What’s Up With That?

When I travel, I normally prefer to stay in Hilton properties. One  unique feature about Hilton’s are their standard alarm clock. Easy to set alarms, buttons that have pre-programmed music by genre, automatic adjustment for daylight savings time, and backup battery to keep time in the event of a power failure and the inability to adjust the time.

By not having a “time set” the objective is to not allow housekeeping personnel or guests to change the time. The theory is that the time will never be wrong. Great idea; but often great theories don’t work in the real world. So if you want to learn how to set the time on a Hilton Alarm Clock, instructions follow.

I always use my iPhone as an alarm clock when traveling. It is my backup in case the hotel alarm clock doesn’t work. It was necessary to use it this week for three nights because the Hilton Alarm Clock was off by 13 hours and change. And the time is not adjustable (supposedly).

This was not a  big deal, as my main concern of the week was dealing with sub-freezing temperature day and night. Remember, I hate cold.

This evening, after my late afternoon and pre-dinner hike, I was putting away my hiking clothes.

I glanced at the clock, which was wrong. And as these kind of things often do, I just got irritated that the time was inaccurate. Something in my brain said I should call the front desk, and the other side of the brain (the one that always makes the decisions), said you need to fix it your self.

So taking a close look at it, I found this large silver fastener (above). Things like that usually mean it is intended for the user to remove it 🙂

With the fastener removed, the top lid of the clock was easy to remove, revealing the genre buttons (note: don’t tilt the clock or these buttons will fall off) and some small buttons and switched at the back of the unit (above).

(Above). There is a small slide switch that unlocks the time setting function and the small button to the left of it is the time set switch. So slide the switch to the left and a padlock icon appears on the face of the clock. Press the “Time Set” button, and the time starts blinking on the clock. Now press the “Alarm Set” button on the face of the clock, and the system time adjusts. Once you have the correct time, press the Enter button on the face of the clock.

Now place the top lid of the clock back in place, being careful not to knock off any of the genre buttons. There are 3 tabs on the top lid that must match the holes. Snap the top in place and replace the rear fastener. Now set you alarm.

Congratulations! You now know how to set a Hilton Hotels alarm clock.