The check in was fast and we got a room “upgrade” – I had booked the cheapest room as we were only staying there for the night but we were upgraded to a room with a harbor view. The bed was more queen size than king size but then again hotel rooms in Hong Kong are a bit on the small side. There was also a desk with a chair, I got welcome gift due to my Jade membership, we got some complimentary water and there was a small fridge with some drinks. The room also included a wardrobe with a couple of robes, a small safe and iron/ironing board. The room itself was with a beige carpet and light walls and we had a view of the ocean but we didn’t see much of the main harbor as that was blocked by other skyscrapers.

The bathroom was tiled and in light colors. It featured the same amenities that I’m used to when staying at Traders in Kuala Lumpur and there was a bathtub with a shower option (by using a shower curtain).

We had breakfast at Cafe508 on the lower levels. The breakfast did include most of the stuff that you want for breakfast but maybe we came just after the main rush as it seemed pretty empty and “dirty”.

Location
Located on Queen’s Road West it is not the ideal location of a hotel. The hotel is on Hong Kong Island and a bit west of the center. Both my wife and I had problems getting our taxi drivers to drive us to the hotel even if we tried to say the name of the road. I was on Queen’s Road central and ask my driver to continue west as I knew the road would turn from Queen’s Road Central to Queen’s Road West and the taxi driver just suggested hotels along the way. But note that it is not far to walk to the nearest tram stop and from here you can take the tram to get on the subway. Taxi can be expensive in Hong Kong as it seems like the passenger has to cover the toll when driving through the tunnels from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island.

Conclusion
I’m not sure that one night at a hotel gives you enough inside to make a good review. But the bed was comfortable and room was nice but I think I would pick a more centrally located hotel if I was going to spend many days in Hong Kong.

Regards
Gard
gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

When I checked in I had a weak moment so I decided to upgrade to Club level as it would give me breakfast, access to the club lounge, internet etc. Check in was efficient and as my room was not ready I was sent to the lounge on the 16th floor while my room 1771 was being prepared. What a view there is from the lounge on the 16th floor – you get a great view of the harbor area and the skyline of Hong Kong.
My room was very nice indeed. There was a combination of tiles and carpet on the floor and the walls were a combination of light wall paper and darker wood panels. I got a king size bed with lots and lots of pillows but the bed was not as soft I would have liked it to be. In front of the bed was a huge Samsun flat screen TV with lots of channels and this was also connected to the work desk area which was pretty well set up. As I stayed at Club level I had free WiFi but for some reason I did have problem connecting to it from time to time. Apart from this I had a chair where I could sit to check out the great view from the window – the view was of the harbor and the space museum.

The minibar included a couple of bottles of complimentary water. The minibar also contained a lot of things that were priced the same as 7-Eleven + 10%. So a can of Coke was only 6.4 HKD (about 0.8 USD) and that makes more sense compared to some hotels where you have to pay astronomical prices for the soft drinks. The safe was large enough to store my laptop which is a nice feature.
On the small table next the bed there was a cool little gadget…a docking station for the iPhone/iPod with speakers combined with a wake up function of course. The only problem was that the display with the watch on it was quite bright so it lid up half of the room at night. Talking about lights…is there no master switch in the rooms? I kept on looking for this but in the end I had to turn off all the lights individually.

The bathroom was tiled and contained a beautiful glass sink together with a bathtub and shower. The shower was tiny so in my opinion that should have just left out the bathtub and made the shower larger. The amenities were quite impressive….everything from dental floss, mouth wash, shaving kit, dental kit, sponges, shower caps and of course shampoo, conditioner and body gel.

On the 17th floor you also have access to the health club where you can exercise and enjoy the view of Hong Kong skyline and the pool is located on the top floor outside. The pool is not huge or anything but OK for a dip after a day of sightseeing. I had a massage and it was 600 HKD for 1 hour. The only problem was that the lady that gave me the massage kept on bugging me about going for a different kind of massage, to go for 1 ½ hour instead of just 1 hour etc.

If you are staying at the Club level you can either have the breakfast on the 18th floor in quiet surroundings or have it downstairs in a café. I tried both and the selection is more extensive downstairs – there was a good selection of eggs, bacon, sausages, pastries etc. Well, they basically had all that you need from a hotel breakfast in my opinion.
Located in Tsim Sha Tsui you can easily walk to the Tsim Sha Tsui subway station or to the Star ferry to go across to Hong Kong island so the location is pretty good.

All in all – a very nice hotel room with a great view and lots of amenities for a traveler. Here is a video showing my room:

My driver took me to the Lufthansa 747-400 plane and she walked me to the door of the plane before she said goodbye and I was handed over to the staff on board. It has been a long time since I had the pleasure of walking up the stairs to the top floor of a 747. The Lufthansa first class is located on the upper deck of the 747 and there are about 16 seats there. They seem to be a bit old and I understand that an upgrade is being planned in the end of this year. I had seat 83 K which is by the emergency exit so there was lots of space. But note that there is a permanent “trolley” here where they store drinks. Some have mentioned this as a problem but I didn’t think this was an issue.

My FA asked me right away if I wanted something to drink…so I went for the Champagne, The champagne of the day was Piper-Heidsieck Cuvee Rare. I have to say that after being through Bollinger, Taittinger, Taittinger Rose and several types of red wines in the lounge, I was not really capable to tasting the fine qualities of the Piper-Heidsieck – but it seemed pretty good. When I asked my FA what kind of champagne I was drinking he informed me and then he asked “Why? You didn’t like it?” – not sure why he assumed that. After about 40 minutes we were pushed back and rolled across their airport to get ready for takeoff. Takeoff feels different when seated on the upper floor that’s for sure. Before takeoff we got slippers, a toiletry bag and pajamas. The FA asked about my size and I was like “I don’t know…what do you think?” He seemed a bit bothered by this – I guess he have heard it before. But I ended up with Large to extra large that was a bit too big for me.   The toiletry bag was pretty big but didn’t really contain that much. Ear plugs in a holder, a tooth brush and tooth paste, a comb, a face mask, a moisturizer and a shoe horn.

After takeoff we got a warm cloth soaked in water. I’m not sure what fragrance that was used but the scent was great After about 30 minutes in the air the first class started their service  by putting a cloth on the table and handing out an appetizer…tuna fish with orange or something like that, I even got a real rose stuck in a hole next to my table. It was a nice touch I guess but it is not something I will miss if they remove it from the service. The tuna fish was great but it would have been great if they staff had informed me about what was being served. I also got menus by the way explaining what kind of drinks and food that I could expect

For starter I had the option of Caviar, crawfish, watermelon with goat cheese and tartar of goose breast. Next course was the option between a salad or spicy lemongrass soup and main course options were prawn, mushroom and pancetta stew, swordfish with beans, pumpkin ravioli and sugar or spice duck breast.
My FA took my order and while I was waiting I watched a bit of Angels & Demons on the TV screen. And this is one area where Lufthansa scores pretty low. The screen for each seat is TINY and can’t be compared to the Emirates option at all. When I flew Emirates A380 on business class I had a 17” screen or something  like that and on Lufthansa it is like 10”. But it is video on demand so you can pause it and stuff but the screen is jus t too tiny. About 1 hour into the flight the start was served and I got a nice portion of caviar. I think caviar is a bit like fois gras….it is great but only in small quantities

I guess the FA had seen that I was taking a lot of photos so she kindly offered to take a photo of me ;.) The female FA did a good job by the way but I’m not sure I understand why she kept on addressing me in German to start with every time she spoke to me. Yes, I know that you would all like people to talk German but it is not really going to happen just because you start your conversation in German
The caviar was served with lemon, onion and some kind of sour cream on the side. From there we moved on to the salad which was a bit on the boring side but still pretty good.  For main course I chose the duck breast with polenta and spinach. Not bad at all and the duck has a lot more character than e.g. chicken.  But the combination of a chunk of meat, a scoop of polenta and a heap of spinach doesn’t really scream fine dining.

When dessert came around my female FA just skipped me for some reason…I guess she looked at me and thought “You’ve had enough” or maybe it was just a slip of the mind But I grabbed my male FA and asked him if I could get the pear tart with brown butter ice cream which tasted great with some decaf coffee and some Baileys. So after a loooong day it was time to call it the night. I went to bathroom and brushed my teeth and slipped into the pajamas and went to sleep. The chair was actually very comfortable as a bed and it felt like it was possible to recline it all the way back to a proper bed. I did sleep until I was woken up for breakfast

When I was woken I had a slight hang over from the drinks last night but that’s how the cookie crumbles right? Once again we were handed the cloth that smelled excellent and I also used the opportunity to slip into normal clothing again. The breakfast was a bit strange…the female FA asked if I wanted muesli but what I got was some sort of sour cream mix…and then I got honni corn on the side. I was not sure that that was it…but all of a sudden I was also asked if I wanted some scrambled eggs and bacon. All in all not a bad breakfast but it would have been great to get some information about the options…or maybe I didn’t read the breakfast menu well enough.

All good things come to an end right? And after about a 10 hour and 30 minute flight it was time to land in Hong Kong. After a steep descend we landed at Chek Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong. If I were to give a conclusion of this flight I would say that Lufthansa delivers a very good product from the lounge to the flight experience. The service on board was good and even with their old layout, the seat was very comfortable and gave me a good night sleep. The food amd drink selection was also very nice. One area where there is room for a lot of improvement is of course when it comes to personal entertainment. The screen today is just too small compared to the competitors and even if “Size doesn’t matter” it was still just too tiny. When I checked the price of a round class ticket on first to HK, I think it was like 75000 Kroner (about 13.000 USD). I wouldn’t mind flying first class every time I travel but I’m not willing to spend that much on the ticket So I guess I have to save up some SAS points again so I can try out first class on a different airline.

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