Yes, I've also found this property to be very stingy with any sort of upgrade (view, GC level, etc). On my last stay, I booked 4 nights GC room using points, and one night in the middle of the stay using an FFN night. They wanted me to pay US$100 to upgrade my one FFN night to GC level. I politely declined, and she ended up comping me the one night in the middle of the stay on the GC level.
I was also there in December and found the people that worked in the GC to be much friendlier and more helpful than the concierge. Some of it was cultural on my part, I'm sure, and I also found it hard to communicate with some of the people working at the concierge desk.
HKG has the best airport express train I've ever seen, especially the way the entire thing is designed and layed out and how it pulls right into the terminal at the airport. There's in-city checkin, so you could have checked-in and checked your bags at the Central airport express station (taxis have a special area they pull up to for the airport express at the station, so there's no level changes to do the check-in), and if you're really on a budget, there's a free shuttle bus from the convention center that's connected to the hotel for the Airport Express. (But I always just take a taxi.)
I still love this property, but I've only ever stayed there using points and FFN nights.
-David
Last edited by LIH Prem; Jan 9, 2008 at 7:53 pm