Originally Posted by
fellini77
It's interesting that this thread has evolved into this particular discussion as these 3 hotels in HK seem to sit on the fault line of taste: unique/boutique/design-led hotels vs large/know-what-to-expect/dependable hotels. In asking people's opinions on the 3, it was obvious that some would naturally lean towards one over the other as a matter of taste.
An interesting aside is that those who prefer FS can sometimes be really quite aggressive about Upper House, whereas those who prefer Upper House don't feel so strongly negative about FS. I guess that's not unusual with the UH targeting a certain type of traveler while the FS casts a wider net.
Anyway, my hope in starting this thread was to get people to talk about the specific details they love about their preferred hotel. That offers genuine insight into the best aspects of these hotels and of course that's more useful than a simple "My vote goes for XXX" without any further information. Unless everyone knows you're a fashionista in your 20s from London or a 55 year-old businessman from Jakarta, it can be difficult to know what to do with those opinions...
You make very valid points. In particular comments like "I love/detest Hotel X" with no further substantiation are worse than useless - they just raise questions rather than answer them. There was a fabulous post a while ago where someone described why at her precise stage of life (husband in super high-stress job, young kids) the Aman experience was so perfect - but that she could see how it wouldn't have the same value for others. That gave me more information than the hundreds of cryptic "Aman is perfection" posts (unwritten subtext: "and of course we all agree because we all have the same needs/tastes/etc") that litter this forum.
Back on topic: Unfortunately of the hotels under discussion I have only stayed at the MO and the Landmark MO. Despite the gorgeous, airy, modern rooms at LMO I prefer the MO just because it feels more like I'm in Hong Kong.
I don't think the MO is perfect or even as good as it should be. I have mentioned that the ceilings are a bit low and can add that breakfast in the Clipper Lounge can be a bun fight of note with harried servers struggling to turn tables over at peak times. Room service food was wonderful - but they got one part of the order wrong. Despite the minor shortcomings I still have a soft spot for it. Quite possibly this is influenced by the fact that it was the first hotel I ever stayed in in Hong Kong. But even that says something: this is the sort of hotel that you do feel sentimental about.