Little Rock, Hilton Metro Center.
Written: Dec 14 '04 (Updated Jan 31 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Location away from downtown. Good price for above average amenities.
Cons: Not in the best location for sight seeing.
The Bottom Line: If you are traveling to Little Rock and want to avoid downtown and the Riverfront, this is the place for you.
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| mnehr's Full Review: Hilton Little Rock Inn |
Be it for business, vacation in the beautiful Ozark mountains, or a visit to the Clinton presidential library, Little Rock is the hub of all there is to do in Arkansas. In my job, I stay in Little Rock at least one week per month. During this time, I have stayed at some of the best hotels, including the Peabody, the Capitol, the Riverfront Hilton & the Holiday Inn Presidential. With all of the amenities that these pricey hotels have to offer, the one hotel I have decided to make my new home away from home is the Hilton Metro Center.
Why the Hilton Metro Center?
I first chose the Hilton Metro Center specifically because of it's location. The same weekend of the Clinton Presidential Library opening, I had to come to Little Rock for business. Every one of my regular hotels in downtown Little Rock were completely full, and the only place I could find with a room was at the Hilton Metro Center. I was told that because the Hilton Metro Center was brand new, they were not on the list of hotels recommended for those visiting during the opening.
Location
If anyone travels to another city regularly, they know that the first few trips staying around all of the happening venues quickly wears off. The Hilton Metro Center is about 20 minutes from downtown with real traffic (it is advertised as only 5 minutes from downtown, but that is by MapQuest who doesn't know what Little Rock traffic is like.)
The Hilton Metro Center is close to the intersection of University and 630. If you are staying in Little Rock to visit some of the sights, specifically the downtown area, I suggest driving East on Cantrell or Markham, not on the recommendations of MapQuest or other travel guides. This will save your journey a lot of windshield time.
Most people who I have found stay at the Hilton are either business people with Alltel, Dillard's, TCBY, or one of the many other companies that call Little Rock home. They found, like I did, that the Hilton Metro Center is more convenient than the hustle of staying downtown. Closest, however, is the Arkansas Children's Hospital and St Vincent's Hospital, both within eyeshot of the Hilton.
I honestly don't have my bearings as to how the Hilton is situated to the Little Rock airport, however, I did notice that the Hilton provides a shuttle service to the airport that is regularly packed.
Recommended Neighbors
For regular business travelers, like myself, we like to know what is close to the hotel we are staying at. Apart from the mall across the street, there is very little within a block or two of the Hilton Metro Center. The closest restaurants is IHOP, which I don't recommend.
The Hilton Metro Center, however, is located in the Hillcrest district, just north of the Heights, where one finds some of the best restaurants in Little Rock. Two restaurants I strongly recommend are Loca Luna about 2 miles east on Cantrell and Cajun's Warf on Riverfront (if you need specific directions or other recommendations, just e-mail me.)
Amenities
The Hilton Metro Center falls somewhere between the luxury category and the business traveler category. While the rooms are quite spacious for their price (over twice the size of the ultra luxury Peabody downtown), they don't have the mini kitchens, or even a microwave like many hotels that business travelers look for.
Some of the more important amenities to me that are included are:
- Free Wi-Fi internet service.
- Free to use business center with printer and fax.
- Irons in every room.
- The most important thing to any business traveler, a coffee pot in every room.
- Decent size work areas in even the standard rooms for when I need an ad-hoc meeting.
- Available conference facilities.
- Room service until 10 pm (many hotels stop at 9 pm.)
- Free cable, including HBO; TVIO type internet service available for a small cost.
I have only tried the restaurant in the Hilton one time and found it average for a hotel. The prices fell within the same average range with most entrees falling in the 18-25 range. If you are a business traveler on a capped budget, you may want to search around town to stretch your budget.
The bar at the Hilton, however, has one of the best wine lists I have seen in a chain hotel, and at decent prices. The bar is one of the places I visit on a regular basis- I must have my glass of Merlot each evening when I am on a trip. If I have one complaint about the bar, it would be that they carry at least a couple of decent Ports. Oddly enough, even a wine store in downtown Little Rock didn't carry any Ports. They explained there is not a demand here. I suppose it must be a small town, Bible-belt sort of thing.
Before anyone asks, no there is not a breakfast provided for free in the lobby. I cannot remember what this is called, but I know it is important for many people.
Facilities
The Hilton Metro Center is a brand new facility for all intensive purposes. From what I understand, it was recently given a 40 million dollar, ground-up renovation. If you are lucky to stay on the first floor facing the pool, you will find a pleasant surprise as your back door opens up to a beautiful courtyard and pool area. The downfall to this three story, courtyard style design is that it is a maze of hallways to find the lobby.
With everything new comes some bugs. The first two nights I stayed here, there was a loud rattling in the pipes at night. In the morning I was too tired to complain and by the time I remembered, the noise had gone. If you are on the first floor and are awakened by this, please do mention it to the management and they will move you. Another person in my party did have this problem and when they mentioned it, they were moved to a new room. In my two stays since that time I have not heard of this problem.
The bathrooms use a rain-shower type showerhead, which, while fashionable, is not very convenient for us guys who like to shave in the shower.
The beds and chairs are comfortable but I wish they would include the extra blanket that many hotels provide. I much prefer the old fashioned option to the thermostat that keeps the room at an exact temperature, turning on the air and heat over and over for the ideal condition. This type of system was in my house when I bought it and it was one of the first items I had removed. While it sounds good in theory, it is quite annoying.
The Hilton Metro Center has not bought into the environment-friendly housekeeping policy of changing the sheets once every two to three days unless you request the change. While I am not a tree hugger, I do like the idea of conservative conservation. (For those of you in Blue States, a conservationist is someone who believes in taking care of the environment by doing something themselves, not just lobbying (whining (sic)) the government to do it for them.)
Rates
The advertised rates for the Hilton Metro Center seem to range around $130-$200 per night, however, most corporate rates run around $90 per night. I have noticed that many times if you go through Hotels.com or a travel agent, anyone can score corporate discounts to most hotels.
If you are traveling to Little Rock or the surrounding area, and don't want to fight the poorly planned downtown traffic nightmare, I would suggest the Hilton Metro Center. I have already scheduled my next three trips to stay here, and unless they really screw up, this will be my home away from home in Little Rock.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
mnehr
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Member: Matthew
Location: Texas
Reviews written: 72
Trusted by: 192 members
About Me:
A Republican, Neo-Conservative, Quasi-Libertarian, MBA. Confused yet?
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