Yeah head into town and go to Tim Ho Wan, the one star Michelin awarded dim sum restaurant. The lines are enormous but register your name first (best if you could speak cantonese to the hostess) and then spend two hours walking around whilst waiting for your table. As a group of four, we seriously ate so much, and the total table cost wasUSD$40. ^

I have a 20 hour layover (overnight) and am trying to choose between the W and the JW Marriott. I'm am Platinum in both, and will use points.

The W is right on the Airport Express, that's a plus. But if most of the sites I'd see in a layover itinerary are in Central, then maybe the JW is better?

I would say tiebreaker goes to the W for possible suite upgrade.

Anyone stay at both who can offer some advice?

Thanks in advance.

I do not know the Marriott, but the W is a great hotel in a convenient location for the airport. For less than one day, you can easily amuse yourself in Kowloon or take the ferry to Central for the views. If you already know HK, the W is great for just relaxing and watching the boats and skyline.

Don't forget 1 stop on the MTR (approx 8.50 HKD) and you can be in Central (right in the IFC mall). OR a quick cab ride to the Star Ferry (about 20-25 HKD) and you can then hop the ferry.

Have not stayed at the JW, but it's in a great location and I've heard it's a great hotel. I think you'd get different answers if you ask this question in the Marriott forum, so it's usually better to ask questions about hotels in different programs in the Hong Kong forum if you want a balanced reply.

-David

SPG Gold paying for breakfast with points
 

We are planning a stay at the W Hong Kong 24-31 March 2012. We would like to know if it is possible to use our Starpoints to pay for breakfast, or dinner, or spa services, etc.. Does anyone have any experience with this ? We have only used points to pay for rooms but never anything else onsite at the hotels. Thanks

Welcome to FlyerTalk OOOflyer!

This thread may answer your question:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...nt-awards.html

Your answer is , in the post 388 of this same thread

Does anyone know how this hotel treats the plat breakfast amenity?

Continental in restaurant only (no room service); buy up to full buffet (which is pretty amazing) for HKD100.00.

I just checked in to this property and a little underwhelmed so far.

I used my guaranteed upgrade nights to go from a regular room to the lowest category suite.

I guess i shouldn't complain that I got exactly what I booked but despite availability for higher category suites for my stay they are not offering any further upgrade. Normally not a problem but I am not totally blown away by the room.

I thought this place was fairly generous with upgrades and was hoping for a room with a somewhat better view that I have got. Expectations were raised having read some of the previous reports. I am a 100+ night a year SPG member and my ambassador had been in touch so I figured I might do quite well - alas not.

As I said, I got what I paid for so I am not really complainng, just hoping that I might get somethign a bit extra at this property. Any hints or tips on getting pushed up to a nicer room? (aside from using 20k points per night)

I stay there fairly regularly, and have never had less than a Fantastic Suite, and occasionally a Marvelous one, all when booking at the lowest available rate. I've not made it to a WOW yet, but my experiences there have been uniformly positive over the past couple of years.

Came back from m night out to find they had upgraded my room to the corner suite. Very impressive and pleased with the room although I feel I had to work for it a little - it didn't seem to come naturally to them.

It seems that the fact I used one of my plat guaranteed upgrade vouchers counted against me getting a further upgrade beyond the room specified. Not sure if that was true or the impression given but I also felt the same at the St Regis Bangkok although that property is now notorious for their quirky upgrade policy.

Bottom line, I got a great upgrade and am really impressed. The location is kind of out of the way but with the shopping mall below and great connections to public transport there is plenty to do and it's easy to get around.

First stay here. I was told you have to give up 500 amenity points for breakfast. I decided to choose points. No room upgrade with view overlooking the cargo port. No HK island view. Not sure if I want to return to this property. I still don't feel like I am in HK even after 7 hrs.

That's the rule for Plats. Either breakfast or 500 points. Some properties in SE Asia go above and beyond and let you have both. From the sound of it you're lucky you didn't choose breakfast; you would have been disappointed. It's continental only, and a HKD100 upcharge for full.

I don't think this property has anything approaching a decent HK Island view. Some of the rooms (along with the rooftop pool) have a very partial view obstructed by buildings (in the cool corner rooms you can sit in your bathtub and watch what little view there is). Gotta go to the Sheraton to see the skyline. As for the "harbor view" the W has, I find it pretty disappointing, but I have seen reports of people finding it intriguing. Only once, when I arrived during sunset on a clear day, did I think, "wow, pretty."