When a friend asked if I could take her two daughters and their two friends on a trip to Universal Studios in Los Angeles, I thought, Why not? I should have taken that as a hint that the trip was going to be more of a challenge than I thought! Me with four pre-teen girls by myself? In retrospect, I think I must have been crazy when I agreed to take them.

(Sidebar: I don't have any kids which is probably the reason why my friends always ask me for help with their kids.)

Imagine me walking into the Hilton with four little girls who are oohing and ahhing over the fancy hotel furnishings and who stop to stare at every shiny thing. I get to the front desk flustered as the girls throw out questions, "Can we go swimming? Can someone help us with our bags? We're hungry...When are we going to eat?"

Fortunately, yes, there was a bellman available to help us with our bags up to the 12th floor. Manny the bellman was very courteous and told us where we could find the pool and which floor the lobby was on.

In fact, every employee I walked by as I explored the hotel on that first day was very nice and welcoming. When I ran into Manny again in the lobby, he greeted me with, "How is your stay so far, Ms. Palma?" That was a big deal to me. Someone remembered my name! Every time I walked by the front desk, someone greeted me. Those who were there on the day I checked in would ask, "So, how are you holding up with all those girls?"

My favorite part of the Hilton experience was being able to relax in one of these poolside cabannas pictured here.

Over at TripAdvisor.com, the Hilton in Universal City currently has an average 4 out of 5 stars from 284 reviews. This was my first experience with a Hilton hotel and I would give my experience 5 stars.

One of the girls was so impressed by the service that she was inspired to write this note...