Originally Posted by
Likemiles
Thank you so much for reviving this thread, Anonymous_third_party. Please do tell us more about your recent stay. So many of us are hungry for any news at all about this very popular property. How was business? How were the people and their outlook? The service, amenities, and food? Much obliged. You were so lucky to have had a chance to stay there despite the pandemic!
Sure. Like a lot us I really love this property, having stayed a lot. Most recently, I've stayed there in December, February, March and July.
Previous three times, was upgraded to suite, last time exec room on top floor, which was pretty average. I did book an insane rate of $1700 per night including $900 of food/bev spend per night though, so was totally fine.
*Lounge was great, staff were super friendly as always. Breakfast is semi buffet, same as it always has been. Afternoon tea is again buffet (it is table service in other overflow lounges), evening drinks were pretty good too, canapés were as always, average.
*Niccollinis was very busy when I went and service and food quality was as good as its ever been.
*Evening buffet in garden restaurant was really great and excellent value - I ate four lobsters
*Drinks by the pool were good in the evening, made me forget covid and national security law for a couple of hours
*Pool is limited to 1 hour sessions, purely due to how in demand it is, the system worked well, but no leisurely reading of a book in a cabana for a few hours. They said limited to one session per room per day, but midweek, we went twice most days.
Following on from pool, at weekends it's busy, and most people stay with packages now, including dinner, lounge access and hotel spend. Conference rooms, lounge lobby, level 8 and others are converted into overflow lounges for evening at weekends. Leisure guests are very different from business travellers, which I'm totally fine with. I'd have done the exact same strategy if I was GM to generate revenue.
General comment, there's no way I'd (again) stay in any decent hotel in HK - Conrad, FS, Peninsula, RC etc - at a weekend, hotels are 100% capacity and people don't leave the properties. It's nuts. Best to book midweek and enjoy tranquility.
Let me know if you've got other questions, happy to help as much as I can.