I've got to say, I've seen better from (HILTON), and I don't mean their daughter and her sex tape.

"I've got to say, I've seen better from (HILTON), and I don't mean their daughters Sex tape either". 

It's gonna take some time to recover from our over night trip to Redington Beach, only due to the fact of choice of stay was last minute and well we kind of got a certain set rule of standards for shelter when we're traveling via bike to our resort style tourism life.
That standard is most certainly including as many stays at as many locations with the brand name and symbol (HILTON) on them, so we know as what to expect from their facilities, our main thing we look for is a hotel with wonderful views, and some luxury items such as a Jacuzzi, so when you burn off 173 miles one way to your destination, you can kick back and relax in the bubble tub, and have those magical bubbles wash the road rash away from the trip.
Yes, I said road rash, but, I meant it in a different context, so as to mean a state of feeling when you cover that kind of mileage on a bike, it's a lot different then doing it in a cage(CAR), kind of like jet lag except road version, and a bubble tub does wonders to cure this condition.

 Much to our dismay we discovered that this particular (HILTON) hotel did not have a Jacuzzi, but offered a wonderful pool parallel to the beach front , but when we checked it, it was freezing, and you'd have to be one, either really drunk and stupid to jump in it, and or two, someone from way up north that thinks 73 degree water is warm to them. Me (Not so much), as my body has more than acclimated to this regions temperatures seeing as I've been here so long.
For us the pool thing was a no, mid summer yes, and mid November, No way, but onto the rest of the place.
We ate at "Mango's bar and grill" they had fantastic, and I mean fantastic, food there.
You don't go the the coast and order chicken, you go to the coast and order up some of the freshest seafood, for us that night the grouper was just caught , meaning they just hauled it off the boats, Snapper was available, Chilled on Ice shaved, that's how that came in, so they classify that as "Previously frozen", but to us, when you see it being off loaded from a fishing boat, it's time to eat snapper, previously frozen in shaved ice or not, Snapper is the BOMB!
We had two small Cesar salads, one with steak, and one with the fresh shrimp, and then we had an order of Coconut Fried shrimp for  the appetizer, we drank sweet teas there, as drinks were more than pricey, wine in the hotel fridge was cheaper, so we opted on sweet teas at the table and drank in the room from (HELL). More on that next!

Oh Yes, when you see these pictures, you'll wonder just how far the standards are falling in an industry leader for hotels?

We stayed in room 205, please, and I mean please, if I were you, if you get stuck with this room ever, just ask for an upgrade, and or opt out of this location all together, as this room was horrible, the ceiling first thing I walked into the room was falling down, cracked from the entryway of the glass doors that lead out to the patio, all the way into the room clear above the setty. The picture below will attest to these very UN acceptable conditions from them, and it only gets worse.

Second shot shows better:

That chipped and cracked ceiling was right above a sitting chair and Ottoman, now just imagine that crack leading right over the bed in the same direction of travel, would you sleep a wink?

 

Here the below picture shows the start of the crack, all the way from the sliding glass doors which lead out to the patio:

Second picture shows the same but from a different angel:

Needless to say, the sheer fear of the ceiling coming down on my head all night kept me crispy wide awake, but that wasn't the only thing the room from hell offered to keep you awake, this room was conveniently located right above the (KITCHEN) of all things, and all night long, I had to listen to the hustle and bustle of the hotel kitchen staff cleaning, dropping, and banging things, but to make matters completely off the chain crazy. I kept telling Colleen, I hear helicopters, she said your hearing things go to bed, and I said,  no they sound constant, like there coming right at us? She once again said, she was tired, and she was going to bed, and that I should try and get some sleep myself, even though she knows I hardly sleep anymore, do to the pain I'm in constantly from my back injury, but the wonderful helicopter sound was followed by wafts of smells from the grill, oh and to mention that when we got back from having dinner at Mango's our room was filled with what looked like a cloud of ventilation smoke, that smelled like (STEAKS) which was a plus, but not needed in a hotel room that is for sure. It was almost like going to bed hungry and waking up starving, because they fired up that grill again first thing before we were ready to get outta bed, which by the way the HELICOPTER NOISE , I was forced to listen to came from these:

Those are two, very large industrial vent fans attached to the side of the building, which are vents for the grill and the frier's which just so happen to line perfectly up with the King size bed that they offered in the room, so now you get the reason why I kept saying to the wife I keep hearing HELICOPTERS, because those darn things were just as loud as them. Keep in mind that picture is off my balcony looking down the wall of our room, towards the front of the hotel, then if you look and or walk back in the room you'll see those bad boys are lined up (PERFECTLY), just enough to keep a guy who barely sleeps wide awake all night, at that point in the morning we were glad to be departing and heading back to Orlando, so I could finish up my article for Redington beach City Travel Council and escape the night in the room from (HELL).

Yet the fun continues with (SHOWER TIME), now I don't know who's in charge of decor, but the shower without an inside liner that isn't plastic, leads to very flooded floors, and to a guy with a bad back, and wet tile, there is so many reason why I could tell you to replace this fabric inner liner to the shower curtain with a plastic one safety wise, but I'd loose count, it leads to scenes like this one after showers are taken:

Pictured above is the mess on the floor of water from the shower being used, with two cloth curtains what did you expect? I don't know what they were thinking, but please correct this , because this very same thing was in room 212 as well, because when we were leaving to check out, we peaked into a room closer to the elevator, which would of suited me just fine, as I walk with a cane and the less walking the better for me in my condition, but ya, we noticed, both the wife and I saw the same thing on the floor in their bathroom. They too piled the towels against the bathtub to stop the flooding. That kind of flooding condition in each of  those tiled bathrooms is only going to lead to more over head cost from water damage and possible slip and fall law suits?

 

Being that part of my past job at Disney was being a safety inspector, this hear next item ought to really catch ones eye, as this lead to my wife cutting her left thumb on this little item here while fumbling for a light switch, part of the lamp on the table next to the bed had an ornamental palm leafs welded to them, to accent the room, well one of those leafs just happened to be broke off, and it was in the front of the lamp on my wife's side of the bed, and when we got back from dinner, the room was dark, and she tried looking at the top of the lamp for the switch, as you normally would, as that is where most of them are found, but yet she cut her finger on this weld hanging off the broken piece of leaf welded to the lamp fixture, and here the dumb switch was located at the base of the lamp, strange I know, but the cut finger got my attention right away, now it was merely a small scrap and we got the bleeding stopped sooner than expected, but that too will ruin a night of romance by the sea in a minute. This is truly unacceptable and you should hire a safety inspector to check all your properties for these types of safety violations that can truly hurt your guests and make their stay at your hotels a real bad experience, such as the wife and I had there. Below is the pictures of the lamp.

 

 

 

Well here it was with all these reasons for being the room from hell: Constant Kitchen noise below us, the ceiling looking as if it could go any minute,strange constant noise sounding like helicopters in the bed while trying to sleep , because of the vent fans on the opposite side of the wall that were perfectly lined up with the bed, flooding in the bathroom, that lead to us using most of the towels to control the flooding from someones brilliant decisison to use cloth shower curtains for a hotel with TILE flooring, that is a big no, no, the safety reasons are off the charts, and I don't even work for you yet. I'd sure be willing too, if you'd foot the bill for my travel and my stays at your properties, I'd be willing to re-inspect each and every room for (GUEST SATISFACTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS ) as a private consultant, But we can discuss this privately, please contact me via this thread. 

 

Double Tree Property or not, the (HILTON) name is branded on this hotel, and should live up to that standard at all times, this room was a complete failure in the (GUEST SATISFACTION CATEGORY) according to both, the wife and I.  We could offer this last suggestion, and that is to make this room a storage room, because really structure wise, it's not habitable, from a safety standpoint.

 

It was hard, but we made the best of the room from hell, I guess we travelers have to have one of these every now and then, and as I said before, thank goodness this was not for a multiple night stay, as I would of had something to say about it then.

 

 

So This location of (DOUBLE TREE RESORT, 17120 Gulf BLVD, North Redington Beach, Fl. 33708) is going to be a (PASS) for  the wife and I next round, unless maybe they can correct these types of errors in their safety and room standards that are sheerly tarnishing the (HILTON) name.

I Look forward to any one else who'd like to chime in with problems with this facility, I'd be interested in finding out how many others had this much trouble at a (HILTON) location, so don't be afraid please chime in.

 

Make It a GREAT Day Folk's !

Philip Dresko Sr.

Free Lance Travel Writer/ Photographer

"SCENES FROM THE SEAT"