Originally Posted by
Aventine
Not petty at all. You booked the room you wanted and weren't given it. I would have been furious like bhrubin. My last experience at this hotel was similar to yours. A very special occasion but no opportunities for an upgrade. We were given exactly what we paid for and then less with service lapses with said special occasion. Our service recovery was the yellow label base Ruinart. Did you get the same?
Their hotel has a bad attitude to anyone who isn't in HK Tatler. The past GM didn't even have the courtesy to reply to my letter or email. I think of the big 3 or 4 HK hotels, I'd give my money to Marcel from TUH everytime. He's quite caring and actually listens to concerns.
I laughed when I read your post Aventine. One of the things that struck me when I was there on both occasions were the other guests which I can break down in four categories:
- Asian hypebeasts of all ages (I had never seen a middle aged hypebeast before) - I slightly felt relieved for having taken my rarely used Goyard Boeing hold all on this trip as it meant I would somehow have a connection to the rest of the guests but this place had more Balenciaga sock trainers than the stock room at Selfridge's;
- the HK Tatler crowd;
- aging Brits from the home counties whose interests include anything "empire" (I wonder what their reaction would be if they discovered that HK has more French expats than Brits). Posh but no Eton or Harrow accents were heard;
- a small minority of normal tourists.
Our service recovery was indeed a bottle of the base level Ruinart
and a late check out. I think the staff missed the fact that I was holding a bottle of Belle Epoque upon check in.
Our original rate was the following:
Harbour View Suite
...
31 December & 1 January: HKD13,000.00
...
72 square meters extremely spacious corner suite offers innovation and luxurious amenities. A spectacular view of the Victoria Harbour ...
Highlighted the bit above that I wasn't offered. We ended up paying half of the rate above (around 7k HKD) as we were changed to a Harbour View Room. Just to note, something that again is not clear from their website, not all Harbour view rooms have a veranda (despite what the website shows as a floor plan). Then again not all harbour view suites have a view.
Other observations from my stay:
On the positive side, loved the attitude and the wit of the barbers in the barbershop. Some of the staff seemed willing to go above and beyond (others were indifferent).
On the negative side, they seemed to seriously struggle over NYE with service failings in every corner. Some of the concierge staff were great, others not so much (I've never had a concierge tell me to use Opentable myself for a booking).