Hilton Dartford Bridge Hotel

1 reader found this review helpful

I am not too sure what is required to achieve a 4 star rating, but personally - I wouldn't rate it 4 stars. We're also very unsure as to what in the room qualified this as having a title "Deluxe".
***The story:
We booked a Double, Double Deluxe room and the room was advertised as follows:
"Modern room with 2 double beds, bathrobe, desk and high-speed Internet access. Sleeps 4 adults."
"Stay comfortable - * Air Conditioning".
***The Pro's
The reception, bar and breakfast staff were all friendly and helpful.
Coffee and tea with a kettle were provided in the room.
The breakfast was superb. Lovely selection of cooked meats (sausage, bacon), mushrooms, eggs, beans - as well as many breads, cereals, fruit juices etc. Very enjoyable breakfast.
Decent location if you want to visit both Lakeside and Bluewater shopping centers.
2 double beds were in this room.
***The Con's
Our room did not have bathrobes and high speed Internet is certainly not included with the room, rather a paid extra (15 pounds per day - both wired and wireless).
We specifically booked this hotel and paid more than other hotels, because we wanted an Air Conditioned room in this heat. The room was advertised as having an air-conditioner and the room did indeed have an air vent that made noise and the grille felt cool. But putting ones hand in front of the grille, no air flow was felt and no cool air was coming out of it (and yes, we had the fan speed on high and the thermostat on low ;) ). To call this an air conditioned room, quite frankly is not true. I complained to the reception staff and was told that other people had complained and that they'd lowered the thermostat on the air-conditioner and in 20 minutes all would be better. Nothing changed at all, leaving the room very hot and humid. Sadly the hotel has also locked the window as the room had 'air conditioning', so no air flow was possible at all.
Car parking barriers weren't working and we queried that with reception and were told that it was out of order and that we need not worry. Then we found the car parking charge added to our bill instead of having to pay via ticket. Bill was pushed under bedroom door very early in the morning and we found this to be quite petty for 3 pounds.
Shower was very uncomfortable, with a fixed shower head that was in a position that made you stand right against the wall to be under the water flow. Not good.
We did miss a simple mini bar for a cold drink. A 4 star hotel, without a mini bar seems very odd to us. They were kind enough to leave a bottle of mineral water that would cost 3.95 pounds if we used it.
Asked for a taxi to Lakeside shopping center, and they phoned a taxi company that didn't have a meter in the car, and the driver calculated by distance driven. We had a quick detour to a cash point, but were charged 22 pounds for this journey. The return journey, via a licensed cab at Lakeside, cost 10 pounds less. Seems like a better taxi company could be found for hotel use.
Our room had the honor of having very bright sodium lamps installed outside, that were used to light up the hotel from a distance. Not very nice for the people in the rooms and forced curtains to be kept closed, leaving no view at all out of the window.
The employee that checked us out, appeared quite lacking in confidence in dealing with our comments about the air-conditioner and window being locked. She did offer a discount on the room, but it still left the hotel much more expensive than other hotels without an air-conditioner.
It's a hotel that promised much, but failed to deliver. I really expected much better from the name Hilton, for some reason. Left us very disappointed and we were very glad to leave.