Beano HK

Most now take Octopus cards too which you can easily obtain at an MTR station. Reload 7-11 etc easily.

carrotjuice

newshound

Yep I am here now and based on personal experience & checked with everyone in my office, nobody has heard of taxis accepting octopus. Closest you'll get is booking in advance some may accept credit card

Kacee

Misconnected at HKG today, so booked a room at the JW. Headed to the lounge on 5th floor and . . . confused. Why are there waiters, menus, and people eating cheeseburgers in here? Because the "Executive Lounge" at this property now hosts the property's new restaurant, "Flint," serving an "executive set lunch" on weekdays (Flint). Let's hope this isn't the start of a new lounge monetization trend.

ETA: Here's the signage at the elevator lobby:

Muerz

Were you allowed to get a free lunch there? If so, wouldn‘t this then be an actual upgrade as most lounges are closed for lunch?

Kacee

Are you serious?

Of course not. It's not a lounge benefit, it's double use of the lounge space as a revenue generator.

Richard Yu

I believe the lounge itself is undergoing renovations or refurbishment. It was a beautiful space when I stayed there, with sweeping views of Victoria Harbour / perfect place to watch fireworks on special occasions. Should be temporary.

LAX

Closed for lunch as in guests not allowed in the lounges at all or guests allowed in the space with no foods? If former, then what's wrong with using the lounge space for other purposes during hours normally not accessible to guests anyway? If later, then it's certainly a devaluation as it essentially limits the hours of access for guests.

LAX

Kacee

The lounge's published hours are daily from 6:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., so the restaurant uses the lounge space during its published open hours. During the period the restaurant is operating, you have two groups using the space at once - restaurant customers and lounge eligible guests. During my visit, the restaurant use extended into the lounge's afternoon tea service, which starts at 2:30 p.m.

I can tell you it was quite odd. I walked in around 2 pm, saw it was a restaurant, so turned around and walked back out assuming I had somehow missed the lounge entrance.

It's my understanding that space was converted to guest rooms. That's why the lounge moved to floors 4 and 5, later reduced to just 5, and now sharing space on 5 with a restaurant.

CXYYZ

Definitely not true. Some take Octopus but not even close to "most."

Also worth noting that the hotel's gym is currently undergoing refurbishment for the next few months. Apparently there's a temp set-up near the pool but I haven't checked it out.

Kacee

It's on the 31st floor. Two rooms. I did not check it out.

I wound up okay with this property. Upgraded to harbour view on an award redemption. There were suites for sale, but I didn't push it as I was only in the room for about eight hours. Rooms are a bit small but they are well outfitted and the bed was extremely comfortable. I really like the location (have stayed at Conrad many times). One stop from Admiral to TST is super convenient. Happy hour lounge offerings were pretty good, if a bit calorie intensive.

joakgarp

The swimming pool is still open to use as always right? That's pretty important for us as we will be there end of april and from what I've understood it could be pretty warm during that time. The pool doesn't look to be that big but nice to have the choice.

GoSh4rks

The low floor lounge is now the permanent one. The upstairs one was just too small.

VickiSoCal

Here's an article with pics. It is indeed both a restaurant and a lounge.

https://www.businesstraveller.com/bu...ng-a-facelift/

Kacee

Interesting.

The new bed was extremely comfortable. Note though that in my harbour view double, the chairs lacked the ottoman shown in one of the pics, which is unfortunate.

The article also references Chinese food from the hotel's restaurant served in the lounge . . . I can say that the shrimp siu mai at happy hour were fantastic.

I think it's a tough call between this place and the Conrad. The decor is getting pretty tired at Conrad, but the rooms are considerably larger and the views are better. They are also very good about upgrading Diamonds to suites. JW lounge has much better food, but again, Conrad has that view. Overall, I think the Conrad has a more elegant feel, whereas Marriott has a more frenetic vibe.