The Peninsula Hong Kong — Hotel in Hong Kong

This trip tried to stay 2 nights at Peninsula where supposed to be one of the 6 stars in Hong Kong.

Only one of the bell boy came and helped us to unload our 3 big & 2 small luggages from the trunk. My husband had to unload one of the big ones by himself. 🙄 He didn't seems too ambitious to give us a warm welcome. This first impression sucks comparing to Shangri-la TST with at least 2 or 3 bell boys to help.

We purchased the basic room type. We were told the room will be ready about 3pm when we checked in about 1:25pm. We will be texted when the room is available. Therefore, we browsed around and came back about 2:50pm. No text message was left but the room was ready when we reached the front desk again. It was a room located on the 3rd floor right wing of the old building. The size of the room seems a little bit small although the ceiling is tall. Couple of electronic tablet panel for all the appliances looks neat. But the bathroom doesn't look too spacious and the toilet bowl absolutely dated which still using manual hand turning handle to flush. Not too powerful flushing neither. The hot water pressure/supplies for the shower wasn't too stable. Water temperature varies while taking shower. I didn't have the issue because I was taking a bath instead.

I am very sensitive to smell. There was some kind of unpleasant smell inside the room. I didn't know if it was the sewage or sanitized spray or electronic appliances....My husband was coughing when he stayed for a while. Therefore, I requested for an air purifier in the front desk when I got back the room. It was not being sent until my husband called room service again after 20 mins.

Also we had a serious concern regarding the curtesy of room delivery. I had a box of wine being delievered from the store to my room, however, the staff came up to our door but didn't ring the bell or knock onto the door before directly unlocking our door and came in (we were inside the room and getting change to prepare to go to the pool). Luckily I still had my bathrobe on. I am not sure if that's their usual practice.

Obviously, It was not a decent room for us in additional to the lack of direct sun light inside the room. The view of our windows were facing the wall of YMCA. There was no sun light coming in no matter it's a very sunny day outside. Thus, the light of the room was soft. I believe the room should be suitable for guests only go out for the night and sleep during the day.

There were complimentary breakfast buffet for our stay. Not many selections of food but good quality provided. Utensil were nice silverware but actually I don't quite care about it because I couldn't believe that they don't carry oatmeal. Only cereal or congee were serving with similar texture. Fresh squeezed juices were appetizing. But I still prefer to have some hot and light flavor to begin my day. Don't come here for breakfast if you prefer varieties. We stayed with Shangri-la for long term prior to Pen, I prefer their breakfast buffet instead. They have lots of varieties while food quality is also above average (7.0-7.5 points out of 10 I think while Peninsula which I will give a 8 out of 10). I also felt it was understaffed in the breakfast restaurant. Dishes were not collected on time after finishing(saw some guests had to call them to collect dishes instead).

We were so disappointed for the reasons above during our stay. And probably won't come back again. I felt I didn't get the service and environment I was paying for. I could get a better room with plenty of sunlight and similar amenities in Shangri-la for almost half the price. Although Shangri-la doesn't provide a decent size of spa facilities/swimming pool as Peninsula, what's the percentage of guests who will use the pool/whirlpool/sauna during their stay? I guessed 80%of them enjoys shop around...

I held the Peninsula to the highest standard (as it should be) and was disappointed during our stay.

We had the stay and dine package that included 4 meals (lunch, in room dinner, breakfast, and take away afternoon tea). Emailed them one week in advanced to make the reservations of the meal times, only to arrive at the hotel finding that they got all the meal times wrong, and our preferred time is fully booked. The check in itself took 30+ minutes, finally got to the room, and found that it was the wrong room (we asked for king bed and got 2 twin), and took another 45 minute to change to the right room. The staff were polite and apologetic about it, so we didn’t think it’s a big deal.

Lunch and dinner was painfully average, we couldn’t finish half of it because it feels like we are just eating meaningless carb. For breakfast, we got seated without given menus. Finally ordered, and waited more than 30 minute for our food. The people seated after us almost finish their breakfast when we finally got our food! Again staff are apologetic but so far every staff interaction was bumpy and just seemed like it’s a very sloppy operation. Was expecting my take away tea set to be delivered at the time we agreed, waited 45 min, no sign, called and asked, they say it has been at the concierge I need to go pick up. Nobody informed me in advance about it, and nobody check with me after food has been sitting there for more than 30 min.

Room was good, but really focusing on many wrong things. For example room has a printer/scanner machine but no usb speaker, has fruits but no drinking water. Toiletries are the absolute basic kinds feel like they don’t even try. On the other hand, There are 3 identical tablet sets to control in-room electronics, trying very hard to look high tech but really adding very little value.

Check out again was unnecessarily long, because they don’t separate check-in and check-out line, everyone is just all mixed together, and no additional counter when line gets long. Was thinking how I should respond when they ask me the courtesy question “how was your stay?”, but ended up nobody bothered asking.

Overall the stay was ok, but for the peninsula, who pride themselves for top notch service, I was very disappointed by how badly it was operated. Staff were all nice but that’s really not enough to deliver exceptional experience when the operation is a mess. They really need to pull themselves together if they want to save their reputation of being one of the best in Hong Kong. Before they do, I’m staying at MO, Shang, rosewood, Murray, upper house,...

This iconic hotel deserves 6 stars. It is what I call a destination hotel - the hotel itself is worthy of a stay just for the experience. This is the flagship of the Peninsula hotel chain. It is conveniently located in Kowloon at the corner of Salisbury Road and Nathan Road.||We were upgraded from the Superior Harbour View Suite to the Deluxe Harbour View Suite. The view of Victoria Harbour and the Hong Kong skyline is amazing. It is well worth paying for a room on a high floor with a harbour view. The suite certainly did not disappoint! It was beautifully appointed. There was even a nail dryer! The lighting, TV, and audio control panels were very easy to use. I usually sleep poorly in hotels but the bed was so comfortable that I had no trouble. ||The attention to detail is amazing; there is hardly any trace of plastic in the room - the bathroom skincare comes in metal tubes and the bag for wet swimwear is biodegradable. A lens cleaning cloth was placed next to my spectacles case. My messy handphone charging cable was neatly wrapped up with a leather cable. The fruit basket was replenished daily as were dainty snacks for tea. ||We had the very popular classic afternoon tea in the lounge; this was very pleasant with sandwiches, petit fours, and scones. There is a huge selection of teas as expected. Felix, the rooftop bar, is a must. It was designed by Phillippe Starck and it is simply stunning. The Peninsula house champagne and canapes were very good. The bathroom is a must-see (I won't spoil the surprise). I particularly liked the chair cushion covers which featured photos of long-serving (20 years) hotel staff. ||The service was impeccable. First shout out is to the staff who met us at the airport upon our arrival (sorry I didn't catch their names). I casually mentioned that I liked roast goose; when we reached the hotel the reception staff asked us if we would like a reservation at a recommended roast goose restaurant! Second shout out is to Wilson who was our airport departure handler. He went out of his way to ensure that our check-in process was fast and seamless despite the crowds. Another staff who also deserves a special mention is Ms Bira (I hope I got the spelling right). She was our Grande Dame tour guide and she showed us the Archives where the history of the hotel was carefully documented with interesting artefacts. Look out for the Annie Leibovitz photos.||We had an outstanding trip and we will...