I booked the DLX Harbour Room and asked for the price of a cash upgrade and they offered one.

According to the language, the BOGO cannot be used to suite BOOKINGS. They were kind enough to treat the booking as what it originally was: A non-suite booking and were kind enough to apply the credit for the upgraded accomodation.

I am certain they went the extra mile and I would have never "demanded" it but was certainly very happy with that outcome and it certainly brought the HK IC very far up on the list of my preferred hotels.

What a smart move.
Thank you again.

Hi Everyone,

I am staying here in a few weeks on a rewards night stay and hope that you can help me with a few questions that I have:

1. Is it possible to upgrade the room from the plaza view to a harbor view? If it's something I can pay for, I'd strongly consider it. And can you tell me what the rate is?

2. Are rewards stays confirmed as stated at the time of booking? I had booked a king size bed for the room, however in regards to another, unrelated question, the hotel staff member randomly mentioned that my "request" for a king bed would be assessed when I got there. I have the confirmation for a king bed room - is that not sufficient?

Thanks for your help!

Phipps

Platinum Upgrades at the Intercontinental Hong Kong
 

Any PC Platinums out there have any luck upgrading from a basic room to a harbor view room at IC Hong Kong? Do you need Ambassador Status to get this? Also, anyone have experiences to share about the IC HK Grand Stanford?

which one in hong kong are you looking at?

Platinum upgrades at Intercontinental HK
 

When I paid for a Club Level City view room at the Intercontinental Grand Stanford they upgraded me to a harbor view room.

When I stay for "free" using my Priority Club points at the Intercontinental Hong Kong they only upgrade me from a basic room to a superior room that was larger but they would not upgrade me to a harborview. What I liked was when I checked out they did not charge me a penny - no tax no nothing.

A search will tell you more, but I seem to remember that IC HK tends to upgrade (even for Ambassadors) on the 'same side' - so you'll simply get a better room overlooking the road if you book road side. You can't really blame them given the premium for the harbour rooms.

I contacted the hotel yesterday about Ambassador benefits (ie: room upgrade) on F&F rate, but was told this was not possible. Has anyone else had any recent experience with the F&F rate and Ambassador status? I noticed some posts from 2009 saying they did honor benefits on the F&F rate.

Officially, the F&F rate does not qualify for benefits, but some hotels will grant them nonetheless. However, this is based on generosity of the hotel, and the fact that others have gotten benefits on the F&F rate is worth very little when the hotel tells you "no." (We've seen similar reports from the IC London, where some people were able to use a BOGO on the F&F rate, while others were rejected). It doesn't matter what others have experienced on this rate; if the hotel has changed its policy (or doesn't want to extend the benefits to you), there's no way to force them.

Yes, I realize it's at the hotel's discretion if they want to extend Ambassador benefits to the F&F rate. I'm not asking how to force them to do that. I was just curious if anyone had more recent experiences with the hotel regarding A/RA benefits and the F&F rate than the posts from last year.

I emailed the hotel recently and was advised that I couldn't use a BOGO with the F&F rate. I therefore booked using a rate available from their website. Haven't stayed yet, it isn't until Oct.

I'm heading to the IC hong kong next week and using points for a stay (actually 2 different stays in a week). I was wondering in your FT general experience. What sort of room do you think I would get (i am a platinum Ambassador) not RA or anything like that. I know that on a points night you are not supposed to get anything but have people had experiences differently?

We had a points night in Feb. (same as you Plat Amb) I had mailed the hotel prior to find what the options were and ended up paying $1600HK for a harbour view...we had a great room on the top floor with a great view worth the $s. You may well get a better room as Ambassador but not a harbour view without paying

It stinks!!
 

Quite literally. :(

I have just typed the long version of this - and lost it! :rolleyes: The short version is that as many have pointed out there is a problem with a nasty, musty odour. The smell of damp mould - like carpets that have been soaked and had mould infect the damp underfelt. And I want to point out that it's not a small problem - which for some reason was the impression I misguidedly formed from seeing references to it here. It is not limited to one or two rooms though some are almost unbearably odiferous while other have the same smell in a fainter version. (Perhaps it is being distributed by the air conditioning?) I found it totally unacceptable in my first room and by the time I was shown the third I capitulated since it was obviously not going to get any better. (All 3 were Deluxe Harbour View rooms.)

So be aware that if you have even a moderately good sense of smell you are likely to find your olfactories offended. Personally I found it such a turn-off that I would not return unless it had been resolved.

Much more galling in retrospect is the downright dishonesty of the hotel to pretend there is no problem (it has been reported on FT for years already) and act like you're the first person to complain. "I have a bit of a cold so I can't smell really it" quoth the manager. Yeah right, but how many of your guests must tell you about it before you do something? :mad: The bottle of wine sent as apology now seems to me like a just a cynical ploy to mollify a guest whom they have knowingly tried to con. :td:

This has unfortunately been the case in these new rooms for over half a decade now. I find the higher ones goes, the better it gets but I don't know why that would be the case. They will bring in a de-humidifier during the day if you request and usually leave a 750ml bottle of champange as well. But, depending on the days and the inside temperature, the INSIDE of the windows get a LOT of condensation on the harbour side of the hotel. Keep asking for another room if you need to. Tell them you have asthma or something.