.
– Limited housekeeping due to pingdemic (was warned at checkin and can phone to request if needed).
– Restaurant menu simplified and limited to improve service during pingdemic. Very dull (bogstandard room service type menu. Burger, club, fish and chips etc) with zero local flavour; not even lamb!. Service acceptable but a few iffy moments. Would eat here only for convenience in evening. Requires booking as very busy. Hotel missing a trick by turning away restaurant guests – could shove pizza oven in a large unused 2nd bar and rake it in…
– local pubs much better. Bull 1 km north, Old Ship Inn 2km south. Both very good pub food. Would eat here if you can. Small brasserie south as well, haven’t tried as limited opening days.
– spa no idea. Not seen anyone use it. Very small and partly in shed so wouldn’t expect much.
– kids LOVED surf school. Instructors are great and very friendly. Loads of beginners so feel welcome. Very likely to return for this reason.
Anyone looking for a clean modern hotel (in an area where other modern options are limited – nearest older hotel looks like wooden shack) to explore area and use Surf/Adventure Park will be happy. Anyone visiting for spa/dining of hotel itself not so much. Very good for less than 30k Hiltons per room per night. You’d be a lot less satisfied at £200+. ££90-120/ night in normal times “feels” fair.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[Navara]

Thanks all. May have a couple of nights there and a couple in Chester

[WillPS]

Tir A Môr is indeed the one I’m thinking of.

30k HHonors seems impossible now, even the late availability ‘cheap’ price starts at 34k.

[The Savage Squirrel]

WillPS wrote:

Tir A Môr is indeed the one I’m thinking of.

30k HHonors seems impossible now, even the late availability ‘cheap’ price starts at 34k.

Yeah, rates have defeinitely gone up – I think it had 30k rooms in peak season at launch (so less with 5-for-4) when they’re now 50k. You can still get 30k and under, but as that’s at times when the surf school will be closed and it will be cold/wet/snowing it is probably not so attractive 😀

[John]

WillPS wrote:

Tir A Môr is indeed the one I’m thinking of.

30k HHonors seems impossible now, even the late availability ‘cheap’ price starts at 34k.

As points are tied to the value of USD, that 34k will be 30k soon when the pound drops to $1.10

Also in this vein, for anyone with points bookings not at a capped rate, which were made last week or earlier when the pound was $1.35, check the price and rebook as they should all have dropped by 2000 points or so

Back on topic is the pool here available for general use, or must it be used as part of a spa thing?

[WillPS]

John wrote:

WillPS wrote:

Tir A Môr is indeed the one I’m thinking of.

30k HHonors seems impossible now, even the late availability ‘cheap’ price starts at 34k.

As points are tied to the value of USD, that 34k will be 30k soon when the pound drops to $1.10

Also in this vein, for anyone with points bookings not at a capped rate, which were made last week or earlier when the pound was $1.35, check the price and rebook as they should all have dropped by 2000 points or so

Back on topic is the pool here available for general use, or must it be used as part of a spa thing?

Spa only. And they were quite insistent that there was no discount for Diamond or anything like that as it’s a ‘totally separate company’. (That logic rather falls apart when the cleaners for the hotel were wearing Surf Snowdonia uniforms…!)

[The Savage Squirrel]

There is no pool, only a hot tub type thing.

There is open water swimming each morning in the surf lagoon before the surf sessions start. Time to man up… 😉

[danyal]

I was here last year. Surrounding area is stunning. Staff are poorly trained. Food is bad. General Manager was a joke, dunno how he got the position at that property. Would I go back? Yes for the property, hoping that staff have majorly improved.

[BuildBackBetter]

John wrote:

WillPS wrote:

Tir A Môr is indeed the one I’m thinking of.

30k HHonors seems impossible now, even the late availability ‘cheap’ price starts at 34k.

As points are tied to the value of USD, that 34k will be 30k soon when the pound drops to $1.10

Also in this vein, for anyone with points bookings not at a capped rate, which were made last week or earlier when the pound was $1.35, check the price and rebook as they should all have dropped by 2000 points or so

Back on topic is the pool here available for general use, or must it be used as part of a spa thing?

Why would points drop when GBP depreciates? Doesn’t the cash price in USD go up and therefore points required should also be going up?

[John]

BuildBackBetter wrote:

Why would points drop when GBP depreciates? Doesn’t the cash price in USD go up and therefore points required should also be going up?

If the rate of a UK hotel is £100, that was equivalent to $135 a few weeks ago and is now equivalent to $125. The rate in GBP hasn’t changed so if you are paying with a GBP card it makes no difference.

Points prices that are not at the unpublished cap are dynamically priced, and related to the USD equivalent of the local currency room rate. The value per point varies by hotel. If the second digit of the points price is not 0 or 5 then it’s definitely dynamically priced.

If the value per point for this example hotel is 0.5 US cents, then when the paid rate is £100 and the exchange rate is $1.35, the points rate will be 135÷0.005= 27000 points.

(If the unpublished cap for this hotel is 30000 points, then if the exchange rate remains $1.35 , the points price will be capped at 30k once the paid rate exceeds £111.11. Obviously we are only talking about standard rooms here.)

When the exchange rate drops to $1.25, i.e. GBP has depreciated as one pound buys fewer US dollars, a paid rate of £100 is now only 125÷0.005= 25000 points.

For HGI Snowdonia the paid rate in most of May has stayed at £127 for many weeks. The points price has dropped from 39k to 37k, in line with what I predicted.

Same is true for Hiltons in most of Europe as the euro, and pretty much every currency except USD-pegged currencies, has also plummeted vs the USD.

[Navara]

Had a pleasant couple of nights there upgraded to lagoon view room.

[Charles Martel]

Looks like redemptions and mattress runs here are off the table for a while https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/luxury-snowdonia-hilton-hotel-being-25450938

[WillPS]

How on earth has this ended up happening?! Is the hotel struggling?

This is the sort of stuff I expect from cynical operators of absolutely knackered facilities, basically Britannia Hotels. Worrying that an operator of such a new, decent facility sees this as a better bet than operating as a hotel.

Location wise I can’t think of many less appropriate places than here.

[Charles Martel]

WillPS wrote:

How on earth has this ended up happening?! Is the hotel struggling?

This is the sort of stuff I expect from cynical operators of absolutely knackered facilities, basically Britannia Hotels. Worrying that an operator of such a new, decent facility sees this as a better bet than operating as a hotel.

Location wise I can’t think of many less appropriate places than here.

Thats why it jumped out at me, the cynic in me believes hoteliers offer the rundown parts of their estate for this use with a view to getting the taxpayer (via Serco) to pay for the refit and I was sure it was a relatively new build.

As for the location, I’m not sure you theres much capacity left in the more urban areas.

[NorthernLass]

Or CP’s.

The HGI can’t exactly be very handy for anyone needing medical attention or any other kind of services. Will they be able to resist the lure of the bright lights of LLandudno though?!

[The Savage Squirrel]

Sad news really – had a few stays there and really enjoyed them.

The Adventure Parc has had its surf wave mechanism broken for a few months which I’d imagine has had a devastating impact. We would have gone back again this year but haven’t for this reason – and many others will be the same. Not sure why they can’t get it fixed, although it’s a fairly unique bit of kit

Therefore until they get that fixed, then outside of school holidays there’s probably pretty close to zero demand at least 5 nights per week, and probably 7 nights per week in the winter months for this hotel.

I don’t know what the government offers per room but when it’s this week’s political hot potato then generous funds are always suddenly available, so I’d imagine it’s a very generous deal indeed to house asylum seekers in out-of-sight-out-of-mind places at zero notice. I’d agree it’s a staggeringly inappropriate location unless appropriate services are all to be provided on site; the local facilities amount to one small shop and one small takeaway, while the primary school is tiny, has less than ten pupils per year and teaches in Welsh.

[Navara]

Hilton Snowdonia re opens 6th February 2023 for you budding surfers

[E]

But if you’re a budding surfer don’t stay before the beginning of April, which is when the wave mechanism is expected to be operational again.

[The Savage Squirrel]

Yep, happy when I got the Email as I do like this place despite its dull on-site food offering. Good news!!

[captaindave]

Hi all,

Anyone stayed here recently ? Appreciate to hear your views ?
Thinking of booking a one night stay over the BH weekend, 50K points for Queen accessible room with lagoon view…. is that value ?

Ta