Auberge Discovery Bay Hong Kong — Hotel in Hong Kong

We booked the hotel because of the reviews and the hotel describing itself as ‘an island oasis surrounded by natural wonders and first class facilities.’ We arrived at 1.30pm, the room was being cleaned and would not be ready until 3pm. We were told we couldn’t sit in the lounge because it was booked out by a conference group, the buffet room half booked for the same. The adjacent Bounty Bar did not open until after 4pm. The buffet room was loud, cold and uncomfortable. We decided to go to a local restaurant instead. We checked into our room at 3.00. I noticed a musty, damp smell, along with stains on the carpet & sofa. I checked the bathroom and saw a few large black hairs on the floor. Upon further inspection I saw that that the main carpet was also covered in hairs. It was unhygienic and disgusting. We called housekeeping straight away and were asked to go back downstairs whilst they cleaned the room again. 30 minutes later we were back in the room – the bathroom was clear but the musty smell remained, as did all the hairs on the carpet.

We called again and asked to move to a new room, of the same level that we had paid for – we booked an ocean view deluxe room for the view and the sunken bath. As long as we had these, & it was clean, we were ok. At 5.30 we were finally moved to a new room (a suite as an upgrade), 2 and a half hours after our check in. A very abrupt manager escorted us, and didn’t seem sorry at all for our issue. He said he wanted to wait in the room while we checked it. We were really tired and just wanted to rest and settle in. He made us very uncomfortable. The suite had a lovely view again, but in all honesty was a very sparse. The rooms do have a sunken bath that is part of the shower & are excellent. Unfortunately the beds are very hard. If you have a feather allergy, do not expect hypoallergenic bedding, just a blanket in a sheet. The bathrobes are horrible. They are designed to look like kimonos, but reminded me of hospital robes! No one called us to make sure we were happy with the room, no one apologised for us checking in 2 and a half hours later. There are three dining options in the hotel – the buffet, the bounty bar, and in-room dining. And even though they say they are a gourmet getaway, the a la carte menu for all 3 is exactly the same. The menu itself is very small. We tried the sports bar. It was cold, loud (in terms of dance music) and unsurprisingly fairly empty. The barman was very friendly and nice though & we ordered some food, which was not great – the pizza was rock hard. All the F & B staff on the property were very friendly and kind. Breakfast is a good selection, but the quality is not the best compared to other buffet breakfasts at similar level hotels. They say “Sam Pak Beach is an ideal spot to unwind and enjoy life’s simple pleasures”. It was filled with rubbish, but also had many pieces of broken glass, bottles, and syringes! It would be dangerous to bring children here. The hotel shouldn’t be advertising it or at least they should help organise a beach clean up. We went to the lounge to enjoy a birthday treat the hotel had arranged for me, sparkling wine and dessert – this was a lovely gesture & I was looking forward to it. But we weren’t allowed in! They were using the lounge to fix furniture, instead of removing the furniture to fix elsewhere! So we were told we would have to sit in the cold buffet room. Not particularly romantic or celebratory. We decided to cancel the last night, which they allowed us to do. The final icing on this 1 star review was the Front Office Manager raising his voice to my husband, almost shouting, in front of a busy reception, saying he had done everything for us. My husband was mortified and shocked at the unprofessionalism. Literally the only thing the hotel did was move us to an upgraded room. No sincere apology, and no real effort made to go that extra mile that many other hotels will do. Pretty poor for a 2 ½ hour delay...

A premium price for a mediocre hotel that lacks attention to detail!

The issues started at the front door, which is pull to open and closes on you as you try to manoeuvre yourself, children and cases through. No sign of a bellman to welcome and open the door for those that need help.

The public areas look amazing and the decor is good. Sadly the customer offering is not so impressive given the room price.

I stayed at the Auberge in a One bed suite (mountain view). There were lots of examples of lack of attention to detail and corner cutting. There were 2 adults and a child booked in yet only 2 sets of towels in the room requiring a phone call to fix. The kitchenette includes a decent size fridge/freezer and microwave. But only 2 plates, bowls, tea cups, glasses, and mugs provided. Strange for a room that can accommodate up to 4 persons and when booked for 3. Worse was no cleaning materials, like a dish cloth and dish soap, to allow use of these limited utensils more than once a day! No decaf coffee was provided either.

The bathroom has a deep bath and shower into this. This is unsuitable for anyone with knee issues or other mobility concerns as it is a big step over the bath rim and then down into the bath. Strangely, there was only shampoo and conditioner provided. The shampoo is also labelled body shampoo, but in a premium priced hotel, I expect specific body wash product and good quality brands too. Then there are the amenities like cotton wool and toohbrush etc. These were present but had an additional $15 (£1.50) charge per item warning on them!

Room cleanliness was also poor as there were grape stalks left on the floor from a previous occupant.

The bathroom had probably been recently repainted, which was nice. However, there were paint drips left on the tiles and the floor - highlighting lack of attention to detail again. There is a restaurant on site. Breakfast walk-in cost is high, so probably better to include in room booking. However, those with allergies or intolerance should avoid this place. I saw no food labels of ingredients or allergy warnings. As we have gluten issues, we asked for some gluten free options which were met with a sort of surprise! We did get 2 small gluten free rolls, but nothing else was available. Again, not what I expect from a premium hotel.

The hotel can only be accessed via the restricted access Discovery Bay (DB) tunnel. Taxis can come to the door, but are allowed nowhere else in DB. Private cars are not permitted in this area.

If you are considering staying here for Disneyland, the Disney onsite hotels would be better or consider hotels in Tung Chung where there is easy MTR(train) access to Disney and with far more restaurant options.

If the Auberge wishes to charge the premium price it currently does, it needs to improve considerable on its customer care and consideration...

This place has so much potential. The pros.... A beautiful property in a great setting, in a quiet and tranquil place. Spacious rooms nicely equipped and tastefully decorated. Good water pressure..

Now the cons...

good luck using the ironing board or electrical appliances. The power sockets are all used by Hotel provided amenities, so you need to find the sockets and unplug... and they are ALL in the most difficult to reach places... i mean seriously difficult. The iron electrical cord will struggle to be useful after stretching all the way to these obscure places for connection

Service - yes it would be nice if staff opened the doors when coming in and out. I get this on HK island for a hotel that costs 1/3 of this price.. In this place they look at you and turn away if you look like you expect something from them. The attitude of everyone (except the front desk staff who were all nice and helpful, and the hotel special events coordinator for the wedding event) is in serious need of 5 star hotel customer service training as well as some attitude adjustment. Clearly most of them are not happy working here and make little effort to do the little things for guests that are expected for a hotel and price of this level.

Bar hours - open til late... really? 11pm is late? its impossible to call this a premium hotel when you cant get a drink after 11. We were part of a wedding party, with hundreds of guests in the hotel and the night before the wedding they kicked everyone out of the bar at 11... seriously thats a good way to lose a good revenue opportunity. I wont even make an observation that the same applied to the wedding night... we had to bus with another 100 people to the pier to be able to drink for the rest of the party. The management clearly does not understand that they should have extended hours when you have 200 people in your hotel for a wedding.

Food - the breakfast buffet quality simply sucks for the price charged. Really sucks. The omelette was a joke, you get a better omelette from a fast food kitchen in Mongkok for $10HKD. The rest of the buffett was relatively tasteless or uninspiring. IT really does not measure up to the price, and i have spent 30 years travelling the world in 5 star hotels, and this buffet does not come close to value to quality ratio.

The only thing good I can say was they had a great meal for the wedding dinner, but clearly that is a special case and they likely brought in outside help to cater for the large demand... most people eating here will not see this quality of meal is...