helvetic

The lounge is crazy crazy busy, holy crap. The staff handles it like champs though. Every time I walk in it's "Hello Mr. Helvetic, sorry it's pretty busy again but why don't you take a seat here at the desk and I'll go find you a seat." They remember me by name, and every time they managed to find me somewhere within a minute or two.

As far as restaurant breakfast, I only went the once around 9am or so. When I left by 10am there was a line of people trying to get in about 40 people deep, so I think they have capacity issues there too. I imagine I could ask for them to just send room service at that point.

mattcng

Yes, totally agree with you about them being champs. They were able to find me a seat rather quick and remembered us by name as well.

This was the first time that I have experienced such a busy lounge. Quite chaotic, but they refilled the food super quick, never empty.

I hopped over the tunnel to JW and it was chaotic as well. Think it was because of the long weekend. So I assume it was chaotic everywhere.

helvetic

OMG, just had a macaron at the club lounge… amazing! They ace the deserts here!

boogen

Finished a 4-day stay this past weekend checking in on a Friday and out on Tuesday. I didn't bother with asking for a suite upgrade and was given a club room at the end of the hall. The end rooms have wooden blinds on one wall what let in a lot of light compared with the other rooms that get bat-cave dark. Next time I'll make sure to get a dark room. As noted above, the weird water cartons are like superglued shut. I had to take a knife out to get them open. The mattress is definitely not a Westin Heavenly Bed, more like a supermax steel slab. They do not have mattress pads, but they gave me two more duvets which I doubled over and proved satisfactory. The lounge on Friday was very crowded, but I staked out my table about 2pm so was well situated for the rush. It was a very sunny day in HK and even though the place was crowded with youngsters, I guess they were so tired, I don't think I heard a sound out of even one of them. The lounge food seemed a little better than two months ago. The smoked salmon last time was a little off, this time it was perfect. There were 4 hot options each nite including 2 or 3 meats. The prime rib was excellent, the lamb chops superb, the baked salmon steaks were very nice, and the sausages were to die for. On Sunday nite with the weekend rush over, I was the only one in the lounge at the start of happy hour and it never got more than half full the rest of the nite. The chef's did an absolutely great job. The staff was amazing, simply the best lounge staff I've been around in a long time and their English has improved from a couple of months ago as well. I'm not a big breakfast eater so really have no comment on breakfast. Last time I didn't get an emailed receipt and never got the points until after two weeks and an email to Bonvoy staff. This time I got the emailed receipt by the time I arrived at the airport and the points were posted in two days. The only improvement I can think of is the room service. I ordered a burger and it arrived perfectly cooked with lettuce tomatoes and pickles on the side with jars of mustard and ketchup. The next time I ordered the same, but it arrived like it was an after thought. No mustard and no side of lettuce etc. As it was 3am, I didn't call and ask for the left off items. All in all, this is the best value for Bonvoy in HK as far as I'm concerned.

ftrichard

I'm inclined to agree with you but it does depend on the rate (which you know in advance) and the level of craziness in the lounge on a Saturday evening (which you don't).

Can I ask what rate you paid? Last time I paid HK$1350++ for a Saturday night and the lounge was like a primary school playground. Next weekend I'm paying HK$898++ at the Courtyard HK so ~HK$500 cheaper for a smaller room and poorer lounge food but no screaming kids. Both hotels are equally accessible IMO.

boogen

$1105 for each night, but also since I had let's say, one of the world's most challenging toddlers, I can tune out kids completely.

ftrichard

That's a good rate for this hotel and HK in general and I agree 100% that at this price it's the best value in HK. Most often the two Courtyards and Ovolo Southside are more than this and clearly the full-service Marriott with its lounge offering are better than any of these three.

I wonder how it's doing then... rates were much, much higher when it first opened towards the end of last year.

allset2travel

Ok, MTR is 2 minutes away, and buses 6/260 are even closer. How do you get here from the airport other than by taxi? How long does that take? Thanks.

I don't think taking HKG express to Kowloon West, then MTR (with long hike at HK Station to Island MTR etc is going to cut it). Is there an airport bus that serves this location?

Chihster

The simplest by public transportation is probably Airport Express to HK station, then walk over to Central MTR station for Island line, then transfer at Admiralty to Island South. If you think that walk is too much, you can take the bus 6/260 underneath the Exchange Square, which is just outside of HK station. Beware there is a bit of up and down on stairs though, but not a long one. The main negative on going with 6/260 is the unpredictable travel time, particularly during rush hours. If you go with all MTR, I would say you could get there in about 1 hour. If taking 6/260, it can be one hour or up to 2 hours depending on traffic.

helvetic

Just do Airport Express to HK Station then taxi over. Unless it's rush hour, taxi should be max 15min. Cabbies don't all know the hotel but if you just tell them Ocean Park they'll know how to get there and the hotel is right there, you'll see it on arrival.

helvetic

Having just wrapped up 13 nights at the Marriott I tend to agree, great value. I used a mix of paid rates (1050 or so on corp rate) and a 7-nighter I had to burn.

That said I've also spent some time at the Ovolo and I'm quite happy with it too. Was treated great and I far prefer the F&B here. After a week at the Marriott, the lounge got very tired. The food rotates on a 3-day schedule and most of it is mediocre (I couldn't stomach more than a bit of any of the meats offered, just gross… the cooked fish dish was usually ok, and the pasta ranged from meh to ok). They serve wine, bubbly, tsingtao and heineken, and a pretty decent self-serve full bar. I made myself some decent cocktails given they had fresh lemons, limes, bitters, a shaker, and I was even able to make simple syrup at the coffee stand. The staff is absolutely excellent. 100% stellar. Some of the nicest lounge staff anywhere in the world (along with the Surawongse in BKK).

RobOnLI

Quick question about this property. When looking at the rooms online it says there's an honor bar in the M Lounge and cocktails are not complimentary. That would be a first for me in a Marriott property in HKG. Is the website wrong or is this really an honor bar? Note: the Courtyard Hong Kong lists complimentary cocktail service.

Thanks,
-RM

ftrichard

helvetic

They have ingredients to make real cocktails (basic bar tools and ingredients). You could make yourself a gimlet, tom collins, manhattan, old fashioned, margarita, or negroni with what they have. I made myself cocktails after I got bored of just G&Ts.

Also, I consider a well made Spanish G&T a cocktail for sure.

And lastly, yes, it's free.

Tokyoite