My son and I stayed at the Hilton Galveston Island Resort the day prior to our Regal Princess cruise. The night prior, I received my usual link in the app to select our room. I was surprised to be offered an “Island View” (parking lot of Rainforest Cafe, actually) at the Gulfview Rate I’d paid or to be offered some 7th, 8th, and 9th floor ocean view rooms for $31 extra. I guessed that the additional fee was for high floor, so selected an 8th floor room with two beds. On arrival around 3 pm, we found the lobby overflowing with guests waiting for rooms to be readied. After waiting in line, I was offered a second floor room now or another room later. I said I’d like to stick with the room I’d selected on the app, and the desk agent abrasively replied that my selection had been lost but she would fix it. We asked to leave our luggage with the bell cap who suggested we leave it in our vehicle instead. Since we flew in and arrived by Uber, that wasn’t an option, so we tipped him, got a tag, and saw him put our luggage in an unattended hallway. We understand that the luggage room is under construction, but we saw other folks have their luggage retrieved from the security room (locked with staff) and there were piles of luggage carts across from the desk with left luggage. Even the mostly empty luggage cart room would have felt safer than just piled down a hall, out of staff sight. Instead of being apologetic, staff was abrasive about the situation. Since we had too much luggage to haul to the San Luis Resort for my son’s 4pm haircut and massage, we left with a prayer. There are signs in the Hilton lobby about the San Luis Spa…and we highly recommend it. It’s about a 8 minute walk. Turn left out of the lobby passing Landry’s, Rainforest Cafe, cross the street, pass IHOP, and it’s at the top of the hill walking past the waterfall. The San Luis Resort is magnificent with a Gelato (delicious, generous, well-priced) shop, Blake’s Bistro (excellent Cobb salad and perfect burger and fries), a steakhouse, and a five star Spa. My son had just flown in from college for our cruise and was desperate for a haircut. Annette did a perfect job for my picky kid. The spa staff was five star and couldn’t have been kinder. My son got a great massage (cheaper than the $199 one on the cruise ship), which was not inexpensive but was well valued for a resort. The kind staff even patiently watched the four kids of a mom who decided to leave them in the waiting room during her massage. They couldn’t have been more patient or professional in a challenging situation…what you see at a five star hotel. If we’d realized it was so nice, we would have stayed here. About thirty minutes in, I received a text that our Hilton room was ready so I walked back over to retrieve our luggage from the middle of a hallway to transfer to our room. The desk informed me that my same second floor room offered before was ready. When inquiring about my upgraded fee I’d been charged for a high floor room on the app, I was told that my selection had been given to someone else but I was still charged the $31 extra as it wasn’t for a high floor. I was surprised as I’ve never had a room I selected on the app not given to me, but at that point I was happy to have my luggage not unattended. The same bell cap was again pretty snarly and just reminded me that he’d recommended I put it in my vehicle. Honestly, I’m sure the whole cruise ship crowd descending on their property in addition to the renovations is frustrating, but I’d just seen the San Luis staff be so polite to a lady who decided to leave four kids unattended (including a preschooler) for an hour in the spa with no snack or electronic device or whatever…surely the older one could have supervised TV and room service in the room…and I had a bell cap and desk agent both be snappy at me, even though I always strive to be kind even when addressing a concern. The hotel hall was under construction, but the room was clean and modern. The mattress was fine and the shower excellent. The Rainforest Cafe next door is the only one with a water ride. It didn’t open until evening and we were a little chilly so passed, but it looked interesting. Would try another time. Our dinner at San Luis Blake’s Bistro was delicious. We’d been warned that the free cruise shuttle fills up, but we got a slot. Other guests were charged a fee, so not sure the story on that. We used our Hilton Gold $15 pp to order two chocolate cakes with vanilla ice cream (which is how the menu lists it) but got two chocolate cakes with included small mini vanilla ice creams plus were also served an additional small canning jar of ice cream (and were charged extra for that). Not sure how room service was confused on that but was too tired to dispute the extra charge. And honestly, the included ice cream was really small anyway for a hungry college kid. There is a street between the hotel and the beach, for your planning. If you turn right out of the lobby, the convention center is first and then a huge Kroger’s grocery store with every thing you need for breakfast or forgot to pack from medicine, pharmacy, sand toys, sunscreen, whatever. We received an email a few days prior to arrival that the lovely pool was closed. The onsite sign stated it’d been closed for a month…if notified earlier, we might have tried to switch to the San Luis, but at that late notice, it wasn’t an option, which I'm guessing was the idea. It’s not a bad hotel at all, but the grumpiness of staff needs to be addressed. When you are trying to be a four star hotel and charging prices to match, staff can make construction bumps seem inconsequential or can exasperate the frustration. It’s easy to comp breakfast for losing an app reservation or find a way to ease the wait for a room to still be given the second floor same room already offered and declined.…
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.