DoubleTree by Hilton Aberdeen Treetops - Detailed Review
/As part of my close friend’s 23rd birthday, we planned a one-night trip to Aberdeen in the North East of Scotland. Due to my Hilton Diamond status, with all of the included perks, we decided a Hilton branded hotel would be the most natural fit.
There are 5 Hilton branded hotels to choose from in and around Aberdeen. 2 Hamptons, 2 DoubleTrees and 1 Garden Inn. We chose the DoubleTree Treetops, which cost £55 for the night.
A Brief History Of The Hotel
The hotel was previously owned by Oaktree Capital Management, before being sold to it’s current owner, 77 Hospitality, which also owns the DoubleTree in Dundee (see our review of that hotel here).
The hotel has 120 guest rooms, including a few one bedroom suites, 12 function rooms and a banqueting space for 600 guests.
Location
The hotel is located on Springfield Road, just off of Great Western Road, in the south west end of Aberdeen.
The hotel sits just outside the city in a leafy suburban area. It’s well placed, being just a 10 minute drive from the city centre and 16 minutes drive from the waterfront.
Some top nearby amenities include:
Duthie Park Winter Gardens (2.9 miles or 11 min drive)
Union Square Shopping Centre (3.2 miles or 11 min drive)
Aberdeen Maritime Museum (3.4 miles or 13 min drive)
Codona’s (4.2 miles or 16 min drive)
Old Aberdeen (5 miles or 16 min drive)
Getting There
By Car (Plus Parking)
From the north, including Aberdeen airport, the A90 or A92 are both good routes in, traffic dependent. From the south, you can get access via Seafield Road when you come off the A92 (which crosses the River Dee).
Parking at this hotel is free and there is no valet parking available.
By Train
Aberdeen Railway Station is the only one in Aberdeen, which joins on to Union Square Shopping Centre. The busiest railway station north of the central belt, inter-city, regional, local and sleeper trains all operate through this station.
I'd recommend booking train services via Trainline.
From the station, the walk would be around 2.5 miles but there are plenty of taxi ranks and bus stops on Union Street just a couple of minutes walk away. Uber is not currently available in Aberdeen.
Check In
Standard check-in time is from 3pm onwards. We arrived around 7:30pm and, after waiting around for 5 minutes for a guest in front, we managed to check in. There was no Hilton Honours check-in line at this hotel.
I was greeted by a very friendly member of staff who informed me that we were all upgraded to Queen Deluxe Rooms (always a good start). There were no suites available as there was a wedding on that evening. We were offered a welcome drink and the always-reliable DoubleTree cookie (it never gets old).
Now, here’s where the stay started to go a little downhill. If you’re used to the standards set by the rest of the DoubleTree brand worldwide, this hotel will more than likely let you down. The hotel has gone under several attempts at modernisation, to limited success. The reception area sets a wonderful tone, however this is not carried through to the halls or the rooms.
Where the lobby is modern and fresh, the halls leading to the rooms felt more like a work-in-progress with old-fashioned exposed brick, carpets straight out of the seventies and poorly-fitted ceiling tiles.
Queen Deluxe Room
The ‘Deluxe’ Rooms, in reality, didn’t feel like much of an upgrade from the standard. There was no premium feel and they were only slightly larger than their basic counterparts.
It also didn’t help that our room had a view of the pool roof.
I will talk about more specific issues further into this review but one glaring problem was the door to the room. It was clearly designed to be a fire door that shuts behind you (due to the top hinge) but this simply wasn’t working.
Furniture
The room featured a small seating area with a sofa and arm chair. The bed was comfortable, however it felt a little small. Across from the bed, was a standard desk and desk chair.
storage
There was shelf-space built into both bedside tables and a standing wardrobe on the other side of the room provided ample space for short trips.
power outlets
You could find a USB outlet and a standard power point on either side of the bed. There were also 3 unused plug points by the desk and one in the corner next to the sofa where the lamp was plugged in.
amenities
The room came equipped with all the essential DoubleTree equipment. A large Samsung TV hung on the wall (although it was offset from the bed). Inside the wardrobe, you could find an ironing set, plus a safe and a removable luggage rack.
The room also came with a kettle, two mugs, 4 UHT milks, a small selection of teas and coffees and sugar. 2 bottles of water were also provided.
WiFi
This was an issue on arrival the first day as the WiFi was down across the whole hotel. This not only meant you couldn’t access the internet, reception couldn’t take card payments either.
The following day, the WiFi was fixed and gave ample performance at 26.4 Mbps download speeds and 32.3 Mbps upload speeds.
house keeping
Most of the room was cleaned to a decent standard, however there were quite a few issues throughout. There was mould on the window sill, tape on the radiator, peeling paint on the toilet seat (due to water ingress) and 2 of the 4 bathroom lights were out.
There is no turndown service at this hotel.
Bathroom
This was a major let down for this room. Not only did it have a tired look, but it was beginning to look unhygienic. The shower had good water pressure, however it did take some finesse to get the temperature right.
amenities
This DoubleTree came with the Hilton standard Crabtree & Evelyn toiletries which are never disappointing.
As is also standard with the DoubleTree brand, you can get some additional complimentary toiletries from reception. A comb, razor, shaving cream, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, sewing kit and shower cap.
Hotel Facilities
This hotel has a large 15-meter indoor pool for guest use, plus a sauna, steam room and spa pool.
The hotel also had a well equipped gym with treadmills, exercise bikes, cross trainers, rowing machines and free weights, amongst other equipment.
Dining
breakfast at springfield’s restaurant
Breakfast is served from 6:30am to 10am weekdays and from 7-11am on weekends. It is complimentary for diamond members and this benefit was extended to my friends staying in the other room.
The breakfast area was heavily understaffed, having only one member of wait staff who had to seat people, clear tables and reset them. This resulted in us having to find a member of staff to seat us.
There was a reasonable selection of food, both hot and cold. A full Scottish, cereals, fruit, yoghurt, porridge, toad and croissants. There were no menus on the table so after pinching one from the unmanned welcome desk, I could see that there were a selection of eggs made to order, as well as a smoothie of the day.
Conclusion and Scoring
The DoubleTree Treetops, I feel, does not meet the standards set by the rest of the DoubleTree brand. It would first benefit from a major upgrade to its outdated appearance.
The hotel does have one major asset and that would be their staff. At every encounter they were both helpful and friendly, even storing a birthday cake in the fridge as the rooms did not come equipped with one.
Overall, if you decide to stay at the Aberdeen Treetops, you will be staying at a less than prime example of a DoubleTree hotel.
Complaint and Points Refund
After the stay, I made a complaint with the hotel using their chat box on the Hilton website. I specifically mentioned the hygiene and maintenance issues with the room. The staff member apologised and initially offered a refund of 4,000 Hilton Honours points. The Treetops hotel then got in touch with me directly and offered an additional 15,000 Hilton Honours point refund, meaning I was given 19,000 HH points total, in compensation.
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