Le Méridien Hong Kong, Cyberport — Hotel in Hong Kong

We stayed in this hotel for 11 days so we had a good chance to evaluate this hotel.

The GOOD:

Hotel looks great! Concierge desk personnel was great and very helpful. Front desk personnel was professional and friendly. Very impressed with these groups. The food was excellent and even our picky offsprings had no issues with the hotel's food. The complimentary breakfast was a great way to start the day and cocktail service was the best surprise for us. Had we known about what this cocktail service in Podium was, we would have gone from day 1! Great food and great drinks that was all included in our stay. The gym was small but clean and had enough equipment to work the cardio and MSK systems. Open 24 hrs and the staff was always friendly. We ate at the Umami and Nam Fong restaurants and the food was delicious and the staff attentive. Positive experiences in both. Our room was spacious and had an ocean view. Great view to wake up to! The washroom was large and shower pressure was strong. On par with North American standards. Difficult to find in Hong Kong.

The OK:

We went to cocktail service in Podium one night and right from the start the service was subpar. We had to wave down the server every time we wanted a drink or a warm plate. A member of our group actually had to confront them about their service and the staff quickly apologized and the service became top notch after that. We went back for a few more nights of cocktail service and the staff was perfect after that. Absolutely top notch!

The POOR:

We were at this hotel for 11 days and went down to breakfast every day. The same staff was there. It was good service to start. They asked for our room number, took us to our table, and usually asked if we wanted coffee or not. We had coffee for the first few days then found out that we could ask for speciality coffees as well (never informed us of the same we just heard others asking for speciality coffees) and we started asking for cappuccinos after that. Then for some reason the service changed?! The staff with the blue jacket on was there everyday and I assumed he was more the captain of the group. He began ignoring us for some reason. Never came to take our empty plates way. Purposely avoiding our tables. He would take the plates away from the table next to us and then walk away and never come back to our table?! My son actually tried to wave him down one day and he acknowledge him with his hand but then he NEVER came to see what he wanted?! I was walking next to the buffet table and this staff with the blue jacket was walking the other way towards me and I actually had to STOP walking because he ended cutting me off for him to get something for another table?! It was bizarre and his rudeness was palpable.

There was another young male staff member there as well who was not friendly at all. One day, me and another member of our group came in near the end of breakfast service and asked for two speciality coffees and we went outside to wait for them. This staff acknowledged our order and then just walked away. We waited for over 10mins and the coffees never came?! We saw this staff walking around clearing empty plates but NEVER did he go and make our coffees. I don't think he ever intended to?! Another bizarre experience.

There was a young female staff that spoke mainly Mandarin and she was great and friendly. She ended taking our empty plates when the male in the blue jacket avoided us. There was an older male staff person that, I believe, only spoke English and Filipino and he was professional and friendly. Always greeted us with a "hello, good morning"! I have a pleasant time talking NBA basketball with him one morning. I wanted to mention these two staff personnel as they were excellent compared to the male in the blue jacket and the younger male staff.

Maybe it was us or something that we did to make their service to us so subpar? If it was then they could have brought it to our attention. My family and I were never disruptive, in my opinion, so I'm at a loss to understand the service provided by these two employees?

Overall, we had an excellent stay at Le Meridien and would like to come back in the future. We have no issues recommending this facility to our friends and colleagues. We just have to add the footnote about the two staff members during...

I was traveling back to USA from Guangzhou and needed to make a stop in Hong Kong for two nights to meet with friends before getting on the plane. When I booked the hotel at first, I was little apprehensive about the location as I was deeply worried about having to haul heavy luggage from Hung Hom MTR station to the hotel and then from the hotel to the airport as well as the expensive taxi fares. Also, I thought meeting with friends in Kowloon might be a hassle. But since many hotels of the same quality in the city would cost about 40% more, I decided to take a chance because I wanted to take advantage of my SPG Gold benefits.

When I arrived at Hong Kong, I was rather surprised at how easy it was to get to the hotel. The taxi ride from Hung Hom to the hotel only took about 25 minutes with noon traffic, and the fare was only HKD$160. The front desk was rather busy at the time, and when it was my turn to check in, I requested a room upgrade from a standard room to a deluxe ocean view room since I was entitled to free room upgrades (if available) for being an SPG Gold member. However, I was told that the deluxe ocean view rooms were not available at the time. And so instead of being offered to upgrade to similar room type, I was hurriedly placed in a standard room with a partial ocean view. Although the room looked great for a standard room, this was not what I had asked for. I've worked in five-star hotels in Switzerland when I was younger, and one of the first rules of customer service is if the customer asks for something which you do not have available, offer something else of equal or greater value instead of simply denying the request or offering a downgrade. If I was told that ALL deluxe rooms were booked, then it would have been an acceptable explanation. I was partially at fault for failing to ask such a question, but I feel that alternative offers should have been extended to me.

The room itself was very clean and modern, and the view was nice. It certainly beats any other standard room in the city for the same price. However, I was still a little bothered by the denied request, and I told my husband (who was in the States) about the incident as I was showing him the room in a video chat. Since he helped me book the reservation, he was more upset than I was. Immediately, he got online and attempted to book a deluxe room for the same dates through starwoodhotels.com to see if they were available, and there were. So he phoned the hotel to find out what was going on since I was not able to upgrade at the front desk. In the 13 minute phone call, the answer he received was that the ocean view deluxe rooms were not available and that I was assigned to the best room for being an SPG Gold member, which made no sense because I would have been upgraded to a BETTER room had those been available. He then asked if the hotel was fully booked such that all deluxe rooms were not available for upgrade. And the answer he got was there was nothing that can be done since I had already checked in and been assigned a room. First of all, that did not answer the question that was asked. Secondly in response to the answer received, why then was I not offered an alternative upgrade before being checked into a standard room? My husband urged me to stop by the front desk to see if a deluxe room would open up for my second night of stay. But at that point, I did not think it was worth the hassle any longer, and I did not want to create a scene.

The stay at the hotel was great and free of problems except for the lack of upgrade. But honestly had I known that I would not have been able to get a free room upgrade, I probably would have paid a little extra to stay in the city for the convenience. I don't think I was making unreasonable demands. Had I been told that the rooms were fully booked, it would have been perfectly understandable, but this was evidently not the case, My husband said he couldn't decide whether the gentleman he spoke to on the phone could not fully understand our concern (he stuttered quite a bit when speaking in English) or whether he was intentionally avoiding the questions in order to end the phone call. I personally don't think the staff had bad intentions, but a little extra training will...

I am a frequent visitor to Hong Kong, and have always to preferred to stay in the city. This time, however, I decided it was time to give the Le Meridien a try. As expected (I read the reviews!), the SPG recognition stopped short of a suite upgrade. But let’s start with what I liked about this hotel: First, the hotel has only very recently made the hourly shuttle to Hong Kong Station complimentary – a brilliant and long-overdue move. It’s a 15-minute commute to Hong Kong station, from which you can take the red MTR line to Tsim Sha Tsui, or the blue line to Causeway Bay. In addition, the hotel is part of the Cyberport complex that includes a bus terminus, where there is a green-top mini bus that goes from here to Causeway Bay in 20 minutes in good traffic. So, in terms of location, you get to be far from the madding crowd, and yet fairly conveniently connected to town. Which brings me to my second point: being away from central HK means you get to enjoy generally unobstructed views of the hills and sea instead of other buildings. This is definitely a refreshing departure from built-up Kowloon or Hong Kong. Rooms are comfortably-sized and enjoy generous light-flow. Another perk is that the LM is a smaller property compared to other Starwood properties in the city, hence, in the four mornings I had breakfast here, I didn’t have to wait for a table. It’s nice not to have to jostle with the crowds in town and then come back to more of the same! Thirdly, the Cyberport complex also comes with a small mall. What is refreshing here is that you won’t find the usual shops like Girodano and the like. Instead, many shops specialise in furniture and quality furnishings. I enquired at one shop and they do ship internationally. But even if you are not after such items, it’s still interesting to browse around – one shop specialises in furniture and decorative household items made from recycled wood, while another sold ceramics and artwork, sourced mainly from China. There are also a few restaurants and even an Irish pub here. And for your convenience, there’s a Macdonald’s and a full-sized supermarket round the corner. Lastly, while the LM doesn’t have an Executive Lounge, it tries to make up for it by offering its Platinum guests an evening drink at the bar any time from 4 to 11pm, and this nice long window period I feel, is by far the smartest move the hotel has made to look after its most loyal guests. It takes effort, especially if you’re on a holiday, to make it to the shuttle bus pick-up point in HK Station every evening, but knowing a nightcap is waiting for you gives you something to look forward to, and eases the inconvenience. And just a couple of areas which need to be looked into... Firstly, I arrived at the hotel at 2pm, but it took the front office staff half an hour to find me a room. They offered me a drink coupon at the ground floor bar while I waited, and when I finally got my room, I wasn’t impressed with it. They kindly agreed to change it, but it wasn’t until I came back from town that night that this room was ready and they had my things moved over. Such procedures could be improved. Secondly, the hotel sells a club membership to the public, mostly residents in the area I think. This results in their swimming pool being ridiculously crowded on weekends. On the occasion I went to the pool, I think it was a public holiday in HK, there were no available deckchairs, and the pool itself was literally full of screaming kids! I don’t think much can be done about this, so if you’re planning to stay here, try to schedule your shopping days in town on weekends and public holidays. Let me conclude by mentioning a few names, associates who made an impression: Jackie, who only a few months into the job, was able to tell me more about the hotel, and what was available in the vicinity; Allen, from Prompt, who after the second morning, was able to remember that I liked my skinny latte with an extra shot; and Hannah (I hope I remembered her name correctly, she mentioned she’s originally from Nepal) from PSI, who brought my drink in the evenings – she was always cheerful and...