The Hilton Burlington Lake Champlain: So much potential
As we enter into what will probably be my last week of posting about our recent trip to Burlington, VT (about time right?), It's time to circle back to our accomodations. I mentioned in one of my posts a while ago that the hotel we stayed at didn't quite live up to the expectations. I'm going to cover some of that today.
When I planned this trip, my original plan was to find a nice VRBO or Air BNB somewhere. I'm just a little hesitant about any of that. I know thousands of people do it everyday, but the recent privacy issues and scams have really turned me off to those sorts of things.
Instead, we ended up at the Hilton Burlington Lake Champlain. It sits just a short walk away from the shores of Lake Champlain and as you can see in the opening photo it offers amazing views of the Lake and New York in the distance.
I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that we were able to get our flight and rental car for free due to credit card points that we had to redeem or face losing them. Thanks to that windfall, I decided to splurge a bit on the hotel room. I got us a corner room with an amazing view on the very top floor of the hotel.
Unfortunately, the weather didn't fully cooperate while we were visiting, so the amazing views were a bit muted by the fog and rain. We knew this might happen though, so it wasn't a huge deal. We also knew in advance that they were doing some construction on the hotel entrance, so getting in and out would be a bit awkward. No big deal.
Clocking in over $3000 for the five total night we stayed at the Hilton Burlington, Lake Champlain, I kind of feel like we got ripped off a bit. I don't usually spend that kind of money on a hotel, so I don't know if that is normal or extra ordinary, but when I am dropping that kind of money, I feel like the facilities should be top notch.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
I snapped this shot as @mrsbozz and I were out walking one day. Our room was the one in the very top right corner of the building. As I have showed, it gave us beautiful views of the lake and part of the city going up the hill to the University of Vermont.
If you look really closely though, you will see that a piece of the flashing appears to be pulled away from the building between the seventh and the sixth floors. Due to the wind, that piece of flashing would bang against the building non stop and before long it became absolutely mind numbing. Even in the middle of the night it would constantly bang.
Sure, we could have asked for a different room, but I'm not sure if they would have been able to accomodate us. Maybe that one's on me.
The hotel itself has some pretty cool seating areas and I have a feeling in the summer it would be quite fun to sit out on this raised patio and watch the people go by in the park. I don't fault the hotel for the weather not being ideal. That was our own fault and just happened to be a by product of the time of year we visited.
I think I also mentioned in another post that the hotel had bikes you could rent to ride around the city and on the Greenway across the street. Again, given better weather, that might have been a viable option for us.
The hotel itself just seemed to be in a general state of disrepair. In addition to the noisy flashing outside our room, you can also see in the photo above they had a number of leaks throughout the building.
As part of our reservation, that hotel gave us these $5 vouchers that we could use for food or drinks each night at the hotel bar. We thought this was a pretty good perk and we made it a habit of either "pre-gamming" at the bar or hitting on our way back for a night cap.
It wasn't until I got our final bill that I realized how much of a sham this was. Apparently hotels now charge something called an "Urban Destination Fee" or something similar. The long and short of it was, they charged me $24 each day to give me $10 worth of "complimentary" perks.
What a joke! I'm not kidding, if you saw the receipt from our stay, you would be disgusted by the number of random charges that they throw in these days.
The more time we spent at the bar in the hotel, the more we started to realize just how dirty it was. While the first night we actually got a snack there and had a couple of drinks, but the last night, we were pretty much just getting our drinks to go.
As you will see in the photos, it was pretty nasty. It's interesting how general cleanliness seems to have declined since Covid happened. Even in the rental houses my wife and I have stayed in, you almost have to do your own deep clean to get it anywhere near acceptable.
Actually, on our last night, we found a spot away from the bar that wasn't too dirty and we decided we were going to stay there for a little bit. That's when the final straw broke and we knew it was time to go. I went up to the bar to order another round of drinks and they let me know that they were out of Captain Morgan. How do you run out of Captain Morgan? That's like a staple of any bar.
They should have cases of the stuff sitting on standby for when they need it. I don't know, maybe I am being too picky, but it just seemed pretty unacceptable to us.
I'm not saying don't stay at the Hilton on Lake Champlain, but definitely do your research before you go there and try not to pay what I did for your room.
Ultimately, I'm not sure the view justified the cost of the room. I think if I were to do it again, I'd stay at a place that was a little further away from the Lake and closer to Church Street. On a nice day you can always walk down to the Lake and watch the sunset, so you really wouldn't be missing too much.
Check back on Wednesday as we take a final stroll through downtown Burlington.
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
I’ve stayed there a couple of times
Actually smoked a fat joint with members of The Disco Biscuits (one of my favorite bands) right out front back in 2015
Recommend Foam Brewers (close by) if you enjoy a good IPA
That is cool! We looked at Foam, but neither of us are fans of IPA's that much and the food options were pretty limited, so we skipped it. I think this hotel has a lot of potential, I'm not saying I wouldn't stay there again, but I would definitely not splurge for a corner room.
Yeah, I think the issue is the overall hospitality services in Vermont. Even thought it’s a bit run down, it’s still probably the best place to stay in Burlington. Only real high end places I can think of are the small Inn style places and the Ski Resorts. Regardless, always nice to visit VT. Beautiful state!
We really enjoyed it there. The atmosphere was really cool. As I have said, I'd love to go a bit earlier in the season when the weather is nicer.
very pricey
You hit the nail in the head. Post-COVID hotel services have taken a nose dive. It is so unfortunate that the trip had to take a sour turn because of your hotel stay, especially with the prices and hidden charges. This is why Airbnb has become such a popular option. The downsides like you said, is the privacy. Also, a lot of "permanent" Airbnbs have just become self-service small hotels with worse service.
For sure! The last couple rentals we have stayed at they were very adamant that we didn't show up before a certain time so the cleaning crew could do a thorough job. When you get instructions like that you expect a banger job. It hasn't been the case. The "hidden" charges are just ridiculous. Things like city fees and tourism fees are going to kill the industry.
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
Congratulations @bozz! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next target is to reach 320000 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPAfter living in Japan a few years, whenever I visit the States pretty much everywhere seems dirty as hell. I don't mean that in a cruel way. Just everything is so spotless and clean in Japan, by comparison most places in the States seem dirty. I haven't been back since COVID, so if you notice cleanliness getting even worse since then, I'm sure I'd be even more horrified now.
Geez, what BS. Remind me to get an AirBNB and skip the hotel if I come back to the States any time soon.
Those haven't been much cleaner from what I have seen. Plus, in most cases the prices haven't been much better. I think they can be if you are splitting it with a couple of people, but most of the prime AirBNB and VRBO places are still really expensive. Plus they charge a ton of fees as well. You will probably be totally grossed out. It's all gone downhill.
Wow, a lot of unacceptable things happen there. Unnecessary service fee, and the disturb there. It doesn't just sit right. I hope they get things right.
In the grand scheme of things they were probably minor inconveniences, but they added up to make our trip less than we expected.
Well, I am glad you guys had a nice time nonetheless 😊 .
What a shame, the Hilton usually is a safe choice. It sounds like that property is in sad shape, and at that price tag it should be immaculate!
And how do they run out of Captain Morgan? That's stuff not expensive, it's not 25 year old Scotch... I think you were right to be more than a little dissappointed.
Yeah, I try to stay at mostly Hilton properties because I get rewards points and they are usually pretty nice. Embassy Suites gives you a free breakfast and the managers reception. This was just kind of disappointing for being their flagship hotel in the city. You can get a 1/2 gallon of Captain for like $25 so yeah, no excuse to run out.
I’m glad you landed at the Hilton Burlington Lake Champlain
You had so much fun there
I’m glad!
Thank you!
Hmm - that doesnt sound too good, especially considering how much you paid. And I'm shocked that they are charging you to give you 'complimentary' discounts - that is a joke.
All the fees are a total joke. I should have included a photo of my receipt. It's just ridiculous!
Hello bozz!
It's nice to let you know that your article will take 4th place.
Your post is among 15 Best articles voted 7 days ago by the @hive-lu | King Lucoin Curator by nuthman
You receive 🎖 2.5 unique LUBEST tokens as a reward. You can support Lu world and your curator, then he and you will receive 10x more of the winning token. There is a buyout offer waiting for him on the stock exchange. All you need to do is reblog Daily Report 144 with your winnings.
Buy Lu on the Hive-Engine exchange | World of Lu created by szejq
STOPor to resume write a wordSTART