notified that I would and did arrive at 11pm. No bellman, concierge and 3 sets of 4 steps between driveway and front door. Lugged our 5 bags to the counter where duty manager Melanie was checking in a guest. Waiting, waiting - Melanie wants to chat to guest - and what will uou be doing in Cairns - guest answering in monosyllabel words clearly wanting just to get his key and go sleep. She announces that she has upgraded him to a spa room - which he says he won't use as leaving early. Melanie departs and new reception person comes - checks us in and gives us key - no offer of assistance with bags ( we are two older women). Arrive at room. Key doesn't work. Red light. Down I go - man re formats key - up again, key works, room as hot as Hades. Very normal room - when booked and pre-paid therapeutic spa room. Ring reception just to advise them - man says will bring keys for spa room - we say no - just wanted to advise you, but man insists. We wait and wait - then take all bags downstairs - no-one arouind. After a while man comes out and informs duty manager Melanie to speak to us and out she comes only to inmform us no douible spa rooms left. 12pm now. Not happy. Why did you tell me there were such rooms - well here isn't and really there is no difference with the room you are in and the spa room - well why suggest we move ???? Why charge more for a spa room ? Back to lift with 5 bags - melanie says she will help us up. I say no thanks - don't need any more help - to which she shreiks - well what would you have me do - push someone out of their room. Ah..no..says I and goodnight. Stayed at Hilton as thouight could guarantee someone would be there on check in etc as international 5 star hotel. I was wrong. Not a hotel to come back to. Bizarrely bad service.

I stayed here after for a few days after a trip to PNG and had a great time. It was close to the docks and a reasonable price. The room was clean, the bath was nice and the view of the water was great! I was only here for three days but the location allowed me access to the boats so I could scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef and close enough to the town that I could walk to get some food. I would recommend this hotel to anyone who wanted to check out this part of Australia.

This is an attractive hotel with recently renovated rooms in a prime location in downtown Cairns. Unfortunately, it is poorly managed and suffers from a multitude of problems, many of which have most likely been caused by over-aggressive attempts to cut costs.

No doormen or bell staff were present on the weekend when I checked in - none were present the following weekend either. Just a single front desk employee, that's it. I would up carrying my own bags up to my room after I checked in. The one front desk clerk on duty didn't offer to get a bellman - most likely because there were none to be found. Throughout the week, it was not uncommon to see line-ups of 3 or 4 guests waiting to be served by the single front front desk clerk on duty.

Internet service was unreliable throughout my stay, despite the advertised charge of $30 per day. One day, the hotel had no internet service at all from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

The air conditioner failed in my room, and despite having advised the front desk clerk about this problem at 11:00 AM, no-one did anything about it until 3:00 PM, at which point I was transferred to another room because the air conditioner was deemed to be beyond repair. The air conditioner in the new room worked, but the internet didn't. It took 6 hours - from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM - before I could settle down to do work in a room that had both functional air conditioning and functional internet.

Some clever bean-counter has reduced the airflow out the bathroom exhaust vents to such a low volume that the bathroom mirror totally fogs up after even the shortest shower is taken. The result of this is that if you want to shave or comb your hair, you get to do it in the main part of the room, using the mirror near the bed. These kind of money-saving tricks can be tolerated at a $50 Ma and Pa motel, but are just not acceptable on the executive floor of a Hilton, especially when the rack rate of the room is $499 a night (I paid $220 a night, including the internet charge).

There is no weatherstripping of any kind around the perimeter of the guest room doors, and no door sweep at the bottom of the doors. The hotel has an open central atrium, and all the hallways are constructed of tile floors and concrete walls (exactly the same architectural practices found in a maximum security prison). The result of design shortcoming is that whenever any guest makes any kind of noise in the hallways, even something as commonplace as walking down the hallways in high heeled shoes, every guest can hear it loudly and clearly inside their guest room. This is NOT a quiet hotel.

The lack of weatherstripping and large gaps at the bottom of the guest room doors also permits insects such as cockroaches to easily enter the rooms... at least, that's what the manager on duty told me when I went downstairs to report that I had been woken up by a cockroach crawling up my leg at 1:00 in the morning. I squashed the cockroach, and the manager was kind enough to give me a fresh set of linen to carry upstairs and use to change my own bed linen. This in a hotel that advertises itself as a 5 star property?

On the positive side, the staff (the few that there are on duty at any time) are very courteous. They are especially good about apologizing for all the various hotel shortcomings - it's clear that they have had lots of practice doing this.

All things considered, this is NOT a businessman's hotel. If you are in Cairns to do business and you want a first-class hotel, this is NOT the place for you. Where that place is, I don't know, but the next time I come back to this city, I'll try to find out. Despite the courteous and friendly staff, I won't be coming back here. There are just too many screw-ups and too many deficiencies.

Someone who is in a decision-making capacity in this hotel is prioritizing monthly or quarterly financial performance ahead of maintaining Hilton brand standards, and the results are not pleasant for the guest. Eventually, that person will find out that no-one has ever 'cut their way to greatness' in the hospitality business.

Excellent location, excellent rooms. Near esplande street, convenient for shopping, food, and swimming. The front desk are very friendly and willing to help. I booked a trip to green island online. The tour guide did not show up on time. The front desk make phone call contact the trour guide for me.