For $380US a night, not to mention all the hidden fees, which brings it to almost $500 a night during Carnvial, you would think the service would be impeccable. This could not be further from the truth. Upon arrival, even though we paid for our trip month's in advance, the front desk somehow had no record of our payment. The customer is never right at the Trinidad Hilton. Ask anyone to help you with any mediocre task and they will tell you "they are working on it" but you will never hear from them again. And be prepared to pay exorbitant prices for everything from a hamburger to a bottle of water. With the upcoming Marriott hotel under construction, Hilton would be best to reconsider its strategy for keeping business.

For $375.00 U.S. per night during carnival. For that price in Washington, D.C. or New York, I get superior service. At the Trinidad Hilton for 8-days at Carnival, my husband and I had to beg for a roll of toilet paper which never arrived by the facilities staff and I had to go to the front desk and beg for a roll of paper. No clean towels, I had to beg for this as well, and I had to beg and plead for cleaning service to pick up dirty drinking glassware from my room after the maid had cleaned --- I was told this was not the maid's job. Buffet food and flies on the uncovered fruit, luke-warn coffee, everything turned me off. Hilton, your general manager should be fired for incompetence. Hilton has wonderful staff who cannot do anything about the deplorable rooms.

In summary: excellent staff and good food, but run-down rooms in serious need of re-furbishment.

I was travelling on business; had I been here on pleasure, I would have been seriously disappointed - the rooms simply are not worth the money.

The highlight of my stay was sitting on the terrace at the top, getting my work done (wireless Internet connection) looking out at the sun set over the city and the sea beyond. Unfortunately the Internet connection didn't make it as far as my room, which was no big deal as I tried to spend as little time there as possible. The carpet was the type you wouldn't want to walk on in your bare feet, and the air conditioning was barely able to keep up with the heat outside (the control on it was clearly someone's fantasy and had no effect on what came out of it).

I enjoyed the food I had in the main restaurant (a bit pricey, though the lobster was good value!) and also room service - the table they brought to my room folded out and was at least as large as the one I had in the restaurant, beautifully laid with white tablecloth, flowers, etc.

If the rooms were completely re-furbished, this might be a great place to stay for either business or pleasure. I heard that there is a shortage of hotel accommodation in Port of Spain, so there is no real incentive to do anything about it, but that new hotels are being built, so hopefully this will change. The one saving factor for me was that every single member of staff I came into contact with was friendly and helpful - that can make up for a lot of negatives.

The Hilton Trinidad & Conference Center must be one of the world's most overpriced hotels, given how long it's been since any of the rooms were renovated. Clearly, because Trinidad has so few international hotels, they stay filled to capacity and so there's no motivation to renovate them.

PLUSES
The Hilton is in a nicer location with nicer grounds than the last hotel I stayed at in Trinidad, the Crowne Plaza. The service was also nicer.

MINUSES
I paid US$210/night to stay here which is absolute highway robbery. And it doesn't stop there...breakfast in the restaurant: US$20! A club sandwich and a coke: US$17! And of course, everything has service charges and extra taxes tacked on to it.

The internet service in the rooms costs about US$15-17 also, which is fairly outrageous.

On multiple occasions we had to wait extra time for taxis out in front of the hotel. The bellman was reluctant to call a taxi because it seemed he thought someone from the hotel's taxi service would be back "any minute now." Well, it made me late for a meeting in Port of Spain. Then, when the taxis do show up - they're dilapidated American cars from the 70s - Cutlass Supremes and Cadillac Eldorados, that have seen better days. Many of them do not have A/C, and are downright unsafe. A hotel that's charging $210/night and houses executives, should have hotel vehicles that are at least up to minimal safety standards so that those executives do not get robbed on their way to a meeting. One of the taxi drivers had the gaul to tell my colleague that he didn't want to take him to Port of Spain because it would take him forever to get back.

Overall, the Hilton is not great and is overpriced, but you don't have many options if you're going to Port-of-Spain. Now that I've tried Crowne Plaza (awful), Hilton (decent, but $$$$), I may try the Marriott Courtyard next time, which was sold out for this trip.