zhaobao

Remotely "educated" guess would be Plaza Premium taking over. CX gives a certain amount of money to the lounge operator/caterer who then has to make a certain margin. Pen has its own brand image to uphold. Plaza Premium can definitely take over the contract and not worry about upholding its own brand image, no matter how hard CX tries to reduce prices.

FlyPointyEnd

But in the same manner, wouldn't Pen expect bigger margins because of their brand than Plaza Premium? So then if CX pays 100HKD/pax (for example), wouldn't Plaza Premium be able to stretch that more than Pen?

zhaobao

The assumption is that CX is reducing the $$$ per passenger they pay to the lounge operator. To uphold Pen's brand, Pen can only offer certain products, but that would significantly reduce their own margin, and they don't want to offer "sub-standard" service. Plaza Premium may be able to optimize on their own (not worry about where the cut of meat is coming from) and still make a "good enough" margin in their own view. So yeah, in short, Plaza Premium can stretch further than Pen with the same amount per passenger.

percysmith

Not that Plaza Premium isn't capable of cost cutting on its own. Around May-June last year Plaza Premium Arrivals cut the bento boxes/two course meals, replacing it with a salad bar and 4-hot plate buffet. Definite downgrade.

I still saw bento boxes and spaghetti dishes being prepared. And I asked the staff about it - they said they were for Cathay Pacific Arrivals only from now on.

ieuan1

What if the brand perception is the other way round? Perhaps the Peninsula, given the constraints it's working under at the Wing (budgetary/space/hordes of MPO members etc) realizes it isn't doing a good job and doesn't want to tarnish the image of the hotel brand? Sofitel/Accor enhances its image at SYD in the QF lounge: I don't think the Pen does at HKIA.

QRC3288

All valid points.

My suspicion, however is our board overemphasizes what HKSH (owner) thinks about the Pen brand vis a vis catering/consultancy. This is, after all, the same company that operates the Peak Tram (and owns that bizarre structure on the Peak that houses a Burger King and Maddam Tussauds, among many other things). The consultancy and catering services - operator of the CX lounges - are so irrelevant to HKSH that it's lumped into the division with the Peak Tram operations! Seriously. That division for them is tiny. What we call the "Pen" catering on these boards in reality is a tiny little division within HKSH that bears virtually no relationship to the hotel except in name only.

On their financial statements, HKSH did 171mm HKD (~21mm USD) in revenue from the line-item that operates lounges/clubs 2014, which isn't just the CX lounges - it also The Hong Kong Club, Butterfield's and The Hong Kong Bankers' Club (per the annual report). 171mm represents ~4% of HKSH's group revenue, of which part of it are the other clubs HKSH caters around town. In essence, this division (and probably the dedication to operating CX lounges) is an afterthought.

This backs up what I've encountered in previous conversations with HKSH: they intimated to me their contract with CX was more like a lovely little cash machine that kept giving...it wasn't big, and not really relevant, but it kept throwing off cash so let's keep the good thing going. And...drumroll...the fellow I knew there was perfectly fine with the crowds because it put more cash in their wallets. There was nary a concern about the brand getting diluted.

On here with think about Peninsula as in the hotel, but internally at least then they clearly just saw that as a small little division that throws off a little cash. I don't think it's as important as we make it out to be. Unfortunately I don't talk to them much anymore, but if anyone did would be keen to know their thinking.

Mr. Strong

I find that the quality and selection of food at The Pier F Dining Room is substantially better than at The Haven at The Wing. Additionally, staff at The Pier are noticeably friendlier and more attentive. It's just a shame that there are no cabanas at The Pier.

Prior to the re-opening of The Pier, I would dine at the Qantas Lounge then head over to The Wing to use a cabana given that more often than not my long haul flights would depart from Gate 4. I've given up on eating well at The Haven.

I'm not sure if I'd regularly do the trek to eat The Pier then head back to a cabana at The Wing; however, given the sad state of CX in-flight catering in F and J, I tend to make sure that I eat at Qantas Lounge or The Pier before my flights.

In #LifeWellTravelled, CX has a statement, "That’s why we continually strive to enhance the overall travel experience." Seems like they need to add a qualifying footnote...* "except when it comes to in-flight catering"

percysmith

On.cc (yes, again) reports TV host Suzie Wong picks on loudly chatting Penn staff at Wing (?) on her FB

國泰候機貴賓室如街市　蘇施黃轟職員聲浪大

http://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/news/2015...00822_001.html

sscywong

Yes looks like Wing J

And maybe the staff was discussing if CX will / PPL will offer them a contract...

cxfan1960

Haha, perhaps

BTW, it seems that news on CX service is only reported on OD/ON. Are other newspapers not interested?

Cathay Boy

Last time I was in Haven the manager and staff are busy giggling and laughing then serve guests. I guess they know they're leaving so what the heck with it attitude....

kaka

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 7_0_2 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/537.51.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0 Mobile/11A501 Safari/9537.53)

Exactly. Much better at the pier

percysmith

Oh dear. So they're definitely being let go? This is akin to the MBA grad who's already secured his graduate placement offer ("walking around campus with "F___ Y___" tattooed on their foreheads").

Guy Betsy

CX could learn a thing or two over at the QANTAS lounge. Their staff are polite, and knowledgeable about the food, and services of their lounge.

1010101

I'd imagine working at The Wing would test anyone's patience. The QF lounge is far quieter and more civilized in comparison, which probably has a lot to do with that.