Hilton Opens $75 Adults-Only Club In Cleveland—Lifetime Diamonds Are Locked Out, Diamond Reserve Gets In Free

Hilton Cleveland Downtown is the first pilot of a new paid, adults-only concept called “The Club at Hilton.” It’s considered a “premium club” within Hilton and not an Executive Lounge. That lets the hotel exclude ordinary Diamond and Lifetime Diamond members while admitting Diamond Reserve members and one registered guest free. The Hilton Cleveland Downtown is a 600-room convention hotel that opened in 2016, directly connected to the Huntington Convention Center. It’s county-owned and managed by Hilton, this isn’t a franchise freelancing. The Club opened May 1 as Hilton’s first pilot of this idea. Charlotte is also open and West Palm Beach is coming. It’s basically a club lounge with all-inclusive food and drink and coworking space. Breakfast, lunch, evening food and snacks between services Full included bar, cocktails, nonalcoholic drinks and barista coffee concierge service meeting space, television room and Cleveland-themed listening room guests age 21 and older only Hilton’s terms promise Diamond members access to “Executive Lounges,” but expressly exclude specialty accommodations and “Club” accommodation types. The hotel used to have a ground floor Executive Lounge, but it was closed during the pandemic. Many Diamond members are angry. When Hilton introduced Diamond Reserve, they said Diamond’s existing benefits would be preserved, including Executive Lounge access. Now Hilton decides some lounges are excluded. Cleveland is an ordinary Hilton convention hotel, not a Waldorf or Conrad. Premium Clubs previously meant places like the Sakura Club at Conrad Washington, the Citrus Club at Arizona Biltmore and the Imperial Club at Rome Cavalieri. Not.. Cleveland? This could be how Hilton re-opens lounges, just calls them premium clubs, and sells them to their Diamond members who used to get access free. Although interestingly Hilton Charlotte University Place says Diamonds get access to their version of the concept. Reader L737 shares a report on the Cleveland property’s club. It’s clearly good, mostly empty, and ordinary Diamonds are being asked for $75 to enter. Here’s his experience: I recently tried out the pilot Hilton Club at the Downtown Cleveland location just for fun to see what it was about. As a Hilton Diamond, I didn’t have complimentary access – I paid $75 for one day. I was told that generally, as of right now one cannot get a single-day pass (a feature that is on the way). Therefore, one must add access for the entire stay if you don’t book a room with complimentary access. Luckily when I booked I tacked on an extra night with points on a separate reservation so I could check out the place without paying for multiple nights. The Club is open 6am to 9pm. Breakfast runs from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and I believe dinner is 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The last call for drinks is 8:45pm. If you go in between meals there are some basic snack items, pastries, and drinks. On the first day I didn’t realize that breakfast ended at 9 a.m., so I got some of the basic stuff. The Space It’s really nice! There’s the main area with the bar and food, a TV area and a “Listening Space” overlooking the outdoors (they call it the Zen Garden). The Club is on the ground floor so views aren’t like the Bar 32 rooftop at the hotel. There’s also a small meeting room but it’s not part of the introductory tour, so I’m not sure if it’s public access. The TV space has four TVs, each controlled by its own remote. The listening space has record players that you can connect via Bluetooth. I thought that was a pretty unique concept even if it doesn’t appeal to me specifically. Couple of chess boards throughout the lounge. Food Each day has a “theme,” e.g., Italian or Midwestern (which I’m not exactly sure what that entails). There are four or five themes that rotate so if you go multiple days, there will be some variety. Lunch and dinner entrees are tapas-style, similar to Capital One lounges. Breakfast was more buffet-style. Breakfast: On my second day, I had access until check-out time (11 a.m.), so I was able to catch a proper breakfast. Real eggs! Highlights: Brie & Smoked Salmon. (You can also make a bagel.) Lunch: Unlike breakfast and dinner, lunch only has cold items. Highlights: tuna salad sandwich (Crostini is a more apt name in my humble opinion, but it was my overall favorite) and turkey and Havarti sandwiches Dinner: Perogies were a nice touch since Cleveland is known for them. Highlight: Chicken wings Apparently people have complained about the policy that you cannot take entrees out of the lounge, only snacks and drinks. (Must be a lot of the same people that like to fill up to go to airport lounges!) Crowds I was told it can be pretty crowded during special events but each time I went I saw at most three other people in the total of maybe two overall hours I stayed. When it’s that empty it’s a nice sanctuary. Overall I had a fun experience, I’m glad I tried it! Not an exorbitant price especially if you take advantage of the bar. But getting your money’s worth definitely requires preplanning and knowing you will take advantage of all meals. It’s much better for a city without a good food scene – if I were in NYC for example, it’d be a non-starter. The food was decent. Service was a highlight: great and very friendly staff. While of course I’d prefer complimentary access for Diamonds, it’s undeniably quite a step above the one and only Executive Lounge I’ve been to – although selfishly it would be nice for it to be more accessible to D Topics on this page