Contrasts and little value-added
Written: May 12 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Location, Paradise Park (for kids), room size
Cons: Everything will cost you more, Paradise Park (for adults), schitzoid decor
The Bottom Line: Where does it fit? Would be a good business hotel except for the fitness/pool situation. Not quite a family hotel. Low value-added. Not a bad choice, but there are better.
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| pilotpat's Full Review: Hilton Milwaukee |
I spent a week at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center on business, the first night of which I was privileged enough to be able to share with my wife and kids. The hotel was arranged for us, and so aside from our normal expectations for Hilton hotels, I had no idea what we were walking into.
LOCATION
As the name suggests, the hotel is located smack-dab in the center of Milwaukee, on the corner of 5th and Wisconsin, and attached to the Midwest Express Convention Center. The airport is 10-15 minutes away, depending on traffic. The riverwalk, Marquette University, Bradley Center Sports Complex, theater district, and Museum/Library area are within easy walking distance. The Third Ward historic area is just a bit longer.
ARRIVAL/CHECK-IN
The outside of the building is distinctive, if unimpressive. Blocky with Greek motif stonework borders at the 20th floor. A huge antenna juts out of the top like an oil derrek. We were met by a very friendly doorman who took our luggage from the Lower Lobby entrance to the Upper Lobby reception desk. Valet parking was not available. Self parking in the attached garage costs $16/day.
The lobby is ornately decorated in dark woods offset with brass and gold leaf accents, light wallpaper and more Greek motifs. Check-in was friendly and efficient. Six elevators lead to the 730 rooms, and here comes my second architectural comment (from someone essentially unversed in architecture), actually more of a pet peeve. The elevators are beautiful - the original floor indicators and call buttons sit to one side of the elevator bank. Big brass doors slide open to reveal dark mahogany walls, tasteful brass rails, and intricate gold-leaf wood moulding lit with a mild incandescent glass fixture. And then you turn around to press the button, and see a thoroughly modern, thoroughly gaudy elevator control panel with a big green LED floor indicator and you hear the cheezy electronic chime. Looking left and right, you notice that tacky graphic advertisements for the hotel bars and restaurants are litho'd onto plexiglass squares and screwed into the walls. Why? But... on to the room.
ROOM
The doorman met us at the room with our luggage and efficiently deposited it. Two double beds, as requested, looked almost small in the large room. The beds were clean and comfortable, if a bit soft for my tastes. Between the two beds stood a night stand with a large lamp, radio alarm clock, and 2-line phone with dataport. On the opposite wall was a generously-sized desk with another lamp, another phone with dataport, pen and paper, and informational brochures. Windows with tasteful and thick triple drapes stood on either side, and could be opened approximately 4 or 5 inches. The windows, by the way, were filthy on the outside, which was unfortunate. The view of Lake Michigan and downtown would have been much nicer with a clear pane. A large gold-leaf framed mirror hung over the desk.
Two upholstered chairs with a floor lamp and end table (with coffee service) sat in one corner to the left of the desk, while a large entertainment center with three medium-sized drawers held a good-sized (25"?) TV. The TV had a limited selection of satellite channels, plus PPV and games.
The room itself had a decor that was complimentary, but brighter than the rest of the hotel. Green patterned carpet contrasted with the light woven wallpaper offset by simple, tasteful top moulding and Greek-themed prints.
The closet was small, but adequate, and included an iron, ironing board, plenty of hangers, and a spare feather pillow.
The bathroom was sufficient, but somewhat small compared to the room. It had Neutrogena products arranged on a glass shelf over the large sink. Marble-look tile complimented the decor of the rest of the room, but was spoilt to some extent by the industrial design toilet and tub (with one of those goofy liquid-filled bottoms). Towels were good, but not exceptional, quality.
Everything was spotless, and housekeeping was superb.
FACILITIES
FITNESS ROOM
This was woefully inadequate for a 730-room hotel. It was essentially a two-room suite with several treadmills, stair climbers, and stationary bikes. A tiny dumbell area was available with a tiny bench. A mediocre multi-station weight machine was tucked/squeezed into one end. Headsets were available for use with the "cardio theater" which allows you to listen to any of the 4 TVs on the other end.
Another option is the YMCA - $5/day, or running to the river-front or lakeside parks.
PARADISE LANDING
Another example of a strange contrast to the hotel's stately decor. It is a large indoor water park, really aimed at kids, but with enough to keep younger teens pretty busy. We didn't have any idea it existed, and walked into it while trying to find the pool for the kids on the first night. Normal admission is $10/day, but since only an hour remained, the desk clerk allowed us in for free. The kids loved it, and after being on the road for several days, it was an awesome way for them to blow off some energy. Does the tacky tropical theme clash? Absolutely! But, I have to say it was appreciated. What wasn't appreciated was that there was no place for me to lap swim during the week, after my family continued down the road. The very large hot tub, by the way, is complimentary for hotel guests, but I imagine it is an absolute zoo during vacation months (and is right next to the video arcade which regrettably is much larger than the fitness room).
BUSINESS SERVICES
A tiny business center is available, with high-speed Internet and two Windows machines. My impression was that they are not maintained well, had tons of spyware on them, likely many viruses, and I wouldn't recommend using them for anything for which you would enter a username and password. Faxing and copying are available through the front desk, at a price.
MEETING/EVENT FACILITIES
This is a high point. The multitude of rooms and 2 ballrooms are large and well equipped. The costs are quite absurd for Milwaukee, though. They wanted to charge us $1200 to rent a projector, and when we balked, offered it at $700. We wanted to rent it, not buy it!
RESTAURANTS
The hotel offers "The Cafe," which serves a reasonable breakfast, either a la carte or buffet-style. Expect about $15 after tip. The Chop House restaurant is another option, but I did not try it. The Miller Time pub offers local Milwaukee brews (national and small brewery labels) and typical pub food - we tried the beer, which was pretty good - especially their stout, but not the food. The concierge offered better food options - I recommend the following:
- Butch's Old Casino (steak house). Try their steer fillets - superb, and cooked on the rare side.
- Giovanni's - fine Italian at a reasonable price
- Rock Bottom - Microbrew environment with a brick oven
- Jimmy John's sandwich shops - A chain that serves good sandwiches, reasonable prices, and quick service
AMENITIES/SERVICE
Overall, I was disappointed with what services you get for what you pay. This is an a la carte hotel - everything will cost you more. Also, I was disappointed in how long it took to get an answer on the phone.
CONCIERGE
The concierge, who happened to be the same man who served as doorman on our Sunday arrival, was superb. His restaurant suggestions were outstanding - not a miss among them. On the bad side, the concierge desk was undermanned and often was unavailable either by telephone or a personal visit.
INTERNET/PHONE
High speed wireless is available in most rooms, but at a ridiculous price - $9.99 per day (or you can add their $15 breakfast and internet to your rate for approximately $40-$50 extra per night)! Dial-up from your room will cost you as well - all local calls are billed at 95 cents, plus 10 cents per minute for every minute over 30. 8XX numbers give the first 30 minutes free, but then start paying 10 cents/minute.
If you need to get onto the Internet, though, you have other options. The business center is discussed above. The Holliday Inn across the street offers free wireless in their lounge and restaurant, and can be received from that side of the hotel. The Milwaukee Public Library (see below) is another option. There are coffee shops within walking distance that offer free high-speed. Finally, the best option is Marquette Park, which has WiFi compliments of the city within its limits.
ROOM SERVICE
Room service was available (though I try to stay out of my room as much as possible), and relatively reasonably-priced. An exception was the water provided in the room: two 1 liter bottles of Aquafina, priced at $4 each.
DON'T MISS
The Milwaukee Public Library - a huge and stately germanesque building. Over 1 Million volumes in a large and airy environment. If you have wi-fi on your laptop, it's free with a strong signal throughout the building. If not, $2 will give you a week's pass on their multitude of computers, including Office and 2hrs/day of high-speed Internet. The front of the Library has a coffee shop, and sells retired books for $1 (hardcover) and 50 cents (paperback), as well as CD's, tapes, art, and classic books. I ended up buying a stack of books published in the early 1900's (library collections, not first editions or anything like that, but still great) for $2.50 each.
Parks and museums - I was surprised by the quality of the parks and cultural attractions of Milwaukee. Though I didn't have enough time during the day, I would love to return to browse all of them.
The Milwaukee Brewers... of course.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Hilton Milwaukee City Center
509 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53203
(414) 271-7250
www.hiltonmilwaukee.com
Recommended:
Yes
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pilotpat
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Member: Pat
Location: World Traveler
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