DSI

I seem to have struck a nerve! I just didn't think there was anything impressive about my stay at the Pen. Personalized service? No. Did I get a king bed that was requested, no. Did the service for tea in the lobby take an exceptionally long time? Yes. Was I told that since we weren't hotel guests and we couldn't eat breakfast there? Yes. Was there at any point staff were aware that we were guests? Not really, except the check-in. Was the room tiny? Yes. How was the view? Well, I don't know how to post pictures but it was very bad. Did the grout lines look sloppy, yes, and shoddy work kind of annoys me. But again, I may have gotten the worst room in the place for all I know.

To be fair, I thought the water pressure was incredible, the linens were decent and I liked the swimming pool.

People have different definitions of luxury. I probably tend to value size and uniqueness of decor a bit heavily, so a blandish and small hotel room where there wasn't personalized service didn't do it for me. Just seemed like a tourist trap. I'm not saying it's a bad hotel or anything. It's perfectly acceptable and actually quite nice, and maybe worth a 5 star ranking when you consider the relative value and overall cost of living in Hong Kong.

I had just arrived from what I consider to be the best resort in the world... so maybe I was jaded?

If there are boxes that are to be checked to describe things as luxury, I guess it checked those boxes. But I guess that doesn't mean much to me.

I'm the person on this forum eschewing small hotel rooms for Airbnb. I tend to agree with Bhrubin on St. Regis' being as good if not better than Aman, even though people think it's absurd that a points hotel can be nice. I realize my views are a bit out of left field. Plus, I'm fine with a Westin and am even going to Awasi soon, even though it's probably not of the luxury standard that would appeal to most on this board, and may in fact not be even be luxurious, but I'll still have a great time.

Lastly, it really doesn't matter what I think about luxury, its the forum rules as dictated by the moderator. I referenced Musha Cay and it's moved because it's not luxury, so my reasoning is that anything not above that standard is simply unacceptable for the forum. That's why I would never do a review in the future as a new thread--it will get moved or deleted or edited. So I guess it doesn't ultimately matter what I think about what constitutes luxury for the sake for the forum anyways.