Went for my birthday in february, the staff were absolutely fantastic. Usage of the spa is highly recommended and the cost for the wet area facilities is well worth the cost (especially the outdoors heated pool in the snow!). Rooms were fantastic! Grounds were beautiful. The only flaw with this hotel was that during the snowy/icy period, the grounds are quite treacherous. and the only way in is up a huge hill or a lot of steps. Bars/restaurants are fantastic quality, even managed to get a cheeky cocktail making lesson while the bar was quiet. fantastic touch to end the stay - and offered complimentary shuttle to the bus station on departure.

This is my second review of the Hilton Evian. I absolutely loved the hotel the first time I stayed there, and looked forward to returning there again--and in fact we went out of our way to stay again. After the second stay, I probably will not return. It's a destination hotel, so you really have to want to make a trip there, and it wasn't pleasant enough the second time to want to do so again. The most striking change on our second stay was in the attitude of the employees. The first time we stayed, everyone was warm, friendly, welcoming. On this stay, the people at the desk had that slightly adversarial quality you sometimes run into at hotels: unfriendly or at least uninterested. For instance, no one asked us about our stay as we checked out, only said, okay, you've paid. One of the joys of the hotel on the first stay was the spa and pools area; this time we were told that we would have to pay 30 euros extra to use the pool! It turned out that the person had mixed up 30 and 13, but nevertheless, it seems absurd to go to a spa hotel in a spa town (and it was high season, so the room was hundreds of dollars a night) and to be asked to pay extra to use the hotel pool. When I expressed surprise at the change, the spa employee said that the hotel had been taken over by someone new since our last stay--that perhaps explained the change in atmosphere. (The exercise room was still free.) The hotel has pay parking, but on our first stay, the person at the desk explained that one could park on the street a couple blocks down the road, next to the lake, for free. On this stay, when we declined the pay parking, the woman at the desk told us that there was no free parking anywhere and we would be ticketed or pay a lot for meters anywhere on the street. She either did not know the regulations or lied to us. (We parked on the street again.) The executive lounge was still quite nice and the view of the lake still lovely. One other point: the first time we stayed we were on the top floor of the hotel, and our room was very quiet. This time we were on the floor below the top floor, and we had quite a bit of noise coming from above. There were children in the room above, and you could hear them running across the floor. So the soundproofing between floors is not great. If you do end up on the fourth floor, there are no rooms above that floor once you get half way down the hall--so try to get a room on the far end of the fourth floor or on the fifth floor. So, in sum, I'd stay if I had to be in Evian, but wouldn't go out of way to go to this hotel again. This second stay well illustrates how important a friendly atmosphere is to a hotel.

We were hoping to celebrate the new year with a calm, relaxing spa weekend. However, the amount of mix-ups and lapses in the service were so many during our one-night stay that we decided to write a complaint letter to the hotel – something we have never done before!

Read on if you'd like to hear about our laughable time at the Hilton. Otherwise, please take our advice and avoid paying the 4-star prices for this incredibly underwhelming “luxury” hotel experience. We understand we might have encountered some bad luck and timing, but this many mishaps in such a short period of time is just inexcusable for a hotel of this supposed calibre.

1 - Room mix-up.
It wasn't until an hour after checkin - when we were in our bathing suits, at the spa reception desk – that the receptionist told us we had the wrong room number. Though the fault was not ours, we had to return to our room to confirm and test the key card. We then had to dress in our street clothes to collect our new room key card from the lobby and move our bags across the hall. The nice surprise - we finally got the "deluxe" room we had paid for.

No apologies at the lobby reception. The workers at the spa at least smoothed things over with free entry that day.

2 – Restaurant food obviously store-bought.
We paid 40 euros for a frozen pizza and hamburger to be reheated at the lobby cafe. It took almost an hour to get this stale food, yet there were only four occupied tables and it was lunch hour. The waiter did not pass by our table once while we were waiting.

No attempt to apologize - not even a 'goodbye' or 'have a nice day' when we paid.

3 – Fake king-sized bed.
Even in the nicer “deluxe” room, the bed was stiff and made a rubbery swishing sound when we turned. To call it a kind-sized bed is a bit of a lie – two smaller beds squished together and covered with a large sheet to give the impression of a super-sized mattress. There's no point in constructing such a large bed if you end up sleeping on one side or the other to avoid the joint in the middle.

4 – Party shakes the hotel until 4am.
We were awoken around 1:30am by loud club music that continued until four in the morning! When we called the hotel reception to complain, we discovered the music was coming from a party at our favorite lobby cafe (the receptionist could barely hear me over the phone). The receptionist could not give an explanation as to why guests were not informed about the noise beforehand and certainly did not attempt to rectify the problem during the night!

Yet again, no apologies or recognition of the obvious inconvenience.

5 - The final blow the following morning.
Despite booking our room through the Hilton website, our names did not appear on the list to be admitted to the breakfast buffet. Had to calmly argue a while with the hostess, were even ready to show her our payment receipt when she “kindly” let us in. Whether due to reluctance or lack of staff, none of the waiters passed by to take our drink order. The English breakfast was cold and soggy, not a surprise after our lunch the day before.

No matter how nice and enjoyable the rooms and small spa area were, we certainly did not get the value we paid for or were expecting. This was a truly UN-friendly, UN-relaxing spa weekend we will not soon forget.

The best hotel I stayed during my trip. Spacious rooms with plenty of space that dwarfs my luggage.

Quality Grohe bath/wc fittings with class-leading Peter Thomas Roth toiletries. Personal balcony that overlooks the Geneva Lake.

Fully-stocked minibar fridge that has boobytrapped sensors (warning labels pasted inside) to charge items to room account once removed.

Excellent spread of buffet breakfast that should satisfy the pickiest guest.

To the left of the hotel is where the casino and eateries are.

Free wifi should be provided, since they charge at 400+ euros/month, if that is not too much to ask for.