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| - I stayed here at the Grand Pittsburgh (former Hilton) once recently and would stay here every time I came to Pittsburgh if I had any hotel option. The ex-Hilton franchise hotel in downtown Pittsburgh was opened as in 1959 but it is now become the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Hotel Downtown. It is in the Phase II of a long but apparently worthwhile upgrade. At some point during the process, the owner had stopped paying sales taxes and lost the Hilton franchise license and signage as part of his concessions to bankruptcy court. However, the Wyndham is bailing out the property in hopes to convert it into one of their top of the line hotels.
I expected to have a lot of inconveniences here, but quite the opposite was true as it appears the new? management is currently very on top of things and trying to restore the hotel to the value it enjoyed during its heyday.
Front desk service was top notch, quickly responding to our requests made via the room phone (which had Hilton's name and speeddials crossed out with a permanent marker). The concierge was sufficiently helpful in providing maps and suggested restaurants and tourist activities. The FREE "hhonors" wifi and plug-in ethernet was disappointingly spotty in rooms (I reported this to the front desk) but it did work very well in the lobby and hallways.
The best thing about the hotel was its prominent location. Being the biggest hotel in Pittsburgh (24 stories, over 700 rooms), the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Hotel has a luxurious view of the confluence of the three rivers and point state park (pictured), Heinz Field, the Duquesne incline, and the rest of downtown Pittsburgh. In our room, which was high and on the river side, the view of the three rivers and point state park from above the tenth floor, was simply amazing at all hours of the day and night. A mirror on the side wall took advantage of this panoramic view. When trains and barges passed our window, we could hear them faintly even though they were in the distance. This did not disturb our sleep whatsoever but I found it difficult to leave the view behind as we dozed off peacefully in comfortable beds.
The room was significantly smaller than most other hotels, however it was very comfortable, and a flat-screen wall mounted TV took up absolutely no space, so we were not too crowded. The sliding bathroom door which disappeared into the wall also allowed two to maneuver easily in the otherwise tight quarters.
The hotel has one of the biggest gift stores I've ever seen in a hotel but it was hiding out by the back entrance and easy to overlook by mistake. The hotel is stocked with plenty of business traveler amenities, conference rooms and dining, and they will soon even add a swimming pool for its guests. A swimming pool downtown!
When I received my credit card statement I found that I had been double billed for my room. I know I had prepaid for the room over a month ago and then I had another charge show up on my bill from "Hilton Pittsburgh PA". I protested the second charge with the hotel management. They said there was a known billing problem affecting many customers due to the transition in ownership from Hilton, and when I called back a second time, I was able to get the 2nd charge refunded.
I look forward to booking my next Pittsburgh stay here again.
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