Hola! This was my first time going to El Salvador! I know it has had a bad reputation for being a dangerous country in the past, but things have really turned around in the past few years. This first visit to the country was safe and comfortable, which was great because this was a work trip! What made this stay pleasant was staying at a Hilton property in San Salvador. Check out my review of the Hilton San Salvador below!

Hotel Information

Summary

• 7th floor Executive Room was clean, spacious, well-equipped, but showed signs of wear and tear
• Great amenities made for a comfortable stay
• Breakfast spread is fantastic

Booking the Hilton San Salvador

This trip was a business trip. For this hotel stay at the Hilton San Salvador, it was a little bit of a weird situation. Normally, I would book using my company’s internal travel portal. I saw that the Hilton San Salvador had a pretty high rate (like $280/night) and hesitated on actually booking it. Instead, I reached out to my supplier’s company rep to see about getting a better rate, and she was able to secure a much better rate of about $150/night.

I think this ended up being something of a third-party booking. And because of that, I didn’t get credited points for the stay.

Weirdly, I also didn’t have to pay when I checked out. I’m assuming that this ended up being billed to the contract between my company and the supplier, and nothing came out of pocket for me. It felt like I stole $531.00 as that was the amount I didn’t pay out of pocket!

Yay?

So with all that said, my booking didn’t have my Hilton Honors number attached until…check-in.

Location of the Hilton San Salvador

The Hilton San Salvador sits at the foot of the mountains that surround the San Salvador Volcano in the western part of the city. Its address is 89 Ave. Norte Y, 11 Calle Pte, San Salvador 1101, El Salvador

I would say there wasn’t much around the hotel in terms of restaurants and shopping as it seemed like the surrounding blocks were neighborhoods where people lived. However, the World Trade Center San Salvador is just next door and is a good skyscraper landmark.

My coworkers and I did venture out twice from the hotel on foot to walk like 10-20 minutes to various restaurants found via Google. Otherwise we Uber’d around, which was totally fine as Ubers were super cheap. Like $5 USD to get from one side of the city to the other.

To get to the hotel from the airport, I utilized a shuttle van arranged by my supplier. The ride was about an hour long as the airport is near the coast whereas San Salvador is further inland and higher up, and there’s only one major road that is between the city and the airport.

Lobby and Check In at the Hilton San Salvador

The parking lot was wide but fairly narrow as any vehicles pulling up to the front needed to circle around it just to get to the front door. The front door of the hotel was covered, which was nice since it was raining the day I arrived.

After passing through the main sliding doors into the lobby, the front desk was on the left, meeting rooms and the onsite cafe were to the right, and straight ahead was the elevators to the room and hallways leading to the bar and restaurant.

The front desk was L-shaped, and it looked like two representatives work it at a time. This wasn’t a problem at the time I checked-in at about 2:30PM, but I would imagine that it could easily get backed up if there’s a rush.

Like I mentioned above, this was a weird booking so I couldn’t use my app to check in. When I got in line to talk to the front desk, the agent asked for my passport so that he could look up my reservation. Despite the weird booking, he was able to find my reservation. During the process, he actually asked for my Hilton Honors number so I gave it, and he was able to input it into my reservation. He thanked me for being a Diamond member and reiterated the MyWay benefits (1000 points for the stay). Then he also explained breakfast hours for both the restaurant and the Executive lounge. Breakfast was included with this stay.

When I booked this hotel with my supplier, apparently the rate was being able to stay in an Executive Room. And I’ll consider that I got a complimentary upgrade (from my Diamond status) to a better view as my hotel room’s reservation did indicate “volcano view”.

After he gave me my keycards, I waited for my coworkers to check in, and then we were on our way to our separate rooms.

Executive Room at the Hilton San Salvador

At the Hilton San Salvador, the Executive Floors are 6th and 7th–the top two floors of the hotel. I noted that the elevators of the hotel require a keycard swipe to access the guestrooms.

My room number was 702, which is at one end of the hallway on the 7th floor of the hotel. Like …the very end. This plays into my hotel room location preferences of being on high floors and as far from the elevators as possible.

Walking into the room, the closet was to the left, the bathroom to the right, and the room straight ahead. The room is decently spacious for just one person, and I’d say the size of it is comparable to most US hotels. 

The room had various features:

• Keycard slot to power the room
• Very large walk-in closet
• Full size mirror in room
• Built-in luggage rack/bench
• ~65” TV on stand that’s also dresser with lockbox
• Coffee machine and stuff, including ice bucket
• Large mini fridge
• Desk and chair
• Lounging chair in corner
• King size bed with side tables/drawers

Because this was a corner room, there were actually windows on two of the walls. However, large heavy curtains covered the wall behind the TV and desk, and I never desired to open those curtains. The windows on the far end of the room have great views of the backside of the property as well as the low mountain peak and nearby valleys. There was a very small balcony, but I never opened the sliding doors.

Amenities and Features of the Executive Room

Circling back, let’s talk about the various amenities and features of the room. Note that this was the kind of hotel room that requires a keycard in a slot on the wall by the door in order to turn on the power for the rest of the room.

But first…let’s start with the closet. My gosh! The closet was absurdly huge. And this normally wouldn’t be a problem as most hotel closets that are big tend to have more storage to fill the space. However, the closet had the typical hangar rod and shelf only, and the rest was just empty space. So empty that I could have probably fit two twin mattresses side-by-side within it! Put another way…it has room for activities! See the pic above to get a better view. Otherwise, the closet came with an ironing board, an iron, extra pillow, extra blanket, hangars, two robes, and the typical laundry service bag and form. I did use the hangars to hang up my work clothes.

Inside the room, immediately to the left is a built-in luggage rack. Or is it a bench? I dunno, but I used it like a luggage rack, and for that purpose, it was nice because of its width. It had cushions like a bench though I never used it as such. I think you could sit two people on it comfortably. Did I? No. But I did place my luggage here for easy ergonomic access when I unpacked and repacked. If you look at the picture below, you can see how darkly lit the room is and how this luggage rack doesn’t stand out. But it was there.

The dresser had two large and deep drawers with one shelf underneath (which had one pair of disposable slippers). It also had one cabinet that housed the lockbox and another shelf. The dressers contained nothing, and I found them to be clean with a nice wood smell. I did use one of the drawers for my underclothes.

On top of the dresser is a large, LG flatscreen TV that estimate it to be about 65”. I know in US hotels these days, usually the TV is on when you walk in with your name on the screen, but that was not the case here. I never turned on the TV during this stay, but the remote and channel guide were available in the room.

For coffee, the machine in the room was the typical Cuisinart brand seen at most Hilton hotels that can brew two cups at once. No disposable cups as mugs are provided. Along with the machine and mugs are the typical coffee pods, tea bags, sugar, creamer, etc. I felt tempted to use the coffee machine, but ultimately decided every time that I’d get coffee from breakfast or the Executive Lounge in the mornings.

Right next to the coffee machine was the ice bucket, two complimentary bottles of water, and two glasses. I didn’t use any of these either. 

Next to the dresser was the large mini-fridge. I say large because it was the same height as the dresser. On top of the fridge was the basket of mini-bar snacks as well as pamphlets to tell you how much everything cost. Inside the fridge were sodas, beers, and a candy bar. I never make use of mini-bar stuff since hotels tend to overprice the items. Also, I don’t think any of the mini-bar had sensors that could tell if I moved anything so that the front desk could charge me accordingly.

The desk was of decent width. As you can see below, on top of the desk were power ports, a table lamp, and room service menus–both during the day and during the night. The office chair to accompany the desk was comfortable enough for the short amount of time that I used it. 

In the far corner of the room was the lounging chair. I never sat in it, but it had a short ottoman, a side table, and a floor lamp behind it. Seemed like a nice place to sit and chill, but I didn’t really do that as the bed was far more superior lol.

Speaking of the bed… it was king size. The bed had four pillows–all had a firm squishiness but not in the way that I like. You know that squishiness that squishes then stays that way? Yeah, that described these pillows. The bed also had a comforter and sheet. No accent pillows or other accessory bedding. Beside each side of the bed were side tables with drawers. One side had the room phone with note pads, and the other had a fancy alarm clock that had USB-C and wireless charging for phones.

Decor inside the Executive Room

As far as aesthetics go, the Executive Room kind of gave a slightly moody feel. I think it was because of the dark brown furniture, gray carpet, and lighter colored walls. The lights in the room gave yellow glows.

For artwork, I didn’t really see any except for the one framed canvas print of a birds eye view photo of some geographical feature that I’m assuming is in El Salvador. I don’t know that I’ve seen photo canvas prints in a hotel room before as they tend to be forgettable and abstract unless the room tries to fit into some distinct overall hotel aesthetic. Either way, I thought it was weird and …cheap.

Cleanliness and Wear/Tear in the Executive Room

Inside the room, I found it to be pretty clean. I didn’t notice anything egregious, and I didn’t throw up in my mouth a little as I went about the room. Though I will say there was something weird about the pillows. Or…the headboard. Or the bed. Or something. Maybe it was the detergent and musk of the room that gave a noticeable weird smell like a fart. I could never trace where that smell was coming from, and I don’t think it was me! It was weird because… I couldn’t consistently smell it, but it was there every so often if I moved around at the back of the bed.

The bed had clean sheets and pillowcases, and I didn’t notice/feel any debris on the carpet.

Looking at the finer details of the room, I convinced myself that this was a converted hotel because the carpet looked like it was added after the fact. I saw carpet sections in the hallway that were not continuous with the rest of the room, and there was a wire running across that I could feel with my feet. Some Googling led me to learn that it was once a Crowne Plaza hotel, and became a Hilton in 2020. I know it’s been several years now, but it almost seems like the renovation work was a little shoddy. Not in a bad way. But noticeable in the details.

Noises in the Executive Room

Thankfully, the room itself wasn’t noisy. I did notice that the A/C makes a soft hum when it ran, but nothing like an A/C unit at an old and rickety Hampton Inn in a Houston, TX summer. 

I don’t think I had neighbors across the hall or next to me so I didn’t really hear other guests moving about their rooms. Then again, this was a corner room at the end of the hallway.

Now, the most struggle I had with noise in this room was the first night. Apparently the hotel hosted a fairly large tech conference, and they had some sort of mixer in the courtyard that my room overlooked. Loud music! Not great after a day of travel and grabbing dinner with coworkers and wanting to go to bed relatively early. Thankfully it stopped at about 10PM. Which was kind of surprising because…as Spain and other Hispanic countries/cultures taught me, parties can last well into the night!

Temperature in the Executive Room

El Salvador has a more tropical climate so humidity is more prevalent. I didn’t think this was an issue for the room as the air conditioner kept the room cool. I did think it to be a little warm and muggy when I first arrived so I turned it down like 1 deg to 20C. 

To help keep the room temperature stable, I left the second keycard given to me by the front desk in the power slot for the room so that the room and A/C never powered off.

At night, I felt like it got cold enough for me to sleep comfortably with the comforter. I probably should have looked at data on my smart ring for comparison, but alas I did not.

Overall Impression of the Executive Room

Because this was a business trip with coworkers, the goal for me using the room was just to sleep and get ready for the day. I didn’t really leisurely hang out in it for long periods of time as much of my time at the hotel was spent outside of the room whether at the bar or Executive Lounge (see below). 

Writing this review after the stay, the thing that’s still wild to me is the closet! It was unnecessarily huge, but nice to know that it offered plenty of storage space. 

While I had trouble sleeping the first night due to getting used to sleeping in a hotel again annnnnnd the loud music playing outside until 10PM, the second and third nights were better. However, I still had some trouble those nights probably because of late dinners and drinks.

Overall, I think the room provided more than adequate accommodations for my particular use case for this trip. It was a clean and decently comfortable stay in the room.

Bathroom in the Executive Room

The bathroom was at the front entrance of the room with a swinging door that swings into the bathroom. Inside, it was rectangular in shape. To the left was the sink, the middle had the toilet, and the right was the shower.

Amenities and Features in the Bathroom

For the sink, I noticed a few amenities. The hair dryer was on a shelf beneath the sink, there was a tissue box on top as well as travel sized mouthwash, a bar of soap, disposable scrub pad, and disposable shower cap. Persea branded lotion and hand wash were in refillable bottles on the wall. I didn’t use any of these except the bar of soap for washing my hands.

The toilet is pretty basic. Probably annoying are the flush buttons being in the center of the tank on top. This means you have to reach around a little further to flush . I also found it amusing that the toilet paper brand they’re using is Kleenex. For flush power, the toilet wasn’t very powerful.

The shower is spacious as it fills the length of its wall. The showerhead is up high so I don’t think tall people would have issues with their head running into it. Temperature-wise, I didn’t have issues having to wait for the water to warm up. I did think the water pressure was on the lower side, but not frustratingly low. For amenities, the shower does come with Persea shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. I actually did use the conditioner, but it took me many pumps before I got any out of the bottle. The scent was some herb and lavender–smelled good. I just assume that Persea stuff is mostly botanical in scent.

Decor in the Bathroom

The decor in the bathroom is fairly minimal. I did notice that the sink area is the same dark brown/black wood in the room. And the artwork in the bathroom is another framed canvas print (see pic above). The tiles on the bathroom floor were a brown/gray, and the tiles in the shower were like gray/yellow. Very basic.

Cleanliness and Wear/Tear in the Bathroom

I thought the cleanliness of the bathroom was pretty clean. Nothing obvious. No weird stains anywhere.

For wear and tear, I thought it was similar to the room wherein there were small details that convinced me that the renovation job of this hotel was kind of meh. But other than that, nothing looked obviously terrible. No broken tiles or holes in the wall. Maybe some noticeable caulking that could use some repair.

Noises in the Bathroom

I didn’t notice any hums or exterior noise for the bathroom. The faucets didn’t make any annoying drip sounds. And I didn’t hear other hotel system sounds like the plumbing of other rooms and such.

Overall Impression of the Bathroom

I appreciated that there was some generous space within the bathroom. Sometimes I feel like all the major fixtures tend to get squished close together, but that wasn’t the case here. The two bits of frustration I had was that there was no hand towel rack at which to hang the hand towel for drying my hands after using the sink, and that the toilet’s flush power is low. Because of that low flush power, I had a bit of an embarrassing situation with the toilet that I won’t describe here… lol…

WiFi in Executive Room

When I checked into the hotel, they gave me the SSID and password in the keycard envelope. It didn’t cost anything to use the WiFi, and I didn’t see any distinction between normal and premium like hotels in the USA.

As far as speed goes, I thought it to be about average from what I’ve seen at other Hilton properties.

• 20.55 mbps download
• 19.11 mbps upload
• 4 ms ping

I just used the WiFi for my phone, and that was good enough. I didn’t experience any hiccups other than trying to get connected for the first time as the splash page didn’t load properly initially.

Amenities at the Hilton San Salvador

The Hilton San Salvador is a full-service hotel so it had a good handful of amenities typical of such properties.

Restaurants and Bars

At the Hilton San Salvador, you can find one restaurant, one bar, and a coffee lounge. Room service was also available in the room with selections from these establishments. 

El Mirador – restaurant

• Location: 1st floor, towards the outdoor courtyard, and adjacent to the Terra Bar
• Hours: 5:30AM-11:00PM

The restaurant featured plenty of indoor seating with elegant aesthetics without being gaudy. It also had an outdoor patio with views of the mountains behind the hotel–el mirador, “the viewpoint”, I suppose!

I only ate here once for breakfast (see below). Because of this, I am not quite sure what they offer on their menu.

My last night at the hotel, I noticed a big group seated in the middle eating dinner. And not really anyone else. I figured they were part of the tech conference group.

Essenza – coffee lounge/cafe

• Location: 1st floor, opposite of the front desk in the courtyard area
• Hours: 6:00AM-11:00PM

It was interesting to me to see a hotel coffee shop that wasn’t a fake Starbucks, haha. I only passed by but saw that it looked like your typical cafe that offers various coffee drinks and other drinks. You can also pick up sandwiches, salads, and other snacks.

I never bought anything from here during my stay, and I never saw it busy. Just a few individuals inside at any given time. Sorry, no pic!

Terra Bar – bar

• Location: 1st floor, towards the outdoor courtyard, closer to the elevators to the room
• Hours: 11:00AM-11:00PM

This bar had a lengthy counter, with about half of it that faced the bar and bartenders, and the other half faced a projector screen that usually had sports on. Also its dark colors give it a moody feel.

You can either order directly from the bar or the bartenders give you a QR code menu to see what’s available for both food and drink.

My coworkers and I had several drinks here. Service wasn’t fast, but it was friendly and attentive. On the first night, the bar was pretty busy as a big conference was staying at the hotel. On the last night, it was less busy in the bar area as more people were sitting in the lobby around the live band.

Speaking of the live band… a jazz combo (bass, guitar, piano) played classics on the last night of my stay towards the end of the bar and more in the lobby.

The latest information for El Mirador, Essenza, and Terra Bar can be found here.

Breakfast at El Mirador

The standard breakfast offered was at the El Mirador restaurant. It was buffet-style.

• Hours: 6:00AM-10:00AM 

At El Mirador’s host stand, you can leave your name and room number if you have breakfast included with your stay. As I mentioned in the Booking section above, breakfast was included with my stay though I am not sure if that was because of my being in an Executive Room or being a Diamond member. I know that Hilton hotels in the US have gone the way of food and beverage credit that can be used for breakfast, but I am glad that wasn’t the case here.

I was pretty impressed by the breakfast spread! While it doesn’t give the Conrad Tokyo nor Hilton Rome Airport hotels a run for their money, I thought that the offerings were pretty great.

The buffet included hot foods, cold foods, breads, pastries, a station for made-to-order eggs, and another station for pupusas (at the outdoor patio).

For hot foods in the buffet line, I saw things like:

• Scrambled eggs
• Beans
• Chilaquiles
• Other local specialities that I’m not sure of or remember their name

As for cold foods, I saw:

• Fruits served different ways
• Salads (still weird to me that salad is a breakfast item)
• Yogurt with toppings
• Cheeses
• Cold cuts

The bread and pastries selection forced me to make some tough choices as the selections were varied and delicious-looking. I mean, just look at it below!

Cereals, fresh juices, and such were also available.

As far as what I actually ended up with (apart from the pupusa pictured above), I had scrambled eggs, some sort of chicken, cheese bread, and chocolate bread. Ooh and coffee. All were pretty good! I didn’t want to overload myself because I had a big dinner the night before.

Like I said, I thought the spread was really great. And I only ate here once due to wanting to try the Executive Lounge breakfast (see below). I love that sitting outdoors was an option, and plenty of seating was available either inside or outside. 

I would recommend eating here for breakfast if you want a lot of variety or want to try various things and/or sit outside!

Executive Lounge

For guests staying in an Executive Room or who are Diamond members, the lounge is an option for breakfast and offers a happy hour in the evenings as well. 

• Location: 7th floor
• Breakfast Hours: 6:00AM-???? (I never confirmed when breakfast is done, but I assume 10:00AM)
• Happy Hours: 6:00PM-9:00PM

To access, you need to scan your keycard on the door of the lounge.

For the amount of space the Executive Lounge had, I was surprised at how many different seating options there were ranging from couches to normal dining to hightop dining, seating for one or two to a group, and more. I did appreciate that the couches were at the front of the TV as that made it conducive to watch North American sports with drinks with my coworker.

During breakfast and happy hour, a lounge attendant was available to take drink orders. I am not sure to what extent the drinks were available, but certainly canned and bottled drinks were.

Breakfast

The breakfast food in the Executive Lounge was interesting to me. It looked as though the menu changed every day, and everything looked like hors d’evores. I didn’t have a problem with that, but I recall wanting simplicity like scrambled eggs but…noooooOOOOooo…it had to be poached egg on toast. Or no egg at all. 

The lounge had a coffee/espresso machine and some juices available in the mornings. The attendant could also take other drink orders.

Most certainly the Executive Lounge felt pretty exclusive in the early mornings as both times I ate there, there was maybe like two to three others at most eating there at the same time I did.

But where I think the Executive Lounge really wowed me was the views in the morning. Because the windows face north-northeast, the sunrise and mountains made for a beautiful view to pair with my coffee and fingerfood breakfast.

If you value great views and quieter mornings, then the Executive Lounge is the way to go for breakfast!

Happy Hour

During happy hour, a standard spread of various hors d’evores and small plate type food are available. 

I ran into another coworker here on the first evening, and I’m pretty sure he had lite dinners here during his stay without going out and about in order to save money, haha. Honestly, at international Hiltons with a lounge, I’ve done this before!

The major lesson that my coworkers and I learned here at the Executive Lounge is that there was a two drink limit during happy hour. Not really an issue, but definitely something to be cognizant about. We didn’t know as there was no sign posted about this limit anywhere.

The Executive Lounge was a great place to enjoy some drinks and snacks before heading out for the night to grab a nicer dinner elsewhere, which is exactly what my coworkers and I did. Twice.

Gym

The Hilton San Salvador offers a decent gym for keeping fit while staying at the property.

• Location: 1st floor, across from pool, access is from outdoors
• Hours: 24/7

To access the gym, swipe your room keycard. I must say that the only way to access the gym is by going outdoors. The first morning I went, it was raining pretty hard so that made going into the gym a little bit of a wet challenge…

The gym was unattended. I know sometimes full-service Hilton hotels in foreign locations have full-fledged independent gyms attached to the hotel (like the Hilton Frankfurt or the Hilton Rome Airport), but that was not the case here.

The gym is of decent size. I feel like if more than 5 people are using it then it would likely feel crowded. The layout of the gym is divided by a weight area, and kind of an L-shaped area where the cardio machines are. 

As far as equipment goes, the following were available:

• Cardio (has TVs on each, no smartwatch sync):
  • 4x treadmills
  • 3x ellipticals
• Weights
  • Dumbbell set
  • Flat press
  • Leg press
  • Leg extension/curl
  • Cable machine
  • Medicine balls

For amenities that the gym offers:

• Water dispenser (like a Sparkletts)
• Towels
• Individual Restrooms (men’s and women’s)
• Scale
• Mats
• TV
• Spray bottle and towels for wiping down equipment

I visited the gym twice during my stay: early morning the second day and early morning the third day. On the second day, I went in around 4:20AM and there was only one other guest. As time went on, a few more showed up. I was able to do a full lower body workout while shifting around different equipment without getting in the way of the others. On the third day, I visited the gym at about 4:00AM, and there was one other guest. He left early, and I was able to take pics for this gym section of the review, haha. I didn’t stay long as I felt like I wanted to go back to bed, so I did.

Regarding the cleanliness of the gym, I thought it wasn’t gross or anything like that. Perhaps the floor was a little questionable as I saw a few bugs and some dust/debris. I didn’t see trash or dirty-looking gym equipment.

For wear and tear, I didn’t see gashes on bench pads, missing equipment, or chipped dumbbells. Overall the equipment looked decently maintained.

Overall, I thought the gym was more than adequate for me looking to get a decent workout in before getting the day started. I’m glad the hotel was equipped with more than just dumbbells for weights so I was able to do more of my normal strength training routine. I did think that the gym seemed a little muggy, but I think that is because it opens to the outdoors and El Salvador has a tropical climate.

Pool

The Hilton San Salvador has an outdoor pool with lounge chairs. The restaurant’s outdoor patio overlooks it.

• Location: 1st floor, outside in the courtyard
• Hours: 6:00AM-7:00PM

To access the pool, swipe your room keycard on the gates leading into the pool area.

I would say the pool was medium-sized. It was not as small as something you’d find at a Hampton or Hilton Garden Inn, but was not Olympic-sized that you’d be able to swim laps in either. 

Ironically, I didn’t use the pool though I did think about it as I did pack swim trunks. Honestly, I never saw anyone use the pool at all during my stay. 

As I mentioned above multiple times, the hotel was hosting a fairly large multi-day conference, and they had set up the main space of the courtyard right next to the pool with an outdoor tent with buffet tables and seating. I had to basically walk through this setup just to get to one of the entrance gates to the pool. This probably detracted people from using the pool. I mean…it also detracted me, haha.

Laundry

As is typical for many hotels, there was a laundry service bag in the closet with accompanying form. I never use this service at any hotel unless work pays for it on a long stay, so I am unsure how much it costed here at the Hilton San Salvador.

I also did not find any guest laundry area at the hotel.

Gift Shop “La Piskucha”

I did notice a small gift shop and market on the property called “La Piskucha.”

• Location: 1st floor, outside, between front desk and gym
• Hours: M-F 9:30AM-6:30PM, Sat 9:00AM-5:00PM, Sun closed

While walking past it, I noticed that the gift shop sells typical gift shop items. I didn’t go in, so I was not sure of what is really offered inside until I visited the website after the fact. La Piskucha sells artisan handmade goods that would make a great gift or keepsake from visiting El Salvador.

Parking

Apparently the hotel has a paid parking garage somewhere adjacent to the hotel. I found out because the app’s hotel guide mentioned it.

Regardless, I didn’t have a rental car as I utilized Ubers and the work shuttle van for transportation in/out of the hotel.

Meeting Rooms and Conference Center

According to their website, the Hilton San Salvador is the largest hotel convention center in the city. 

There was indeed a large tech conference happening during my stay, and it looked like they were utilizing every meeting room space at the hotel. I frequently saw people with conference badges and lanyards milling around the hotel.

Service at the Hilton San Salvador

My encounters with staff at the Hilton San Salvador were pretty much limited to the front desk, the bar, the restaurant, and the lounge. I think in all cases, everyone was friendly and attentive. I would say they were not necessarily expedient in their services (particularly at the restaurant and bar), but I was never waiting around for too long for anything.

In the rooms are two doortags: one for Do Not Disturb, and one for requesting housekeeping. I requested housekeeping once using the doortag, and they did indeed make up and clean the room. While walking through the hallway of my floor as I went to and came back from work, they would greet me.

Occupancy at the Hilton San Salvador

As mentioned above, there was some sort of large tech conference happening during my stay. I think most of the attendees were staying in non-Executive floors as I hardly saw them while up on my floor or in the lounge.

Because of the nature of my work, I also saw other aviation-related guests staying at the hotel (more than just my coworkers and colleagues! lol). 

Overall, I didn’t encounter disruptive guests. The conference attendees were well-behaved, haha.

Stories

I do have a few observations to share.

On the morning of my third day, I went to the gym at like 4:00AM. I had to pass through the lobby in order to get to the courtyard to enter the gym. In the lobby were three guests sitting in the lobby area in front of the bar. Surrounding them were cans and cans and cans of Suprema (one of El Salvador’s beers). I actually thought they were Sprite cans as Suprema cans are also green and white, and I thought it weird for them to be up all night drinking Sprite. But upon somewhat closer inspection, I saw the word “Suprema” on the cans. They weren’t being crazy–I think they were just up all night talking and drinking in the lobby.

There’s an aviation-related company in El Salvador that major airlines like to use, so it’s not surprising to run into Americans at the big hotel chains in San Salvador. I was able to strike up some small talk in the elevator and lobby with a gentleman from a rival company of mine. He made some comparisons between the Hilton San Salvador and the Sheraton Presidente, and he liked the Hilton more. Nice. Maybe I’ll get to try the Sheraton Presidente next time.

Lessons Learned

As a summary from this stay, I had a few lessons learned:

• The Executive Lounge had a two alcoholic drink limit
• Water pressure for the toilet in the room was low

Bottom Line

The Hilton San Salvador was a pretty nice hotel to for me to stay in while on the job. It had a clean and comfortable Executive Room, and had standard amenities to enjoy before and after work. Despite the large tech conference that the hotel hosted during my stay, I didn’t really run into problems other than a noisy first night. While I wish there were more food options near the hotel to walk to, taking an Uber was cheap and convenient, and the Executive Lounge and Terra Bar were great places to have an evening drink and appetizers.

I would totally stay here again on future work trips!

What do you think of the Hilton San Salvador? Would you stay here when you visit San Salvador?

I’m mostly a Hilton guy–check out these other Hilton hotel reviews!

• Spark by Hilton San Antonio Airport
• The Spring House Hotel Rome Vatican, Tapestry Collection by Hilton
• Hilton Rome Airport

The post Review: Hilton San Salvador appeared first on Where Is Randell?.

After spending some time in Rome and Vatican City for the weekend, I needed a place to stay before my flight back home to the United States Monday morning. Remembering my last trip to Rome, I knew that there are handful of options near Fiumicino airport. I ended up picking the Hilton Rome Airport for its convenient location and desire to try it for the first time. Check out this Hilton Rome Report review below!

Hotel Information

Summary

• Fantastic location for easy access to the airport
• Restaurant has great food and amazing breakfast buffet
• Room had plenty of space and storage

Booking the Hilton Rome Airport

Similar to the other bookings for this trip, I booked this hotel back in November 2024 as a King Hilton Guestroom for 297 Euro. After taxes and conversion, it ended up being $376.54.

I used the app to book directly, and I did not use any points. While I could have used points, I also lowkey wanted to be able to get my bank of points back up to over 1 million by spending the money on stays.

Because I knew that my flight home was around 10AM for Monday, I wanted an airport hotel to stay the night before to make it easier knowing that Rome is a solid 30+ minutes away from the airport. This hotel is in a prime location, so booking it to meet this requirement was a no brainer.

Location of Hilton Rome Airport

This is the closest Hilton hotel to the airport, and you don’t even need to book a taxi to get to the airport. A pedestrian bridge is available that connects to the terminals from the front of the hotel.

I took a 60 Euro uber to get here from The Spring House Hotel. The driver dropped me off right at the doors.

Lobby and Checking In at Hilton Rome Airport

Inside the lobby, past the sliding doors is the very long front desk with specific desks for Priority Check-In (those with Diamond status), normal check-in, and then some sort of car service desk at the end.

Left of the front desk is a concierge desk, but I never saw anyone man it. A sitting area is also behind the concierge desk.

To the right of the front desk is a sitting area with books and magazines, and information about the small art gallery in the lobby. Beyond this sitting area is the rest of the ground floor of the hotel.

I arrived at the hotel at about 3:20PM, and check in started at 2PM. I was able to immediately talk to the Priority check-in desk. He verified my stay, verified and acknowledged my Diamond status, and he briefly explained the various amenities of the hotel. He then handed me my Diamond member stuff: a snack, a sheet of paper with information for Diamond/Executive stays, and my two keys. But one key was for my room and the other was for the gym and pool. Kinda weird.

Room at the Hilton Rome Airport

When I checked into the hotel, I got upgraded and ended up with a King Executive room. How nice! I had room 5092 located on the 5th floor. The 5th floor has a wing of Executive rooms.

Inside the room, I was reminded of the layout and square footage of the Executive rooms at the Hilton Nagoya (which I’m very familiar with due to practically living there for a while).

Walking into the room, there’s a mini-hallway between the closet and bathroom. Closet on the right, bathroom on the left.

The closet itself has parts with a door and without a door. Attached to the end of the closet is a built-in luggage rack.

In the main space of the room is the king bed with an ottoman and built-in side tables. Across from the bed is the TV.

On the window side of the room is a full size chaise lounge chair that could probably also serve as an extra bed. The desk fills out the rest of the length of the wall.

The window itself had sheer and blackout curtains. And the view outside was of the roof of the hotel conference center as well as the train tracks.

Amenities in the Room

Starting with the closet, several amenities are included. Hangars can be found both in the open-face portion of the closet as well as behind the mirror door. A bottom drawer houses the hair dryer and iron. Shelving within has the lockbox and ironing board. The built-in luggage rack has a bottom drawer and a decorative rod for hanging things. And by decorative, I mean kind of industrial to fit in with the darker aesthetic.

The desk against the window has an overhead lamp, power outlets, trash can, and the typical in-room coffee station. Here, there’s an electric kettle, ice bucket, glass cups, ceramic mugs, instant coffee and tea, sugar, creamer, stirrers, and napkins. Within the desk is a cabinet housing the mini-fridge. Inside were the two water bottles for me being a Diamond member (otherwise a few Euro for non-Diamond).

For the bed, there were side lamps and reading lights on either side. A room phone sits atop one of the side tables and power outlets are available on either side. Light switches for the entire room are accessible on both sides of the bed, which is a nice touch. Lastly, an ottoman is at the foot of the bed. On top of the ottoman was a bathrobe and a pair of disposable slippers.

Decor in the Room

The colors are black and white with light accents throughout. The designs are somewhat minimal and modern industrial.

There was one piece of artwork in the room that looks like a ship window with a view of the sea, and this was a motif throughout the Executive rooms hallway.

Bed Comfort

I found the bed to be firm, which I like. The pillows, however, were too squishy for my taste, but I made due given I was only staying one night.

Cleanliness and Wear/Tear

Overall, it looked pretty clean when I walked into the room. No major wear and tear as some things look a little worn.

Noises in the Room

There are several train tracks outside that lead to the airport. You can hear some trains whenever they pass by but they are not too loud. 

I was able to hear what noises were coming from the hallway, especially with kids running and people talking. No neighbor noises.

WiFi in the Room

As is typical for practically every Hilton property, connecting to WiFi was just a matter of connecting to the Hilton Honors network and logging into the splash screen with my last name and room number.

For WiFi speeds, I found it to be pretty similar to The Spring House. 

• 29.4 mbps download
• 28.8 mbps upload
• 6 ms ping

This is more than suitable for working and streaming content.

What I think of the room overall

Given that I was only staying one night, I thought the room was more than adequate for what I needed. I liked that there was a lot of storage space. The room also looked aesthetically pleasing and cozy. If I had to work virtually, the room would have been comfortable enough with a decent desk and space to relax.

Considering this is an airport hotel, I don’t think most people tend to stay here for more than a few days. So I think this is a really nice room to get some rest before a flight the next day.

Bathroom

The bathroom is square in shape with the toilet and bidet on the opposite wall. Bookending the space is the sink on the left and the shower/tub on the right.

Around the sink is a large mirror, a close up mirror, and amenities. 

The toilet’s flush buttons are up kind of high. Right next to the toilet is the bidet with towel rack above.

The shower has a half door. For sprays, it has an overhead and a handheld with various valves to control temperature and pressure for each.

Amenities in the Bathroom

The provided soaps and such are all Crabree & Evelyn:

• Sink: lotion, hand soap
• Bidet: face soap (LOL?)
• Shower: shower gel, shampoo, conditioner

Also at the sink is a PeterThomasRoth mending kit, and some cotton balls.

In the shower is an alarm string that is properly marked that it is for such. Unlike at The Spring House.

What I think overall of the bathroom

Everything was pretty much tiled but elegantly done, and I liked that. It doesn’t look like a cheap bathroom with bland white walls and simple fixtures.

I also appreciated the space within the bathroom since The Spring House’s bathroom was a little tight, even just for me.

Hotel Overall

The location of this hotel is super ideal for those who have a flight the next day. There’s a pedestrian walkway that runs adjacent to one of the airport garages that leads to the terminals at FCO. When I checked out, I timed it to be 8 minutes from the hotel front desk to the departure hall in Terminal 3. 

However, its location is also a downside. I don’t think there’s anything convenient around it so you’re pretty much stuck with the hotel restaurant for food and drink. I suppose you could walk over to the airport and use the train stations to go elsewhere or call an Uber.

The ground floor’s layout isn’t quite intuitive as some things seem like they’re not logically placed, but everything was functional and findable. Except the Executive Lounge (see below).

Staff Service

I found the front desk to be friendly and professional. They spoke English well, and they answered my various questions throughout my short stay.

Custodial staff was friendly as well as they’d greet me when passing by in the hallway.

The wait staff at the restaurant for dinner were very attentive, and I was impressed because it seemed like multiple of them were handling my area and me and none missed a beat.

The gym attendant didn’t acknowledge me at all, but it wasn’t required of me to check in with him unless I needed him. And he wasn’t even manning the front desk from the time I walked in until like 30 or so minutes later.

Occupancy Load

This is an airport hotel so I suspected that it would be pretty occupied. I did find a lot of people around for meal times (dinner and breakfast). And frequently I saw people hanging out in the lobby. But other than that, I never felt like it was crowded.

Amenities at the Hilton Rome Airport

Diamond Members

When I checked in, they reminded me that there are two water bottles for free in the fridge in the room. The front desk guy also handed me the letter outlining various aspects of the hotel and Diamond benefits. And lastly, he gave me a little bag of tarallini, a type of Italian snack that is kind of like a hard breadstick but in a small donut shape.

Restaurant “Le Colonne”

Le Colonne is located on the ground floor past the lobby. It is the only hotel restaurant and serves as the restaurant for all three meals with breakfast having its own separate space due to its buffet nature.

Its hours for lunch and dinner are 12PM to 11PM.

My first night, I had red wine and a tiramisu cake. Both were really good. I was even given a bread basket and some cookies as well con gratis.

Breakfast really impressed me. I had it the Monday morning I checked out. 

The hours for breakfast are:

• Mon-Fri 6AM to 10:30AM
• Sat-Sun 6AM to 11AM

It is buffet-style and the spread is quite impressive. Multiple counters of various types of foods! You could easily spend 5-10 minutes just looking at everything. I’m not gonna lie–this is probably the best hotel breakfast buffet I’ve seen at a Hilton outside of Asia. Presentation could’ve been better, but the varied foods available kept my interest and curiosity.

Despite the wide selection available, I had just a plateful of things as I wasn’t too hungry.

Like I mentioned above, because the Hilton Rome Airport seems to be isolated geographically from other establishments, this restaurant is pretty much the only option for food unless you go to the airport and make use of landside cafes and such.

Gym & Pool

The gym and pool are located within the same area and are on the ground floor down one hallway away from the front desk.

The hours for the gym and pool are 7AM to 10PM.

I found the gym to be…weird. Apparently it’s a fitness club independently operated so people NOT staying at the hotel have access to it. It’s weird because this is an airport hotel that is isolated from most things. So who are the people using it if they are NOT hotel guests? I used the gym for a little while in the evening, and I’m pretty sure that the others I encountered there were not guests at the hotel.

Otherwise this gym is pretty well-equipped for a hotel gym. I likened it to Anytime Fitness since it had all the usual free weights, weight machines, cardio equipment, and even a studio. The only difference is this had a pool and sauna.

Now the other weird thing is the pool requires a swim cap. I feel like that is a pretty uncommon requirement to have. They can be purchased at the fitness desk if you didn’t happen to pack one. I didn’t want to purchase one so I just abandoned any desire to use the pool.

There are also paddleball (pickleball?) courts outside. I didn’t go out there so no picture available for that.

Use of the sauna and some of the other amenities require extra payment, and I didn’t appreciate that since other hotels I’ve stayed at with those amenities didn’t nickel and dime for use of those.

The locker rooms were kind of confusing but seem well-equipped if maybe a bit grungy. Though I am not sure a hotel guest would find the locker rooms useful.

Kid’s Playroom

On the ground floor is a matted kid’s playroom with lots of toys, books, and playmats.

I don’t know the hours, but I did see a mom with two young boys using this facility when I passed by on my way to the gym.

While I don’t have any kids, I appreciate that there is a dedicated space for kids like this.

Laundry

No guest laundry facilities on site, but there are forms and bags in each room.

Parking

It looked like there was parking for this hotel, but I thought that didn’t make sense for an airport hotel unless you live somewhat locally and wanted to stay here before parking your car at the airport. Or I suppose you could use airport long-term parking and then stay here one night before flying out.

According to the hotel’s page, parking is 29.00 Euro per day for self-parking.

Business Center

The business center is located between the front desk and elevators. Two computers and two printers were available for guest use.

ATM & Lobby Refreshments

One ATM machine was available in the lobby across from the far side of the front desk. Although…I thought that it didn’t look like an ATM unless you’re viewing it from the side since it isn’t mounted in a wall.

Right by the ATM are several dispensers for infused waters of varying flavors. When I checked in, they were nearly empty and weren’t refilled a few hours later when I went back down to the lobby so I didn’t get to try them. Nice touch though.

Executive Lounge at Hilton Rome Airport

The Executive Lounge is for Diamond guests or guests who are staying in an Executive room. Although I never had to swipe my keycard in or check in with anyone to access it. It just seemed like others knew to go there likely because the front desk mentioned it.

The hours are 7AM-8PM, and happy hour is from 6PM-8PM.

Finding the Executive Lounge was challenging because the hotel guide and map in the app stated that it was on the 5th floor. But it wasn’t. Maybe it used to be. I had to ask the front desk, and they said it was at the very back of the restaurant.

During non-happy hour, the Executive Lounge offered espresso, canned and bottled drinks, fruit, and light snacks.

During happy hour, it’s the same as above but alcohol becomes available with red wine, white wine, gin, and vodka. And then hors d’oeuvres become available too.

I hung out here after checking in and had an espresso since I was pretty tired. It was pretty good but I messed up the placement of the cup.

During happy hour, I had a gin and tonic. Pretty good, even garnished with a lemon.

I also tried all the various small plates once they became available.

The polenta & taleggio was alright. I feel like it should’ve been served warm, but the polenta had little flavor so I suppose that’s why it was garnished with a highly seasoned lemon wedge and breadstick. 

The corn meal with taleggio looked a lot like tofu, but it tasted like cheese with a little bit of crunch due to the corn meal.

The little balls with mushroom and peas tasted pretty good. I got this twice.

And lastly, the tuna fish salad was really good. And I didnt’ even know it was a tuna salad until I looked at the little sign lol.

While I was the only one in the lounge to start, once happy hour started, it slowly filled up with various people. 

Lessons Learned

This hotel has a fantastic location for getting to the airport. No need to worry about arranging transportation like shuttle or taxi to the airport. You can just walk!

The hotel gym is a public fitness club. And hotel guests have to pay extra to use some of the amenities. Or for a swim cap to use the pool.

The Executive Lounge is hidden away in the back of the restaurant and NOT on the 5th floor like the app map says.

Bottom Line

The Hilton Rome Airport is a fantastic hotel to stay in for the night before a flight. Probably the biggest argument for using this hotel is that it is walking distance with pedestrian bridges to the terminals at FCO.

Varied amenities are available at the hotel making for a comfortable and active stay. The restaurant is great for having a meal, especially the incredible breakfast buffet spread. Having a functional Executive Lounge is kind of rare since most US-based Hiltons closed them down during the pandemic. While the gym is well-equipped, paying for some amenities wasn’t ideal.

I do very much recommend the Hilton Rome Airport for weary travelers looking to get some rest before their flight the next day.

What do you think of the Hilton Rome Airport? Would you stay here?

The post The Ultimate Hilton Rome Airport Review appeared first on Where Is Randell?.

I was pretty excited to book this hotel as I have never stayed at a Tapestry Collection property by Hilton. From my understanding, Tapestry hotels represent their neighborhood vibrantly, and I felt like that was very much the case. Located near the north walls of the Vatican, The Spring House Hotel Rome Vatican was a great base of operations for me during my trip to Rome attending Pope Francis’ wake and funeral. Check out the review, below!

Hotel Information

Summary

• Fantastic location with close proximity to the Vatican
• Superior Rooms have decent space
• Great hotel amenities despite being a small hotel

Booking The Spring House Hotel Rome Vatican

Like my flight that got me to Rome, I booked this hotel stay back in November 2024 in preparation for attending the canonization Mass. 

Last time I went to Rome was back in 2017 on a family vacation in Italy with my parents and brother. When we stayed in Rome, I had booked the Hilton Garden Inn Rome Claridge, which was the only non-premium Hilton brand in the city of Rome at the time. Great hotel and option, but the problem was that it wasn’t close to the main attractions of Rome. You had to take the tram or subways to visit them.Certainly travel time was a consideration when carrying out our itinerary back then.

But apparently there are now a few more options–The Spring House Hotel being one of them!

The Spring House Hotel is located pretty close to the tour entrance of the Vatican Museums and knowing that I’d be hanging around the Vatican a lot, booking this hotel made sense given the other options.

I booked this stay with points+money, which is an option when booking with direct with Hilton. I didn’t want to burn all my miles, and I didn’t want to pay a lot of money either so mixing the two was good. To book this stay, I used the app since the app makes it pretty easy to search and select rates. Typically, I like booking the Honors rate as that gives me a slight discount and typically a generous cancellation policy.

Lobby and Check In at The Spring House Hotel Rome Vatican

The lobby for The Spring House is L-shaped. When you walk through the sliding doors, you’re in the long leg of the L with various seating areas and access to the different elevators and restaurant. The short leg of the L has more seating as well as the front desks.

The seating areas are well appointed and comfortable, and I frequently saw people hanging around in the evenings.

Because I landed in Rome at about 8AM, I had the full day ahead of me. I didn’t want to lug my backpack around while exploring so I headed directly to the hotel to see about them holding my backpack during the day. I got to the hotel at about 9AM, and they obliged, but they also went ahead and let me check in! Obviously, a room wasn’t ready for me yet. 

After exploring the Vatican for several hours and grabbing lunch, I returned back to the hotel at like 1:30PM. I sat in the lobby for an hour before I went back to talk to front desk to see if I had a room ready. And I did! They gave me my key, and informed me that I had been upgraded to a Superior room (more space), and said my backpack would be delivered to my room.

I was a little bit confused when I didn’t receive my two free water bottles as a Diamond member, but they assured me that there would be two water bottles in the fridge in the room.

When I went into my room, I actually saw my backpack already in there. Nice!

Room at The Spring House Hotel Rome Vatican

My room for The Spring House Hotel was 324, which was a King Superior Room. As I mentioned earlier, I was upgraded upon check in. Room 324 is in “tower 3” and on the second floor as Italy considers ground floor as Floor 0.

For the layout of the room, when I first walked in the closet was on the left and a full-sized mirror was on the right. A partition was straight ahead separating the main part of the room from the foyer-like area.

This main space had the bed with two side tables, a desk and chair, and a large window on the exterior wall. The window has a view of the adjacent building and the outdoor “garden” area on the first floor.

Room Amenities

The room has a key card slot that requires a hotel key inserted to keep the room power on. Interestingly, the room power turns on briefly when the door opens.

Above the power slot is a small panel that seems to control various aspects of the room as well as provide status. I didn’t really mess with this.

Starting with the closet, it features a few things. I noticed that it didn’t have doors. It has a handful of hangars both for tops and the hangars with clips for pants. There were also two bathrobes on an upper shelf packed in with slippers. The lock box was also located on a shelf in the closet. Also within the closet was a steamer, luggage rack, and laundry services bag.

The desk has a few amenities as well. Apart from the desk lamp, the desk also had a Nespresso Pop Vertuo machine. Along with the Nespresso machine was a tray with electric kettle and espresso cups (both single and double size). The single drawer in the desk contained the Nespresso pods, tea bags, and instant coffee. Lastly, the cabinet in the desk contains the mini-fridge. And inside the mini-fridge were two bottles of water. I did go to a local grocery store to buy more water bottles knowing that the two provided water bottles wouldn’t be enough for me for the duration of my stay.

For the bed, it was king size and had two side tables on either side. One of the side tables had the room phone. The bed came with four pillows and a duvet cover.

I estimate the TV was 60”. It defaulted to static splash screen with QR codes for the hotel service directory, and bar and restaurant menu. The TV is also framed with shelving.

All power outlets are standard European two-prong. You’ll need an adapter for your US-style power plugs.

Decor

The aesthetic in the room was kind of earthy. The door was wood as were the baseboards and the colors were earthly browns and greens. The wall behind the bed was a dark grey beige accent wall. Also in the room was a large tree painting.

The floor was tiled, but the bed was on a rug.

Bed Comfort

The bed was firm and clean. It didn’t sit too low nor too high. It had good enough space around it but it did feel tight to the corner and around near the window.

The pillows were medium firm and not squishy, which I like and appreciate.

Room Cleanliness, Wear & Tear

I found the room to be pretty clean throughout. No weird stains in the bed or on other furniture. I didn’t find anything on the chair or desk either.

As far as wear and tear goes, I found that there were light indications of such on things. But nothing suggested to me that it needed major repair or attention or outright negligence.

Room Noises

I did notice that you can hear people talking at street level as well as the garden area if there are people there. Thankfully, you can’t hear neighbors talking. But at the same time, I hardly ever ran into any of my room neighbors as I think we had vastly different schedules for being at the hotel.

WiFi 

Connecting to the WiFi was fairly easy as it was just a matter of connecting to the network and inputting my last name and room number on the splash screen that appeared. A few prompts and then I was connected. This is pretty typical for Hilton properties, and it was nice to see it working here.

I tested the WiFi speeds, and it yielded the following:

• 29.6 Mbps download
• 29.6 Mbps upload
• 6ms ping

Honestly, pretty good speeds for hotel WiFi. More then adequate to get work done or stream videos.

What I thought of the room overall

I liked that it was pretty efficient for a small amount of space. Things looked nice but had a purposeful and aesthetic quality to them. To be honest, I thought these accommodations were more than adequate for a 3-day stay.

If I had one complaint, it was the fact that the Nespresso pods provided weren’t the correct ones for the coffee cups provided in the room. I own a Nespresso Vertuo machine myself at home, and the size of the pop determines the volume of coffee it’ll serve. The pods provided in the room were for 7.77 oz of coffe, but the cups only held like 3-4 ounces. So when I brewed coffee for the first time, I had to utilize both of the bigger cups.

Since I don’t frequently get hotel rooms that require a keycard kept in a slot in the wall for power, it took me a while to keep remembering to do that. I should have requested a second key.

Bathroom

The bathroom was kinda small but efficient in its features. Within it, there’s a standard Italian hotel toilet (looks more U shaped than typical American flat oval) with flush buttons on the wall. Right next to the toilet is the standard Italian bidet with bidet towels on the towel rack just above it.

There was also a sink and mirror with hand towels, face towels and amenities. 

The shower featured an overhead and handheld. It had no door. Weirdly it had an RGB light above it that changed colors every few seconds. And lastly it had an unlabeled alarm string. I curiously pulled it thinking it was a clothesline, but I later noticed it activated a red light on the room info panel. WHOOPS! lol.

Bathroom Amenities

The amenities provided in the bathroom are fairly standard. These included tissues, reusable cups, shower caps, extra toilet paper, hair dryer, and sanitary bags. Non-typical amenities provided were a vanity kit and shoe polish wipes. Maybe those are typical in Europe?

For soaps and things, they are all Culti products featuring hand wash, body lotion, conditioner, shampoo, and shower gel.

Bathroom Cleanliness and Wear & Tear

I thought the bathroom was pretty clean, even in the corners. I didn’t see any noticeable wear and tear on anything.

What I thought of the bathroom overall

Overall, I liked the aesthetics of the bathroom, but I thought it was a little cramped. 

The bathroom door swings to the inside so it doesn’t leave much room when trying to close it from the inside. But I supposed it could have acted as the shower door if left open! 

The shower having no door was dumb to me since spray and splash easily got into the main part of the bathroom. Luckily there was a bath mat provided. 

The RGB light did give a mood, but I still found it a little weird! Lol

I never ventured to use the Italian bidet…

And I mentioned above that I pulled the alarm string in the shower mistakenly. I did talk to the front desk to let them know it was an accident, and they said not to worry about it.

Hotel Overall

I know space is a premium in Rome so this hotel tries to pack in a lot in a smaller footprint than what I’m used to in the USA. I felt like the lobby could be cramped especially when people were hanging around. The layout provided some cool places to hang out in, but I mostly out and about in Rome to be able to enjoy it. Probably the least intuitive thing are the different towers for the rooms as each “tower” has its own elevator and stairs.

Staff Service

The front desk staff were very friendly and accommodating every time I interacted with them. I know they deal with a lot of tourists since the hotel is a few blocks away from the Vatican Museums. Perhaps my only gripe with the staff is that the bar and restaurant attendants/servers weren’t as attentive and sometimes required flagging down.

Occupancy

I feel like I saw a wide variety of people as I return and left the hotel. Though I wasn’t sure if that suggested the hotel being full. Breakfast was never crowded, but certainly approaching full both times I went.

Amenities at The Spring House Hotel Rome Vatican

Restaurant

The Spring House Hotel has one hotel bar and restaurant located on the ground floor to the left of the entrance. The bar is open in the evenings and the restaurant serves breakfast in the mornings.

Supposedly you can order stuff here and have it delivered to the second floor patio (see below). 

For breakfast, the hours are 7AM to 11AM. It is buffet style.

Hot plates provided had eggs, bacon, pancakes, rice, spinach, and beans (weird combo). And cold foods had stuff like yogurt, fruit, cold cuts, cheese, salad, and more. Breads and a toaster were also available. The buffet also included a separate counter with espresso machines, juices, and pastries.

I thought the breakfast had a good selection, and the food was decently tasty. European hotel breakfasts’ pastries are so much better than in the US.

I also ate actual dinner once at the restaurant. The menu isn’t too extensive and was largely Italian dishes. When you sit down, you’re given a bag of breads.

This club sandwich was pretty good, and the chips were crispy. 

For a late lunch one of the days I was in Rome, I had this carbonara pasta.

I had this chocolate cake as a sweet finish. It was decadent and rich.

I got into aperol spritzes while in Rome and tried them here. Refreshing with good flavor.

And then my last evening at The Spring House, I had a negroni from the bar.

Overall, I’m glad there was a restaurant in the hotel even though many restaurants and other food establishments are located nearby. What I did eat, I liked.

Gym

The hotel gym is located in the basement level. For access, you need to go down the stairs in the middle of the lobby and use your hotel keycard to get in. 

The hours for the gym are 24/7.

For equipment and amenities, the gym offers exercise balls, dumbbells up to 16kg, a few kettle bells, two treadmills, and one bike. There was also a rack for workout towels, a water dispenser, and uniquely there was also a wardrobe room for changing, restroom, and a sauna. I think the sauna requires asking the front desk to use.

It isn’t too spacious so I feel like 2-3 people in here would make it feel crowded already.

Wellness Area

On the second floor is a patio area that has outdoor seating and a wellness area. There are two jacuzzi hot tubs, a mood shower, and a steam room. Apparently these have hours and require permission from the front desk to use the mood shower and steam room.

I thought this was a pretty unique offering for a hotel. However, I never saw anyone use any of it. I suppose because in the mornings and evenings it was still cold outside, and during the day most people are trying to sightsee Rome.

Laundry

Laundry bags and forms provided in the room in the closet. 

No self-laundry facilities at this hotel, but there are local laundromats within walking distance if needed.

Parking

I noticed on my last day there is a parking garage for the hotel, but I don’t know how much it costs to park there. 

It isn’t difficult to use mass transportation to get to the heart of Rome or Vatican City so the need to rent a car is pretty low, and hence the need to use the available parking garage.

Lessons Learned

I stayed at this hotel for a few days and had a few lessons learned.

Probably the biggest lesson I learned was that the string in the shower is for an emergency if you’re in the shower. I just wish it was labeled for that purpose.

Secondly, I probably should have requested a second keycard so I could leave one in the wall slot to keep the room powered. While it didn’t get hot in the room, it did take a minute for the room to cool down once the A/C power came back.

Lastly, I knew that the Nespresso pods would yield more coffee than the cups could provide given that I have a machine at home. But I nearly had a coffee mess on the desk for not paying attention briefly while the machine was brewing. 

Bottom Line

The Spring House Hotel Rome Vatican is a great boutique hotel just steps away from the Vatican Museums and easy access to the Porto Angelica to St. Peter’s Basilica. Accommodations are on point and amenities provided allow for a comfortable and convenient stay for a Roman and Vatican adventure.

While I had a few struggles with Nespresso pods, pulling alarms, and being slightly ignored by wait staff, these didn’t put a damper on my stay.

I definitely recommend The Spring House for those looking for comfortable convenience when visiting the Vatican as a tourist and/or pilgrim.

Would you stay here? What’s your favorite part about The Spring House Hotel Rome Vatican? Lemme know down in the comments!

The post Review: The Spring House Hotel Rome Vatican, Tapestry Collection by Hilton appeared first on Where Is Randell?.

Not gonna lie—I’m stressed. But excited! Work is ramping up as we hit busy times for various projects, and because these projects have had some delays, they’re now kind of lining up on top of each other. Whatever. It’s fine. Everything’s fine. 

Despite all that, I’m super excited! This upcoming week I’ll be going to Rome for the first time in like 8 years! I actually booked everything back in November rather impulsively, but that’s the beauty of not using money to book flights and such, which I’ll share below.

Background on this trip to Rome

Several years ago (during the pandemic, I think), I learned about a young man who died of leukemia when he was 15 years old, in the early 2000’s. But in his short time on this earth, he was a remarkable individual. His name is Carlo Acutis, and he’s from Italy. 

I find Carlo to be remarkable because of his enthusiastic love for his faith and willingness to share that with others. A devout Catholic, he frequented going to Mass and was not afraid to befriend others and share his faith with them. He had a particular devotion to the Eucharist, and he created a website that talks about various Eucharistic miracles around the world (where the Communion wafer literally turned into flesh). The website is still online.

Additionally, Carlo was a nerd! Like…he learned programming languages so he could create that website. But what really resonates with me was that Carlo was also a video gamer! Apparently he played games like Mario, Pokémon, and Halo (I’m a fan of all three!), and he owned a PS2! (Which… those video game series aren’t on that console so hmmm…). I read books on Carlo, and he was self-aware enough to temper his playing of video games so as not to become addicted and distract him from God.

For more info about Carlo Acutis, here are 10 things to know about him.

With all that background, the reason why I’m going to Rome is because of Carlo Acutis’ canonization! This means that the Catholic Church will officially declare him a Saint (capital S)! He’s the first millennial saint to be canonized! (And first video gamer!).

Pope Francis announced his canonization date back in November 2024. As soon as I saw news about that, I immediately booked airfare and hotels. I’m glad I did that because I knew that the longer I waited, the costs would go up.

What my itinerary looks like

Let me slide in here and say that having points and miles is a great flexible way to book travel. I tend to hoard hotel points and airline miles, usually saving them for aspirational redemptions (like the world’s longest nonstop flight). But in this case, I’m glad I had enough hotel points and airline miles saved to book this trip impulsively. I’ll briefly talk about each booking and a little bit of my thought process for each, but the details of how I booked them will be shared in the reviews and trip report. 

Flight: American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin DFW-FCO

First thing’s first (let’s buckle those belts)–gotta get to Rome. As I am DFW-based, I needed a way to get to Rome.  Luckily, American Airlines runs a nonstop DFW-FCO flight. It wouldn’t have been a problem for me to connect to AA’s other hubs and onwards to Rome, but having a nonstop flight makes this convenient.

Because I’m approaching this trip with a pilgrimage mindset and trying to keep costs as low as possible, I opted to book only in the Main Cabin. I used miles. Besides, for review purposes, I don’t think I’ve reviewed AA’s B777-200 in economy yet.

Hotel: The Spring House Hotel

For the hotel, I wanted something Hilton since I’m a Hilton loyalist and Diamond member. Luckily, Hilton has added more hotels to its portfolio in Rome since the last time I was in town (which was 2017). I opted for The Spring House Hotel because it is conveniently located near St. Peter’s Square just outside the walls of the Vatican. That’s an easy walk. When I went to Mother Teresa’s canonization in 2016, I had stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn across Rome, and it took a while to get to St. Peter’s via the tram and walking. 

Also, I’ve never stayed at a Tapestry Collection brand of Hilton. These are a curated selection of hotels that “offer guests unique style and vibrant personality”. So I’m excited to see what makes it unique and different from the standard brands I’m familiar with.

Hilton lets you book with a combination of points and cash. And I did just that in order to book The Spring House. I didn’t want to burn a lot of my points in one go so this was an ideal option for me.

Hotel: Hilton Rome Airport

I’ve stayed at the Hilton Rome Airport before back in 2017. It’s a good Hilton hotel for the “one last night before my flight tomorrow” stay. And that’s exactly how I am treating it. I’ll be checking into this hotel after the canonization so I’m sure I’ll be tired and sweaty from the day’s activities and will be interested in chilling out.

For this hotel stay, I actually booked it with cash. My thought was I wanted to earn points to get my balance back up closer to 1 million Hilton points, lol. It’s gonna be an expensive one night stay, but that’s alright.

Flight: American Airlines B777-200 Main Cabin Extra FCO-DFW

Actually, I booked my flights as a round trip. But two weeks before this trip, I ended up semi-upgrading my Main Cabin seat to Main Cabin Extra. I figured the extra leg room on the way home would make it a little more comfortable. And I don’t recall this type of seat and aircraft being on my review queue.

The American Express Hilton Aspire credit card that I used to book the Hilton hotels above has an airline credit benefit. Basically every quarter, I can get up to $50 credit on purchases directly made with an airline on certain purchases. So I justified paying the upgrade to Main Cabin Extra knowing that I’ll get a good portion of it back in airline credit. It’s the same benefit I used to upgrade into First Class on my way home from Alaska last year.

Bottom Line

I’m excited to go on this trip to Rome for Carlo Acutis’ canonization. With two flights and two hotels booked, I’ll be reviewing each and posting those here. 

Honestly, apart from checking into each of these portions of this trip and attending the canonization, I don’t have any other rigid plans. I’ll have time to explore Rome for two days before the canonization. We’ll see what I end up doing!

So how would you have booked this itinerary? Lemme know down in the comments!

The post Booked: A Canonization in Rome! appeared first on Where Is Randell?.

I recently stayed at Spark by Hilton San Antonio Airport. It recently opened, and I took this opportunity to stay here while visiting a friend of mine outside of San Antonio. This is a standalone hotel review with no associated trip report since the trip was a short personal visit, and I did not review the flights.

Hotel Information

Summary

Spark by Hilton San Antonio Airport provided a comfortable and clean place to stay one night. While it lacked a few amenities often found at other lower-end Hilton properties and the breakfast was sparse, the cheap price point for one night still made it worth the experience.

Rating: 4/5

Booking Spark by Hilton San Antonio Airport

My requirements for this stay was that I wanted something cheap and easy to drive to/from the airport and my friend’s house near Shertz/Cibolo. While I could have stayed closer to my friend’s house, those hotels were more expensive than this one. Spark by the airport ended up being the cheapest.

I had never heard of Hilton’s Spark brand until this trip. Since it was the cheapest option, I decided to go try it out!

To book this hotel, I used the Hilton app and booked directly. Fairly easy to go through the prompts and book everything within the app.

Check In and Lobby at Spark by Hilton San Antonio Airport

The lobby of the hotel is fairly simple. The check in counter is a typical small hotel check in desk built into the wall. Opposite of it is a small seating area, and all this adjacent to the breakfast area.

I had hung out with my friend all day so I didn’t arrive at the hotel until 9PM. Luckily, I had checked in via the app earlier. Given that I did that and had requested a digital key, I decided to breeze past the check in desk. When I got to the elevator, I decided to check the app and see if I had the digital key. I did not. So back I went to the front desk.

I didn’t see anyone around, but the night auditor finally showed up after a minute or two. We exchanged pleasantries as I checked in requesting physical keys (just in case). The night auditor told me how this Spark hotel was a converted Comfort Inn and how the hotel had just opened up two months ago. Interesting, therefore everything should kinda still have that new hotel smell, right? Hmm.

Once she gave me my physical keys, I went up to my room.

Room at Spark by Hilton San Antonio Airport

My room was #417, a 1 king bed with sofabed room. Walking in, the bathroom was on the right with an open closet (no door) on the left. Past this hallway was the living room with couch, end table, and lamp. Across from the couch was a desk with an ottoman-style chair. The desk has a charging station and lamp. Beyond the living room was the bed area with TV above storage shelves and the mini fridge, and the bed had side tables with charging stations.

As far as amenities go, there were a few standard things and a few things seemingly missing. The room had these:

• Mini Fridge – I didn’t use it, but it’s your standard mini fridge that can hold drinks and some refrigerated items
• TV – flat screen, I estimate it at 48”, had my name on it when I walked in
• Ironing board and iron – located in the closet
• Luggage stand – located in the closet
• Storage shelves – only storage in the room, no drawers
• Charging stations – desk and side tables have these cool charging stations that feature normal plugs, USB A and USB C
• Tall mirror and coat hooks – between desk and closet

All in all, these are fairly standard room amenities that I’d expect from a low-end hotel.

On the other hand, the room did not have:

• Coffee machine
• Alarm clock or clock
• Microwave

I’m assuming it is Spark’s brand standard to not have these in the room. They do offer coffee and microwaves in the lobby, and I suppose clocks aren’t as necessary anymore because most everyone has their own device (like a smartphone or smartwatch) to use as an alarm or clock. For a one night stay, the lack of these things didn’t really matter to me.

The bed itself I found to be firm-ish yet squishy. I had no problem sinking into it and going to sleep. It came with four pillows of similar comfort—feathery but still kind of firm. I actually like a firmer pillow but these were just fine. Usually in king-sized beds with lots of pillows at hotels, I basically surround myself with them so that no matter if I’m sleeping on my back or side, I have a pillow to hug, haha.

For the cleanliness of the room, I didn’t see anything egregiously dirty. Overall it was clean! Maybe it didn’t have that new hotel room smell, but that’s okay. Additionally, I normally check hotel beds for bed bugs and weird stains, and I didn’t see any. The couch didn’t have stains either nor did the floor. I expected all this knowing that the hotel is pretty new.

While the room was pretty clean, I did notice a little wear and tear or minor issues. Overall pretty minimal except in the bathroom. I noticed that one corner of the shower had a shoddy caulk job.

And some of the soap dishes had cosmetic wear. Also the curtain rod didn’t seem fully screwed in on one side. In trying to shower, I noticed the lever to activate the shower didn’t fully close but still allowed the shower to be “on” whilst leaking kind of a lot out of the faucet. Luckily, this adversely affect the water pressure. Lastly, the door to the room didn’t close easily–I had to push it in every time to make sure the door latched closed.

Moving onto the bathroom specifically… it has your typical fixtures with a sink, toilet, and bathtub/shower combo. Hair dryer was hanging from a hook on the backside of the bathroom door. The sink space was spacious, and the bathroom was stocked with an adequate amount of towels. Like other lower-end Hilton brands, Zero products are available. I didn’t really use these products as I brought my own stuff due to contact allergies with certain chemicals often found in soaps. When I took a shower, I found the water pressure to be good, and no issues with hot water. However, the tub area didn’t have a whole lot of head room. I’m 5’8”, and I would imagine taller people would struggle with this amount of space.

Regarding the temperature of the room, I didn’t know what it was set to until an hour before I checked out! There was no thermostat in the room—only the A/C unit beneath the window. I didn’t find out until before I checked out that the unit has a toggled display, which I turned on. Apparently it was set to 66F, but it didn’t feel that cold. Honestly, the whole time I stayed in the room it didn’t feel too hot or too cold. It was just right! But the A/C ran most of the time because it is summer in Texas. Therefore, I doubt if the actual room temp ever got to 66F as it didn’t feel that cold ever.

For noises, since the A/C ran much of the time, I did think it was kind of loud, but I got used to it. And in the bathroom, I heard some sort of whirring sound from something somewhere. Also, Room 417 is by the elevators, but I didn’t hear them at all. I didn’t hear any neighbors on either side of me, but I also thought that I was one of the few staying on the 4th floor anyway.

I tested the WiFi speed. Because I’m Honors Diamond, typically I get Hilton’s “premium” WiFi which supposedly has faster speeds. When I ran Speedtest, it came back with 30.4 Mpbs download and 29.2 Mbps upload with 14 ms ping. Pretty speedy for hotel WiFi, in my opinion.

In summary, I thought the room was more than adequate for me staying one night. It was comfy and clean and the rate was cheap, all of which I cared about for this trip. One weird observance is that I noticed the outlets, while generous, seemed to not be conducive to hiding wires. I’m assuming that this is due to the hotel converting from Comfort Inn to Hilton Spark resulting in different layout rooms but keeping the same outlets. Lastly, this room kept me thinking “no frills”, but it felt slightly more premium than a Tru or some Hamptons.

Service at Spark by Hilton San Antonio Airport

One weird observation I had during my stay at this Spark hotel was the lack of a front desk person! It seemed like every time I passed by, there was no one manning the front desk. During breakfast the next morning, there was a front desk person, but she was kind of hiding in the corner on her phone. When it came time for me to check out, she became attentive and pleasantly processed my check out.

Other than that, my interactions with hotel staff were pretty minimal. I am not sure of how housekeeping was due to only staying one night.

Occupancy at Spark by Hilton San Antonio Airport

I know I only stayed one night, and I had arrived kind of late. But I still saw a good handful of families around, and a good handful of individuals at breakfast and check out. I wasn’t convinced that the hotel was even at half capacity based on the number of cars in the parking lot. I suppose that it is still new enough that people don’t yet know it exists! Haha.

Amenities at Spark by Hilton San Antonio Airport

Breakfast

Breakfast hours are 6AM-10AM. It is complimentary for all guests.

The food offerings were pretty sparse. While I am glad that they do offer free breakfast, I found it to be lacking because all they serve are coffee (all day), orange juice, yogurt, bagels, and pre-packaged muffins. I actually looked this up online and apparently this is the brand standard for Spark.

I had a bagel and yogurt for breakfast. Not bad. However, the orange juice and the coffee tasted watered down. What a shame.

On the other hand, the breakfast area seemed like a nice place to sit and enjoy breakfast. When I sat here, there were a few guests chatting.

Pool

The pool is located outdoors in its own separate gated area. It’s decently sized, and it even has an outdoor shower, which I think is rare among hotel pools. I noticed that the pool area has a place for pool towels and a hamper, but I saw it was empty. Yet there were (used?) pool towels scattered throughout the pool area. When I checked in at 9PM, I did take a peek out there and saw a few families using the pool.

When I grabbed coffee in the lobby in the morning before breakfast opened, I did try to go into the pool at 5:45AM. My keycard didn’t work on the gate. So I’m not sure what hours the pool has as it wasn’t listed in the app hotel guide nor did I see a sign posted near the pool stating the hours.

Laundry

On the 4th floor of the hotel, a washer and dryer are available in the ice machine room. It is $1.50 per load for each machine, and the machines only take quarters. They remind me of dorm washers and dryers, haha. But also this washer and dryer are similar to what I’ve seen at Home2 Suites.

Market

It’s funny because I saw signs for the market, but it took me a long while to figure out where it was. Apparently just around the corner from the front desk is the market, where you can buy various snacks, drinks, and personal items. A microwave is also available to heat up some of the items you can buy.

Parking

When I arrived at about 9PM to check in, I found the parking lot to be kind of dark in some places. However, the area seemed mostly safe even though the hotel is kind of in a commercial/industrial area right next to residential homes.

Surprisingly, the hotel has several Diamond member spaces, but none were being used during my stay. I actually could have used one but decided not to as I found good parking anyway.

Bottom Line

I wanted this trip to be cheap and comfortable, and I think Spark by Hilton San Antonio Airport delivered on that. Really I just needed a place to sleep!

And for having those simple requirements, I thought the Spark more than adequately provided that. I only wish that the breakfast had a little bit more, but I suppose I could have just gone to McDonald’s or something.

Would I stay here again? I think so, especially since it seems to be the cheapest Hilton option around this part of San Antonio near the airport.

Have you stayed at a Spark hotel before? What did you think?

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