The Peninsula Hong Kong

I decided to stay at the peninsula HK due to its legendary status in the history of HK and timeless elegance. It also had a great nick name of “Grande Dame of the far east” which sets a high expectation. The bad part: My family and I arrived at the hotel at approx 6pm with 6 pieces of luggage. The porters at the front saw us and didn’t bother to help us unload the luggage. My young daughter was struggling with the 2 pieces of luggage. There was also no greeting before entering the hotel. This is basic hospitality lesson 101 which they fail spectacularly. The other hotels such as “W Hong Kong” will never fail in this basic etiquette. I have never been to this hotel before. Once I entered, there was also no assistance from anyone helping me to show us the check in place nor help with the luggage. This is failure no 2. I had to ask around to find out where is the check in counter. For a legendary 5 star hotel, the above 2 points are failures that isn’t acceptable, especially for one with this high reputation. Good part: Location is good and close to MTR. Pool and gym is nice. Rooms have been technologically enhanced which is awesome and the timeless character is maintained. Check in staff was helpful once you got to speak with her at the counter. I love the evening live music. If it weren’t for the bad parts listed above, I would have given them a 5 star as they failed in basic etiquette lesson 101. Other 5 star hotel don’t fail in this.

An exceptional 5 star hotel. Luxurious rooms with quality throughout the whole facility. The staff were friendly and welcoming and couldn’t do enough to assist in all things. Central to many stores, eating places (of all styles) and bars. If you only stay here once it’s well worth the experience.

The Veranda buffet lunch is World class. Food quality is exceptional. Asian and European. Only slight niggle more vegetables/ vegetarian options needed. Great service.

I stayed at the Peninsula for two nights as a stop-over on my way to Australia and really enjoyed it. The hotel is perfectly located opposite the city centre with a wonderful view of Victoria Harbour (make sure to book a room with harbour view) and within walking distance of the underground train station and the ferry terminal. The rooms are perfectly equipped and service is impeccable. The hotel has a very nice indoor swimming pool as well as a sundeck and a very decent gym. Both the breakfast buffet and the dinner buffet (served in the same area) are extremely rich and of the highest quality. For a special treat, be sure to book the airport pick-up service in one of the hotel's Rolls Royces.

This hotel is a bit of a legend. It was on my bucket list for a while so of course the expectations are high. I'm going to be a bit critical because at that level of hotel, one can expect perfection. The concierge contacted us prior to arrival to ask for arrival time, offering either the room to be ready early or to have a transit room. They didn't really honor Amex fine hotels and resort room upgrade, They told me I had already booked a room of a high level, which I didn't... I booked the basic one I believed. They did immediately offer late checkout though. On arrival, we were not offered either. I had to ask and insist to get a transit room. The hotel lobby is very busy, it;s a tourist attraction and also has tables for tea time and drinks. Hallways and rooms are very nice. Almost perfect, everything is qualitative. from the furniture to the bed sheets, towels. the devil is in the details and they mastered it. Sound proofing is excellent. Let's talk about something basic... bottled water. They provide only 2 small bottles per day? For more you have to ask room service? A bit strange in that hotel category. The rooms have a very nice size for a large city. The rooms felt new, they are very well maintained. We went for tea time, it's a glamorous experience with live musicians, it feels a little bit like time travel. The salty food was very good, I found the pastries to be average. We also had breakfast in the hotel. The selection is outstanding, the quality of food is very good but not outstanding. Another note, I found service to be a bit lacking. Not bad by any means, but not extraordinary. Overall this is a solid 5 star experience, my expectations were high, maybe too high.