Great Diamond (& Gold) Recognition at the Hampton Inn Staunton

Hilton treats their Diamond elites pretty well, but I’ve never seen this kind of recognition at a Hampton Inn (granted, I rarely stay at Hampton Inns). Of course this comes the year after I gave up on keeping Hilton Diamond status…

My parents and I were in Staunton on a really busy weekend. How busy? The one “nice” hotel was sold out and everything else was ridiculously expensive for a 2* in a small town. When a Hampton Inn is pricing at $200 a night, you know you’re in trouble.

So I took it as a good sign when we pulled up and I saw those signs reserving the parking spaces closest to the door. The ground floor was a little different than what I expected. Very utilitarian hallway with the breakfast area off the the left, a seating area to the right and the check in area in the back around the corner.

Check in was quick and very helpful with my Gold status being recognized. Since I was sharing the room with my parents I had made sure to book the “suite” that my dad (also a Gold) had been upgraded to on a previous stay just to make sure we had enough room.

It wasn’t a true suite, more like a very big room with sitting area with pull out sofa and kitchenette area.

The shower was large and better suited for mobility issues than the high walled whirlpool tubs at the Village Inn. The closet was disguised behind a giant mirror (pretty cool!)

The pool was basic, but very clean, and even better, very empty.

We had settled in for the evening having picked up our free hot happy hour cookie, when the rainstorm started. And promptly started to come in the bottom of our window sill because the caulking project from earlier that week hadn’t been completed yet.

We notified the front desk just to let them know and get some extra towels (after all, there wasn’t anything they could do about it during the rainstorm) and they came running up with apologies and towels and offers to move us.

30 minutes later they had popped back up with a bag full of Virginia goodies like locally made peach preserves and bread mix.

The room was great, the sofa bed was awful — days later I was still feeling phantom springs digging into my shoulder. The free breakfast was crowded and standard. Preformed egg omelets with cheese, waffles, toast, and yogurt. But it did have those Diamond parking signs!