Last year, a complicated travel itinerary saw me visit Manila twice in the span of a week. This worked out well as it allowed me to stay at both Hilton properties in Manila – the Hilton Manila and the Conrad Manila. For the first of those stays, I opted for the Hilton Manila for its proximity to the airport as I had an early flight to catch after my one-night stay.
Due to my short stay, I was not able to fully experience the hotel. However, what I did see was pretty solid. The room was nice and spacious, the lounge was pleasant and service was generally good. The location sadly isn’t quite the best for visitors doing business in Manila, but otherwise the Hilton Manila offers a strong product that I’d be happy to experience again.
Read on to see why the Hilton Manila left a positive impression on me!
Booking and pre-arrival
I booked the base King Guest Room for this stay at a rate of PHP8,330 (SGD193) before fees and taxes. This rate was around the average cash rate for this property. A Standard Room Reward here is currently typically 40,000 Honors points, so definitely doesn’t make sense to redeem points.
About three days before my stay, I received a couple of pre-arrival emails from the hotel. One was from the Executive Lounge team outlining my Diamond benefits and information on the lounge, while a second email provided a full rundown of the hotel’s facilities and amenities, as well transport options with rates. Both emails were detailed and informative, plus it’s always nice when hotels make an effort to send pre-arrival emails. That said, the hotel’s transport was far too pricey for the distance.
Location
As mentioned, the Hilton Manila is located near Ninoy Aquino International Airport. To be precise, it’s essentially across the highway from NAIA Terminal 3. It’s a great location for anyone catching an early flight e.g. SQ915. However, getting to the Hilton Manila from NAIA Terminal 3 isn’t the easiest. It’s possible to take the Runway Manila footbridge, then take the free Newport World Resort shuttle bus, or walk from Runway Manila. I personally couldn’t figure out where and how the shuttle bus runs, and ended up walking. For my departure, I opted to just take a Grab, which I would strongly recommend, despite the heavy traffic at NAIA Terminal 3.
The Hilton Manila is part of the larger Newport World Resorts complex. This is great as the Newport Mall offers more dining options. There are several other international hotels within and around the complex, including the Sheraton which the Hilton shares some facilities with.
Arrival and check-in
I arrived in Manila in the mid-afternoon and as mentioned, walked to the Hilton. I was directed by the helpful bellhops to take the lift up the main lobby.
There was short queue at check-in, however the hotel does have a priority queue for Gold and Diamond members. When it was my turn, the front desk agent confirmed my details, then offered to escort me to the Executive Lounge to complete the check-in formalities. Since I had just walked through the heat of Manila, I took up her offer so I could get a drink in the lounge.
Once in the lounge, I was handed over to the lounge team to complete the check-in. An upgrade to an Executive room was confirmed, which isn’t a real upgrade. There was no need to make a fuss about it, since I was going to be in the hotel just over 12h anyway and I was travelling alone. I was assigned room 1129 and handed various welcome letters, which mainly repeated the information in the pre-arrival emails. To be honest, check-in took slightly longer than expected, but the staff were friendly and welcoming.
King Executive Room
The rooms at the Hilton Manila were all pretty much similar, except for the suites of course. The main difference in the non-suite categories being the bed layout and view. The non-suites are 40sqm, which is a pretty generous size. Upon entering the room, there is a long entryway, with one side bein an almost full length mirror.
This then opens up to a storage counter and a walk-in wardrobe of sorts. I have to say it’s smart design to fit in a walk-in wardrobe and makes the room feel more luxurious. The shelf for luggage was a good size and should be adequate for a couple of checked luggage.
The countertop had a kettle, Nespresso machine and capsules. Below the countertop was the safe and drawers for storage.
Adjoining the wardrobe was the bathroom. This was a very generous space, with separate cubicles for the WC and shower. There was still space for a bathtub as well. The toiletries were the Hilton brand-standard Crabtree & Evelyn in large pump bottles fixed to the wall. The vanity top was big enough to place my own toiletry bag, not always a given. There was both a handheld shower and rain shower.
Back outside, there was space for the king bed, a sitting area and a desk. There was also a TV console above which sat a 55in TV. The console also held the minibar fridge. The minibar was not filled, except for a couple of bottles of water.
The room had a proper work desk, not always a given nowadays. There was more water placed here as well. For working, the desk had a couple of universal power outlets, a pair of USB-A ports and a HDMI slot.
The bedside also had another universal power outlet, plus the light controls.
There was decent-sized sitting area with a sofa and round coffee table. On the coffee table was a welcome note, and welcome amenities of chocolate and a bottle of red wine. One of the nicer welcome amenities I’ve received.
Overall, I was pretty happy the room. It was spacious, clean and comfortable. The space was well utilised as well. Everything worked, and while there was some wear and tear, the room was still in good shape 6 years after opening. It was a nice room that I’d have been happy to spend more than one night in.
Executive Lounge
The Executive Lounge is located a couple of levels up from the main lobby, if memory serves me correctly. Breakfast, afternoon tea and evening cocktails were offered. Unfortunately I arrived too late for afternoon tea and left too early the next day for breakfast.
The space
The lounge is a fairly large space, with a variety of seating. More of it were rectangular 2-top dining tables or round 4-top tables, with a couple of larger spaces with sofas for lounging or for bigger groups. At the entrance were manned desks where eligible guests could check-in/out or get help.
Evening cocktails
As mentioned, evening cocktails was the only meal presentation I managed to partake in. The F&B area is in the deepest section of the lounge. During my stay, the Hilton Manila had adopted a rather unusual approach to evening cocktails. Rather than a typical buffet selection, the buffet only had a few cold items, while a mini 3-course set meal would be served to table, including a warm main dish. All items in the 3-course set were refillable. The variety was therefore rather limited, but it was interesting to see a more restaurant type service, especially long past the pandemic days.
Drinks were available in the buffet area, but the selection was rather limited, with just a small selection of spirits, wines and beers.
For that evening, the set meal consisted of a pumpkin soup, mini schnitzel with mashed potato, and a berry cake. Everything tasted fine if unremarkable. I did have a second serving of schnitzel, which went well with the accompanying mushroom cream sauce. The second serving was also served piping hot, and hence tasted better as well.
Service in the lounge was friendly and prompt. Some of the staff seemed on very friendly terms with longer staying or regular guests, which is always a good sign of the service quality.
Overall, I thought the lounge offering was just OK, in fact slightly limited. I probably wouldn’t necessarily make extra effort to return for evening cocktails, but what was on offer was acceptable and sufficient in quantity to even form a small dinner.
Facilities
Swimming pool
The Hilton Manila has a swimming pool on the main lobby level, which is shared with the neighbouring Sheraton Manila. When I stopped by that Sunday evening, it seemed pretty packed.
Fitness Centre
The fitness centre is located on the same level as the pool and is open 24 hours. Unlike the pool, the gym is not shared with the Sheraton. The gym isn’t the most spacious, but was well-equipped with all the usual equipment from Life Fitness.
Dining
Unfortunately due to my short stay, I didn’t have the opportunity to visit and barely walked by any of the dining options in the Hilton Manila. The Hilton Manila does have a couple of bar/lounges, an all-day restaurant, Chinese restaurant and the pool bar.
Conclusion
The Hilton Manila was quite a surprise, in a positive way. The quality of the room and the Executive Lounge was strong highlights. The convenience of the location in terms of proximity to NAIA and surrounding amenities were big pluses as well. Of course, it doesn’t quite hit luxury hotel levels like a Conrad would, but depending on where I need to be in Manila, I would consider the Hilton a very strong competitor to the Conrad Manila which I stayed at a week after this stay. The rooms are spacious and comfortable, the EL is decent and Diamond treatment is solid. Overall, a hotel I’ll be happy to return to if I need to be in Manila.