DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Central - Detailed Review
/As we were celebrating our 3rd anniversary, Damon and I decided to treat ourselves to a night in the DoubleTree in my home town of Glasgow. Since both of us have Hilton Honours Diamond status, a night in any Hilton group hotel tends to offer good value for money. We selected this hotel as it had an executive lounge which we could access (note: the only DoubleTree in the UK to currently have one).
Plus, we’d get free breakfast and a space available upgrade to the maximum of a One Bedroom Suite. The night, for reference, cost £87.49 in total. In this article, we’ll be reviewing an Executive Room, the hotel’s amenities (pool, executive lounge etc.) and breakfast, both in the lounge and the Brisket Restaurant.
A Brief History of The Hotel
The DoubleTree Glasgow Central was only added to the DoubleTree portfolio of hotels in 2016. Prior to that, the hotel was known as Glasgow Central Hotel, owned and managed by Amaris Hospitality.
Amaris still own and run this hotel, which went under an £11 million pound refurbishment for its rebranding.
The hotel has over 300 guest rooms including a few one bedroom suites, a grand ballroom (up to 900 guests) and the Robert Burns Suite (up to 150 guests).
Location
The DoubleTree is situated on Cambridge Street, just off Renfrew Street, in the north-west end of Glasgow city centre.
Due to the hotel’s central location, there are a lot of attractions and restaurants in walking distance:
Theatre Royal (300m or 4 min walk)
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (500m or 6 min walk)
Buchanan Galleries Shopping Centre (600m or 7 min walk)
Princes Square Shopping Centre (1.1km or 13 min walk)
The hotel is also only a 3 min walk (260m) from the Cowcaddens subway stop. The Glasgow subway system is a 10km loop with 15 stations (8 stations north and 7 stations south of the River Clyde).
Getting There
By Train
There are two major train stations in Glasgow. Glasgow Central, the larger of the two train stations, offers local services and inter-city routes between Glasgow and England (including London). The smaller Queen Street Station serves northern towns and suburbs in Greater Glasgow, other Northern Scotland destinations and Edinburgh.
We’d recommend booking these services through Trainline.
The DoubleTree is an 800m walk (11 min) from Glasgow Central station and an 850m walk (11 min) from Glasgow Queen Street.
By Subway
One convenient way to get from the city centre to the hotel is the subway. There are two major stations on Buchanan Street, a major pedestrianised shopping street in the city centre, St Enoch station and Buchanan Street station.
The hotel is a 260m walk (3 min) from the Cowcaddens subway stop.
By Car (Plus parking)
The DoubleTree is around a 12-20 min drive from Glasgow Airport (traffic-dependant). If you’re crossing north over the River Clyde, on the M8, it tends to be quicker to access the hotel from the north side of the city, via Garscube Road.
The hotel has 2-storey underground parking for it’s guests with a charge of £9 per day. We arrived at the hotel expecting to have to pay this amount but the reception staff informed us parking was complimentary for diamond members.
There is no valet parking available.
By Uber
UberX, Uber XL and Exec are all available in and around Glasgow city centre and from Glasgow Airport (GLA).
Use our UBER code: andrewy2730ue or sign up here to get a free ride.
Check In
Official check-in time was 3pm but we arrived around 1pm to see if we could get a room early. The staff member at the desk offered us a choice of upgraded rooms (Diamond status working its magic there). We were offered a family room or an executive room (the Suites were all full). We chose an Executive Room (Room 806) on the top (eighth) floor of the hotel.
We were told the room wouldn’t be ready until 2pm but the staff member gave us keys to access the executive lounge whilst we waited. They also offered to hold our luggage in their storeroom so we didn’t have to. We’ll be covering the lounge further down this article.
We were also given two warm DoubleTree cookies on check-in. This is an amenity quite unique to DoubleTree hotels.
Executive Room
These rooms had only recently been renovated (one of the major reasons we chose this hotel over the larger Glasgow Hilton) and they felt fresh and clean. The decor was modern and neutral with slight pops of colour from the chairs and the pictures on the wall.
Room-wise, Executive Rooms are basically slightly larger versions of Guest Rooms. But that’s really where the structural, in-room differences end. The real benefit of an Executive Room is that it gives you access to the exec. lounge and complimentary breakfast. Plus, it might be on a higher floor.
But, if you’re a diamond member, you get exec. lounge access and complimentary breakfast anyway. On the hotel’s website it states that the exec rooms and above get luxury bath amenities but we were given the Hilton standard, Crabtree & Evelyn toiletries.
Our room had a view on to the centre and east-side of the hotel.
Furniture
The room included two arm chairs next to a small table, a comfortable king-sized bed and a desk chair.
The bed had in-built bedside tables on either side, bedside lamps and modern reading lights that flipped out of the headboard. All of the lights had a nice warm hue to them.
Storage
There was shelf space in either of the bedside tables but most of the storage space was in the double-wardrobe in the entryway. One of the wardrobes had plenty of hanging space, with 11 included hangers. The other had some shelf space and some more hanging space. Both wardrobes had large top shelves too.
Power Outlets
You could find 2 standard plug-points at the desk and 2 others under the mirror in the entryway. There was also a standard and a USB-plug point on either side of the bed (beneficial for international travellers and those who don’t like packing multiple charging bricks).
Amenities
The Executive Room came with your standard Hilton amenities. There was a 40 inch Samsung HD-TV built elegantly into the wall panelling right in front of the bed. Inside the wardrobe you could find an iron, plus ironing board, a safe and a luggage rack.
The room also came with your standard hotel tea and coffee facilities. A kettle, two mugs, UHT milk, tea, hot chocolate, coffee and some shortbread biscuits.
Both Executive Room guests and Diamond members will get given complimentary bottled water.
WiFi
The WiFi speed in this room was great. We were getting download speeds of 19.5 Mbps and upload speeds of 19 Mbps.
Housekeeping
The room was extremely tidy and the most of the room was cleaned to a high standard. However, we did discover a lipstick stain on the back one of the pillows. If there’s one place you want to be cleaned to a high standard, its the place you’ll be putting your head for the night.
There was no turndown service in this hotel.
Bathroom
The bathroom had clean, modern fixtures and was recently renovated. There was a sink, a toilet and a walk-in shower. The shower was built to the same standard as the one we experienced in the Hampton in Dundee.
The water had a good pressure and could be set at a nice temperature. But, pro-tip: Make sure the subtle-looking handheld shower-head is facing away from you when you go to turn the water on.
Amenities
As I mentioned above, the Hilton website states Executive Rooms and above get ‘luxury toiletries’. Although the Crabtree & Evelyn toiletries we were given were more than sufficient, they are the standard, so a bit of false advertising there.
As is also standard with Doubletree hotels, you can get some complimentary toiletries from reception (comb, razor, shaving cream, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, sewing kit and shower cap).
Hotel Facilities
Pool and Gym
The DoubleTree has a large indoor pool area with a sauna and steam room. The hotel does advertise a gym area but this was under refurbishment when we visited.
Business and Conference Facilities
This hotel is clearly aimed primarily at business travellers. The hotel has a business centre, fax, photo copying and printer facilities. The hotel also offers a number of meeting rooms, including a large ballroom which can accommodate up to 900 guests.
Dining
Executive Lounge
Having just recently stayed in the Hilton Stucky in Venice, we had an executive lounge to compare this too. And we have to say, this one was a lot better.
The lounge, situated on the ground floor of the hotel, was open 24/7 and offered snacks (crisps, cereal bars, biscuits), hot and cold drinks at all times. The room was a decent size and had plenty of seating (bench seats, chairs, stools etc.)
There was a small table with some reading materials and a large TV on the wall.
Hot food was served in the lounge from 6pm to 8pm. All of the food on offer was of good quality but there were a few delays at times. When we went down to the lounge around 6pm, the first batch had already been raided and it was quite slow to replace.
At the same time, they also offered some cold food options (crackers, fruit, a salad bar). Alcohol was also available. There was whisky, rum, gin, red and white wine.
As opposed to the Stucky in Venice, you could definitely have a satisfying breakfast in this lounge. On offer were sausages, bacon, eggs, potato scones, fruit salad, meat, some cold options, pastries and rolls. Breakfast was served in the lounge from 6:30am to 10:30am (7:30am to 10:30am weekends).
Breakfast at Brisket Restaurants
Breakfast is served in this restaurant from 6:30am to 10:30am (7:30am to 10:30am weekends). It is complimentary for diamond members, otherwise it would have cost £10pp per day.
There was a great selection of hot and cold food on offer. A full Scottish breakfast (beans, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, black pudding, haggis, sausages and bacon) was available.
Quite unique to this hotel was a kid’s corner. There were some cookies and a pancake maker in this section.
There was a cold food section with fruit, yoghurt, meat and cheese. Toast, crumpets, rolls, pastries and muffins were also available. You could ask for a selection of hot drinks, plus there was a range of cold drinks (a range of fruit juices).
There was also a menu with additional options, like Eggs Florentine or an omelette. But these came at an extra charge.
Conclusion and Scoring
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in the DoubleTree Glasgow. We picked this hotel for a few reasons. The recent refurbishment, the exec. lounge and the pool facilities.
The exec. lounge did not disappoint. There was a sufficient selection of food available at breakfast and evening meal times. Plus, a lounge where you can get hot/cold drinks and snacks 24/7 is a huge plus in my books.
But I think it’s fair to say, if you’re staying in a hotel, you expect to get access to the amenities they advertise. We should have been informed, prior to our stay, that the gym was under refurbishment and if you advertise superior toiletries in Exec Rooms and above, you expect that to be a given. Both of these issues can be easily remedied by the hotel for future guests.
If you’re staying in the DoubleTree Glasgow, overall you will be staying at a hotel in a great, accessible location, with an excellent range of amenities and superior service. We would definitely recommend a stay here.
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Damon and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit one of Glasgow’s most popular tourist attractions, the Clydeside Distillery. Here’s our comprehensive guide and review.